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Grime is an English music genre that branched out of UK garage in the early 2000's. It is typically around 140 bpm and features dark, heavy basslines and unique, futuristic sounds. It often features MC's who use jungle, garage and drum and bass inspired flows.

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Check our new grime playlist on Spotify (also available on Deezer, SoundCloud, Tidal, YouTube) (courtesy of /u/Madbrad200@lemmy.world)

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Guide to the various subgenres, styles, and niches of grime music (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by Madbrad200@lemmy.world to c/grime@lemmy.world
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Intro

(Written by /u/Madbrad200, taken from https://www.reddit.com/r/grime/comments/d2nd11/guide_to_the_various_subgenres_styles_and_niches/ )

Interesting in chatting & learning more about grime? Come join our Discord server!

Hello, do you like boxes & over categorization? Here's the post for you!

It's a guide to most of the various niches/styles/subgenres of grime. Boxes can be useful to finding similar music and sounds that you like - grime niches are hard to find and explore due to lack of info, which led me to making this. Finding R&G tunes was harder than I wanted it to be, problem solved for anyone else looking for em.

Playlists included for most of them, check those out if you wish to explore the niche (mistakes may be included). Alt spellings/names are included for easy searching. Lots of & due to character limit issues. None of the names within were created by me - they can all be found elsewhere online prior to me making this (other than one, which is near the bottom).

Categories below - note that some of the placements may be somewhat arbitrary and could go in another category (e.g, sinogrime a subgenre or a style? Is Tropical Grime a subgenre or a fusion? Does the distinction even matter?). The goal is primarily just to document the niches within grime, and to explain some terms floating around:

  • Subgenres
  • Styles - Specific styles of grime, that aren't subgenres / genres in any way, but fill a niche within the genre.
  • Fusion Genres / Derivative genres
  • Other / Misc - Just misc terms that are floating around or terms that don't have a lot of documentation. These are not real genres mostly, and most of them are not notable and can be ignored. The goal here is to, quite simply, put some meaning behind them in-case you ever stumble upon them and wonder what they mean.

Subgenres

Darkside

(contains non-grime in the playlists, but all darkside - see Shxdow's comment below)

Darkside is a minor subgenre/style pioneered by Terminator during the early 2000s. Darkside is defined by dark, sluggish & violent content, such as Terminators F64. There are not many artists who have made Darkside. Most notable artist is Terminator but there are others such as Shxdow & Cautious. Scorcher, CousinGritt & Dowsen have also produced Darkside instrumentals, which are usually a lot darker sounding than usual.

Shxdow has clarified Darkside isn't strictly grime, & does not have to be over grime instrumentals.

Notable Artists: Terminator, Shxdow, Cautious, Scorcher, CousinGritt, Dowsen

Eskibeat

Eskibeat was initially a name given to grime music by Wiley before grime was the agreed-upon title. The term as you can probably already tell derives from Eskimos, people who live in particularly cold regions. In a 2003 interview, Wiley said:

I’m a winter person but the cold… sometimes I just feel cold hearted. I felt cold at that time, towards my family, towards everyone. That’s why I used those names. I was going to use “North Pole” but I didn’t even get that far. It was all things that were cold because that’s how I was feeling. There are times when I feel warm. I am a nice person but sometimes I switch off & I’m just cold. I feel angry & cold.

Eskibeat is now generally recognised to be its own niche within grime with "futuristic, icy cold synths, devastating basslines & awkward, off-kilter rhythms".

You can find examples fairly easily. Ice Rink, Wiley - Blizzard. Lewi B - Eski Gang. Pretty good playlist here which has a lot.

Notable Artists: Wiley, Lewi B.

Gangsta Grime / Gangster Grime

Minor subgenre or niche within grime. Roadside G's branded their music as 'Gangsta grime'. Their style was much closer to gritty 'gangster' rap than grime MC'ing, but was done over grime instrumentals. At least one of their videos, "Come 2 Da Roadside" was banned from Channel U. Their mixtapes are classic, check 'em out.

"Rider Music" & "Changing Flows" are both solid.

Notable Artists: Roadside G'z (+ associated members, such as R.A (Real Artillery)). Also seen people also say South Soldiers, Crazy Titch & Slew Dem fall under Gangster Grime.

Gospel Grime / Christian Grime

Pretty much exactly what it sounds like - grime but with themes relating to Christianity, pioneered in the early 2000s.. The most notable figure in the scene would be Guvna B.

Older Gospel Grime is sometimes (misleadingly) referred to as Gospel Garage.

Notable Artists: Guvna B, Feed'Em, Icie, Jay Dolph, A Star, Presha J, Shardz, Triple O, Victizzle, J Vessel, Favour

Mellow Grime

Although sometimes used as a general descriptor for relaxing grime songs, "mellow grime" is the name of a minor subgenre of grime music. Mellow Grime is probably the closest grime has gotten to a 'lofi' genre. The name describes it well - the sound is much more "'mellow" & chill than traditional grime. It has some similarities to Rhythm & Grime production. Features much more mellowed out instrumentals, vocals & samples.

There is also a "Mellow Grime" collective, consisting of Kwollem, Covco, Rayf & a couple others. On 'Sia Lee's #TwentyMinuteTakeover with Mellow Grime' on the 26th December 2015, they explained it started via a Kwollem track called "Thugs Essence" (which I can't find).

The name is also sometimes used to refer to chillhop / lofi hip-hop beats but with grime vocals over the top, like this.

Notable Artists: Kwollem, Rayf, EM Charge

Ruff Sound

Ruff Sound is a genre developed by Novelist (and others like Vision Crew, Grandmixxer, Prem, etc) set at 152-160bpm. Ruff Sound is faster, sorta laying in the space between grime & DnB. Novelist has acknowledged he didn't necessarily create the sound, but he did give it a name & push it around 2016. A lot of the instrumentals tend to have a darker vibe than usual & give a lot of space for the MC to spit.

This one got a bit of backlash when it first came out since people pointed out higher tempo grime had already been made years ago. Still sick though.

There have been a few Ruff Sound radio sets which can be found on Soundcloud.

Notable Artists: Novelist, Grandmixxer, Vision Crew, Prem, Tuckz, Harky (US producer)

Rhythm & Grime / R&G / RnG / R&Grime

Other spellings: Rhythm & Grime, R'n'g, Rhythm n Grime, Rhythm&Grime, Rhythm'n'Grime, rhythm n’ grime. Sometimes called 'wifey' tunes/riddims after the classic song. There's also an old forum thread from 2004 that appears to refer to the sound as 'grimette', though that never caught on. The term Grime&b has been used before, but isn't common.

Rhythm & Grime, also known as R&G, is a subgenre pioneered in 2004-5 by producers Terror Danjah, DaVinChe & Scratcha DVA. The subgenre mixes grime with R&B, often with R&B-style vocals, while keeping the rugged feel of grime. Lady Ny stated she was the first woman to sing on grime.

Rhythm & Grime comes in three forms:

  • Singing: A lot of R&G features R&B style singing, like Lady Ny - You Always Were. Often this is done over normal grime instrumentals, sometimes the instrumentals will have a more R&B influence in them such as...
  • Instrumental: Whilst R&G can be done over normal grime instrumentals, there is also a specific production style in the genre. Maribor - U Playin' for example - far more mellower & chill than usual, obvious R&B influence. A lot of them will have that 'choppy' kinda feel. Lots of soundcloud producers making this sound, like south, Daffy, yancy, Invader Spade, etc.
  • MC'ing: MC'ing over R&G, like Faultsz - Fya Bun, tends to have a more laid-back vibe to it, usually accompanied with chilled instrumentals.

Many UK R&B singers, such as Sadie Ama, Lady Ny, Katie Pearl, & Gemma Fox made R&G songs in the 2000s.

In 2006, Scratcha DVA released the album "The Voice of Grime" featuring 22 different singers. It was unique at the time due to being the first project to have so many different women singing over grime instrumentals, however, the sound would mostly disappear after the album was released. Many of the R&B singers that were singing over R&G were inconsistent & would regularly disappear. The subgenre made a come back in the 2010s after American singer Kelala released a mixtape in 2013, "Cut 4 Me", featuring a heavy R&G influence.

Funny anecdote, according to Terror Danjah, after making the track "So Sure" with Kano & Sadie Ama, grime MC Crazy Titch initially told him to stop making "girl tunes", although he would later request Terror produce one for himself.

Notable Artists: Aftershock, Terror Danjah, Bashy, Faultsz, Katie Pearl, Sadie Ama, Kelela, Kid D, Lauren Mason, Lady Ny, Olivia Louise, Wiley, Flukes, Kano, Gundam, Invader Spade, Gemma Fox, Grace, Daffy, Joe James

Sinogrime / Sino-grime / Sino Grime

Shoutout /r/sinogrime

Depending on who you ask, sinogrime is either a subgenre of grime or just a style of production. Pretty simple: sinogrime is grime that uses East Asian motifs in the production. The term was coined by Kode9 in 2005, although the style predates 2005. One notable example is Jammer - Chinaman which includes a sample from the 1993 martial arts film "Twin Warriors".

The term does not necessarily apply to grime made in Japan or China unless the instrumental includes East Asian elements. Producers from China such as Swimful (who remixed Wiley's instrumental "Shanghai") & Howie Lee (his album "Mù Chè Shān Chū") have produced sinogrime themselves though. Howie Lee described sinogrime as "propaganda", a sound that represents an image in people's heads, but one that is not necessarily accurate.

In 2014, Kuwaiti producer Fatima Al Qadiri released "Asiatisch", which had a heavy sinogrime influence & was highly acclaimed, although Fatima was unaware of the term "Sinogrime" whilst she was making the album.

Notable Artists: Fatima Al Qadiri, JT The Goon, Wiley, Murlo, Swimful, Ironsoul, Jammer, DJ Target, Danny Weed, Shriekin'

Sublow

Sublow is the name primarily used by members of the Black Ops collective (such as Jon E Cash & Dread D). It was one of the early names used to refer to grime & dubstep when the line between the two wasn't so clear.

Sometimes also described as a subgenre, it's defined by heavy synths, edgy rhythms & deep low bass.

Notable Artists: Black Ops (+ associated members)

Weightless

Weightless was the only one I struggled making a playlist for, so whether or not these are representative is debatable.

Weightless (sometimes referred to as 'glassy grime', but that also refers to other sounds) is a style of instrumental grime that developed over the 2010s, characterized by sparse & stripped back production. Ambient grime is probably the best way to describe it - it quite literally has a 'weightless' feel.

The sound was pioneered by Mumdance & Logos who were inspired by Wiley's 'devil mixes', wherein he stripped the drums from instrumentals. On their label, 'Different Circles', they released Weightless Vol. 1 & Weightless Vol. 2 which are both good intros to the genre. Other notable record labels would be Gobstopper Records & Planet Mu Records.

Notable Artists: Mumdance, Logos, Dark0, Iglew, O$VMV$M, Strict Face, Tom E. Vercetti, Visionist, Silk Road Assassins, Loom

Styles

Specific styles of grime, that aren't necessarily subgenres / genres, but fill a niche within the genre.

8-bar & Nu Shape

8-bar is a style/subgenre of grime, first seen in Youngstar's "Pulse X" instrumental (released 2002). 8-bar instrumentals switch rhythm every eight bars (roughly every 13 seconds), meaning that every 8 bars the MC would be spitting over a different rhythm. This was in contrast to "nu shape", another style of grime which encouraged 16-32 bar patterns.

There are lots tracks with a million MC's ('8-bar rally's') that follow this 8-bar pattern, such as J Beatz - 8 Bar Mucktion.

Bass mixes / Devil Mixes / Angel Mixes

A devils mix / bass mix / angel mix is an instrumental with the drums stripped. The idea later served as the inspiration for what would be known as 'Weightless' (there's also similarities with Mr. Mitch's "peace edits"). You might think stripping a major part of a beat would be detrimental but more often than not it works pretty well.

The idea was pioneered by Wiley, although he had some misgivings about the name he gave them...

Nah it's not "devil mix" you know? I called it that because it sounded evil to me innit. But I don't call it "devil mix" anymore because when I started calling it that I started to get lots of bad luck, if you understand. I called it that because it sounded evil but really, why didn't I call it "god mix" then? Because I don't believe in the devil. The more & the more you say his name, believe it or not, he'll come closer to you. And that is the truth, I swear I am not joking. "Bass mix" I call them now, cos it's just bass. The devil mix brought me too much luck. I was selling the devil mix of Eskimo & they were selling so fast. I bought stuff with the money, bought a car & crashed it. So it just turned me off.

Which is probably why people started to call them "angel mixes" around the mid-2010s.

Other names for this style include "Starship mix" (mainly used by Grandmixxer), "Blank mix", "Twilight mix", and "No drums mix".

Peace Edits

Peace Edits is an idea pioneered by Mr. Mitch in October 2013. In essence, they are the opposite of a producer war dub. Rather than creating something aggressive, peace edits flip the song into something more mellow & emotional. The concept isn't strictly grime, but it did start there. Mr Mitch explained the concept well:

I couldn’t be bothered to try & compete with everybody who was flinging out dubs, so I tried to do something different with it, & in doing that I deconstructed a lot of famous grime beats – slowed them down, took elements of them & warped them in a way, & took the aggression out of them. I tried to work out what the essence of those tunes was, & pushed them in a new direction

Mitch said in January 2018 there likely would not be a future Peace Edit release. (edit: Peace Dubs Vol. 3 was released 2 January 2020)

Peace Edits also resulted in the glorious remix of Eiffel 65 - BLUE.

Post-grime / Post Grime / Post Eski / Post-eski / Neo Grime / Neo eski / Forward Grime / Future Grime

Post Grime, Post Eski, Forward Grime, Future grime, neo grime, or neo eski are terms used to describe producers pushing grime in a unique direction, sometimes mixing it other genres or styles. In other words, forward-thinking music. Applied commonly to experimental producers like Mumdance, Murlo, Sudanim, Loom, etc.

Post/Neo Eski implies music that incorporates elements from Wiley's Eskibeat style.

Neo Grime is sometimes used for a specific sound that fuses influences from grime, EDM trap, and wave music. Artists such as gl00my, vexxy, pholos, and others are known to make this sound. A decent mix can be found on soundcloud.

IGM (Intelligent Grime Music) was briefly used by a couple people in the mid 2010s but it never caught on/gained popular and isn't widely recognise.

Yardie grime / Ragga grime

These two terms describe grime MC's that employ heavy usage of Jamaican patois/accents, particularly those with a more "aggressive" style for lack of a better word, such as Riko Dan, Irah, Jamakabi, etc.

The name 'yardie' was originally used to describe Jamaican gangsters, while 'ragga' is a form of dancehall with hip-hop influence that developed in the 80s.

Notable Artists: Armour, Badness, Riko Dan, Jamakabi, Shizzle, Killa P, IRAH, God's Gift, Logan_olm, Teddy Bruckshot, Lady Chann

Fusion Genres / Derivative genres

Baile grime / Grime funk / Brime & Atabagrime

During the mid-2010s, a grime scene began to develop in Brazil following grime's resurgence in the UK during the same period. This scene is often referred to as 'Brasil grime', 'Brazilian grime', or 'Brime'.

In Brazil, 'brime' is sometimes used to refer to a more specific form of grime, one that fuses influences from baile funk music. This fusion, also known as 'grime funk' or 'baile grime', emerged in the late 2010s. "RADDIM" is a good example of this sound - the fusion of grime bass, eski bloops, flows, mixed in with baile funk rhythms and drums.

Puterrier developed his own grime/funk fusion he dubbed 'atabagrime' (the 'ataba' is a reference to the atabaque sound commonly found in baile funk music) that differs somewhat from the aforementioned "brime". Atabagrime leans more heavily into the funk sound than most "grime funk" music, while retaining some grime influences. Songs, such as "Neurose De Novinha", are produced at a faster tempo than normal grime - around 150 BPM, in-line with other 150 bpm baile funk music. Puterrier has stated the following of his sound:

I put 80% funk and 20% grime, those little pinches that make the difference

The difference between 'brime' and 'atabagrime' was further described by Puterrier:

ATABAGRIME is the carioca [i.e, from Rio de Janerio] way of making grime, BRIME is the paulista [i.e, from Sao Paulo] form

Notable Artists: Cesrv, Puterrier, Febem, Fleezus, SD9

Grime-trap / Grime Trap

Exactly what it sounds like - a fusion genre that mixes grime with trap, lots of high-hats, 808's & snares - that kinda thing. AJ Tracey did a lot of this. Merky Ace's "Catch Up Vol. 3" album is mostly grime-trap.

Notable Artists: Teddy Music/Silencer, Merky Ace, AJ Tracey, Filthy Gears

Grime Punk, Grime Rock & Grime Metal

This is sort of a 'non-genre', in that it's extremely niche & there isn't a lot of it. There are a lot of alternative names that have been used which probably doesn't help. I've seen all of these: Nu-metal Grime, Djent-grime, Hardcore Grime Punk Grime, Punk-rock-grime, Punk-grime, Rock Grime, Rock-grime, Grime-metal, Hardcore-grime, Djent Grime

I've only included examples in the playlists where there's a more evident grime influence. These terms are commonly used to describe artists who MC in a way reminiscent of grime, but very few of them incorporate grime elements into the instrumentals, & don't seem very distinguishable from any other rap metal/rock/punk or rapcore as a result. Artists like Hacktivist or Gassed Up would be examples of that, also House of Dirt who self describe themselves as 'grime rock'. Likewise, 'grime punk' is sometimes used to describe Slowthai's influences which stem from punk and grime, but the music he makes isn't grime aside from a few examples.

They're also commonly used as terms for remixes where grime vocals are just placed over metal/punk/rock instrumentals. If you're just interested in that, Leon Fuentes has done a lot (e.g, this).

There is also a genre called "grindie", which is listed below in this post, that fused grime with indie rock & alternative rock

Notable Artists: Astroid Boys, Bob Vylan, PENGSHUi, Hadouken!

Grindie / Grime-indie / Grime indie / Grimdie

Grindie (grime+indie), the time grime turned... indie. The genre fused grime with indie rock/alternative rock & emerged in 2005/6 via samples & collaborations with indie-rock bands. Probably one of the weirdest fusions ever...

A big pusher of the genre was Statik, who also coined the name "grindie". According to The Guardian, he originally used the name as a joke but it ended up sticking. His Grindie (Vol 1) mixtape contains over 60 tracks, featuring remixes of Arctic Monkeys, The Strokes, Interpol, & Ladyfuzz among others (most of them can't be found though). This all sounds very weird... but it works, mostly, although it sounds very 2000s. Lethal Bizzle was prominent in the genre for a little while, which apparently in turn helped him find a platform among the indie crowd during a time when he was being banned from clubs.

Marvin The Martian's / Marv The Marsh's group Why Lout? created the first grindie song, "Stay Off The Kane", released in 2005 & produced by Jack Nimble.

Grindie was also referred to as Git Hop, but that included other sounds as well & was rarely used.

Notable Artists: Statik, Lethal Bizzle, Hadouken!, Marvin the Martian/Marv The Marsh, Bloc Party, Test Icicles

Tropical Grime

Tropical Grime is a sound pushed by Scrufizzer & Stimpy, influenced by bashment, calypso & UK Garage, but with a grimier bass line. Scruffizer credited JME & Skepta, Todd Edwards, MJ Cole as his influences for the sound. It's essentially garage-tinged grime (Or is it grime-tinged garage?), more "tropical", summery, something you can dance to.

In 2006, Boy Better Know released a "Tropical" EP, which is arguably the first example of the subgenre. The sound was intended to be more dance-friendly than most other grime music at the time.

Notable Artists: BBK (primarily Jme, Skepta), Scrufizzer, Stimpy

Other / Misc

Just misc terms that are floating around or terms that don't have a lot of documentation. These are not real genres mostly, and most of them are not notable and can be ignored. The goal here is to, quite simply, put some meaning behind them in-case you ever stumble upon them and wonder what they mean.

Afro Grime / Afro-Grime

Afro Grime dates back to 2006 as coined by Afrikan Boy. It was his attempt at blending his African roots with grime music. He claims he was one of the first Brits to incorporate an African-based sound into his music, which is probably true. Essentially just describes grime music that has African influences or sounds blended into it. The most notable song from this is Afrikan Boy - Lidl.

Though never really used anymore, you could argue it applies to stuff like NoHatNoHood's London To Addis, which fused grime with Ethiopian sounds.

The term is also sometimes used to (inaccurately) describe /r/AfroBashment. Completely different genre.

8-bit / 8bit grime / Chiptune grime / Gameboy grime

A very, very minor style of grime music.

Chiptune is a style of electronic music that emulates old school video game music. Video game sounds are relatively common in grime, these are songs that lean a bit more heavily into it.

Fun fact, a video game called Wolverine: Adamantium Rage released in 1994 on the Sega Genesis featured this instrumental by Dylan Beale, now considered the first-ever (unintentional) grime instrumental!

Shoutout the Elijah 8-bit & Skilliam 8-bit grime mix.

Cyber-grime

Also referred to as "post-grime" & "industrial grime" (a reference to industrial music).

Not a common term. Cyber-grime was a name used to describe a new sound that appeared in the mid-2010s via producers like Mumdance & Rabit. Dummy mag describes it as:

Metallic, abrasive, violent, complex & maximal: cyber-time [sic?] is inflicted with cybernetic themes & industrial textures, mixing together with sounds you would usually hear in techno, whilst also weaving in the complex beat programming of ‘club’ & bass genres.

Vastly different styles & approaches to beatmaking appear – coalescing around an aesthetic concern with a cybernetic, post-network futurity.

Grime MC's over dubstep

Somemtimes called 'Dubstep grime', not a genre, rather just refers to grime MC's spitting over dubstep beats. The Bug x Flowdan x Killa P - Skeng is a classic.

Big thanks to /u/nikoma's list of grime mc's on dubstep and /u/UnbalancedUK's playlist.

Eco Grime / Eco-Grime / Eco Futurism / Bio Future / Geo Club

(note: Playlists contain non-grime versions, see below for grime examples)

Grime examples: tropical interface - new combat drone, tropical interface - extract (Hypna recycle), HERBARIUM - ШИШКИН ЛЕС, MUNGUUGNUM - BIOCENOSIS, HERBARIUM - РИЗОМА, HERBARIUM - MEDICINAL PLANTS

Most of the music can only be found on Bandcamp.

Eco Grime (aka "Bio Future", "Geo Club" & "Eco Futurism") isn't grime despite the name, aside from the few tunes mentioned above & a couple others. I thought I'd mention it here anyway just because I find it interesting, and those grime examples do exist.

It appeared in the mid-2010s & was pioneered outside of the UK by international producers (particularly in Eastern Europe), with the main record label "Eco Futurism Corporation" being based in Sydney, Australia (it was founded in Italy).

In short, Eco Grime is an umbrella for experimental club music that blends natural sounds with futuristic imagery. A lot of Eco Grime seems more derived from IDM or ambient music than grime.

Eco Grime is also based around a central political idea:

Some theories: Sometime in the still-undetermined future, animals will have evolved enough that they can survive by consuming the plastic waste that fills our oceans. An all-powerful supercomputer will rule over the Democratic People’s Republic of Unified China, at one with the minds of its citizens. “Garbage theory,” the idea that biological contaminants left behind by extraterrestrial visitors are actually responsible for all human life, will be proven true. And an unnamed, primordial predator will stalk its prey & wreak havoc on five continents.

These scenarios aren’t plot lines from a buzzed-about dystopian TV show or conspiracy theories volleyed about in the darker corners of the internet. Instead, they’ve been invented by a tight-knit group of producers & labels releasing electronic music. Some of the music is club-oriented, & much of it is centered around ecological themes, casting a wary eye toward the slow but steady destruction of the environment. And the artists who are responsible for creating it—many of them on the forward-thinking netlabel Eco Futurism Corporation—have come up with a name for the genre: “eco grime.” As founder Andrea IV puts it, “Eco Futurism Corporation has a single requirement—to use the sounds of nature [in our music].

Electro Grime / Electro-grime

(playlists just have songs that I've found described as 'electro-grime', should be not considered actual grime music).

"Electro-grime", (or "commercial grime" as Wiley named it) was a journalist term for the short-lived ~~terrible mistake~~ development in the early late 2000s during a time when grime music was relatively stagnant. During this time, grime artists were predominantly ditching grime in favour of a more commercialised, Electro House influenced sound ~~oh god why~~. Electro House was at the time a successful genre in the charts, so this was grime MC's first attempt at watering down their sound & entering the mainstream charts. This is the "pop phase" people typically talk about with Wiley, Skepta, Tinchy Stryder, Dizzee Rascal, Chip, Tinie Tempah, etc.

This is a journalist term to describe grime artists making electro-influenced music, as opposed to being a real genre. The sound they were making was quite far from grime. It's best described more as 'pop rap', 'electro rap' or something along those lines.

Wiley's track "Wearing My Rolex", produced by Bless Beats, was credited with kick-starting the wave back in 2008. The follow up, Skepta's "Rolex Sweep" had a brief dance craze after it was released & was remixed by Coldplay.

Although a horrible, horrible, mistake we should all forget, it did result in this funny paragraph from the Guardian:

So where next for grime? So far we've had to endure things like grindie & grime's R&B analogue, R&G, but there's one gold mine which is yet to be exploited: the tween market. If Skepta et al can somehow make it onto the Disney Channel, they'll have an army of eight-year-olds behind them overnight. Miley Cyrus even kind of sounds like the name of a grime MC. If that fails they could take some tips from Barney the Dinosaur & dress up as bright cuddly animals. Sing & dance-along DVDs for mother & baby with Wiley the Grimosaur could well be the future of grime.

Emo-grime / Emo Grime

"Emo-grime", aside from being used to describe 'depressing' grime music since at least 2005, was sometimes applied to the style made by Mr. Mitch (due to his 'mellow' sorta style) & Bazza (who wasn't a fan of the term). Bit of a meaningless term though.

Glassy grime

Uncommon term to describe the synthy 'glassy' type of music being produced, especially during the mid-2010s by people like Murlo.

Jazz Grime / J Grime

There have been a few attempts to merge grime with Jazz music (not enough in my opinion). Swindle is the most notable person to do it, a lot of his grime music has jazz influences. He's fused grime with funk as well.

Some examples:

Kamaal Williams feat. Mez - One Take Freestyle

Moses Boyd On The Spot with Harry Jay Steele, Coco, Capo Lee, Snowy & Smiley.1Xtra

Swindle ft Flowdan & Mungo’s Hi Fi | Global Dance

TARA LILY - Who Saw Who

Steam Down - Free My Skin, performed live here. Their songs "Grandpa" and "Can't Hold Me Back" also sound grime influenced.

Kris T Reeder is a jazz instrumentalist with grime influences. Tunes like "Time to Fly Take 2", "Go On Then", "Time to Fly".

Moses Boyd - Dark Matter instrumental album features some jazzy/grimey influences.

Ezra Collective, Jme, & Swindle - Quest For Coin II

The Comet Is Coming - Imminent

Crooked Sound is an artist who makes Jazz Grime instrumental fusions, such as "Almost Blue", "Rakija" and "Damaged head gasket"

Liquid Grime

'Liquid Grime' has been used to describe a few different people, although it isn't very common. Jeb1 - Sunshine (Devil Mix) is described as 'liquid grime'.

JEB1 explains 'Liquid Grime' here:

J1: [..] when I’m making Liquid Grime & 140 I try to make it as soft as possible, but still have bass & energy. I’m constantly evolving new sounds; a sample or synth I hated 3 years ago & never used would be like an amazing sound right now, when I think hard about extra bits in a track another point is that my tracks tend to be progressive & evolving too, even if it has a verse-chorus structure.

And:

The “liquid” chords actually come from my neo-soul influences as well as drums from house & some trap (which is still an evolving & developing sound). I want to see liquid… liquid everywhere! But on a serious note, I’m not detaching it from grime, as with rhythm & grime it’s just a sub genre within another sub genre which isn’t on itunes as a genre, you feel me. So for now I’ve just been labeling it as ‘electronic’ to get me into a place where grime isn’t - an edm mix or label or something, so people don’t bring prejudice over a label or the track & just think of it as a load of claps & gun samples.

I see liquid grime as an expression of my happiness trying to burst out, along with the hyperactivity & wackiness some people describe me as having. The theme is happiness, islands, icicles, ibiza, chelsea & essex orange tans. If you want to join the movement just listen to a few of my tracks, some rng, some trance/big room anthems then add a harsh bassline halfway through & there you have it. Short version: just listen to jeb1 - can’t get any simpler than that!

Visionist & P Jam have also used the term.

Nightcore grime

Ok, this is the only one I've just pulled out my ass, but it exists.

Nightcore is just a thing weebs listen to where they speed up the song & give it a higher pitch. So if you're interested in anime girls and Stormzy remixes this might be for you.

I didn't create this playlist for personal use I promise.

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How To Find New Grime Music: The Guide (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by Madbrad200@lemmy.world to c/grime@lemmy.world
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Come hang out in the grime discord server if you want to chat!

Quick and easy: just sort the subreddit by FRESH and you'll have a feed of new releases :)

The Easy Ways To Find New Grime Music

Bandcamp

A lot of grime releases end up on Bandcamp, use the following tags (there are some additional minor ones as well):

We have an automated feed for Bandcamp releases on our discord server.

Blogs

These blogs generally post info about new grime releases:

Discord

The #grime-only channel on the /r/grime discord https://discord.gg/STmpA7aFRv often has new grime posted.

We also have a feed for NEW grime releases on Bandcamp, and another feed for NEW grime uploads on YouTube.

Playlists

Below is a list of playlists across platforms, primarily dedicated to promoting newly released grime music. If you have one, send us a message. Any platform welcome.

Apple Music

Deezer

Soundcloud

Spotify

Tidal

YouTube

For new radio sets and other misc videos (e.g interviews), try this playlist

Reddit & VK

REDDIT: Sort /r/grime by the FRESH tag and you'll have a neat feed of new releases (type flair:FRESH in the searchbar). Every new release tends to get posted here. If you have an RSS reader, you can following this RSS feed to grab all fresh music submissions from this sub.

Check /r/grimeinstrumentals for beats.

A bot automatically adds the top upvoted posts every week to a Spotify playlist.

Quick tip: if you're on desktop, you can add this bookmarklet to your bookmarks. If you click it while browsing the r/grime feed, it'll open a new tab with a YouTube playlist of all the videos on the r/grime page you click the bookmarklet on. A quick way to listen to all the videos posted on the r/grime frontpage, for example.

VK: VK is a Russian social media platform. VK is host to one of the largest grime forums on the internet (aside from /r/grime), Grime Music Group. You don't need to know Russian - they're generally on-top of new releases and post new grime regularly. It's a useful feed to use.

Twitter

Some good accounts to follow that post new releases:

Many artists, labels, stations etc can also be found on Twitter. Peep our Twitter Lists:

YouTube

The following channels upload new grime content (see here for YouTube channels that upload old grime content). Note that were are other YouTube channels that upload new grime, but they typically do so more rarely, and are not listed here as a result. Also not included are artist-specific channels.

Radio stations

Radio Cult, on Android or Apple, is highly recommended - it is an app created by people from within the scene and makes it easy to listen to stations live that broadcast grime music. Most of the stations you'd want, including the ones below, can be listened to via Radio Cult.

BBC 1Xtra (Sir Spyro, DJ Target)

1Xtra plays a diverse range of music, but DJ Target and Sir Spyro both have shows where they play plenty of grime. Spyro is more-so grime oriented.

LVLZ Radio

Mode FM

Radcap

Russian radio station that plays grime songs.

Rinse FM

One of the best grime stations out there. Rinse FM has a long and storied history. It is generally reliable for high quality radio sets and interviews.

Trickstar Radio

PyroRadio