Celebrating the music we grew up on tomorrow at 21:00 PST with Orange Radio, with a huge set of old UK Garage and Grime. Thank you to my friends below that contributed to the playlist.
Grime music for me was a lifestyle that most kids in London were living at the time, and wanted music to represent us. Garage music was like the pop version of grime, which I would listen to if I was tired of the grime stuff. But obviously Garage came 1st, so we appreciated it. Clothes made you stand out in the Grime scene, it gave us that platform to wear what we wanted and allowed us to mix British culture with our own, and a little bit of the American culture. New Era caps, Air Max 90s and 95s, Avirex, Akademiks tracksuits, Iceberg History, Evisu, Lot29 and of course Moschino denim suits, shirts and jeans were almost as important as the music itself, if you didn't have the right clothes you'd get laughed out of the radio station. Even the slang terms in grime came from Reggae/Bashment. For example, getting a reload - when an MC says a lyric that hypes the crowd, the DJ would start the instrumental from the beginning (reload it), which was heavily used in the Reggae clashing scene. - Myles, Producer, Artist
For me, that House & Garage/Garage/ UK Garage moment can never happen again. There was literally something for everyone and this wasn’t Pop music. Even at its height it wasn’t called Pop. Finding out about pirate stations, buying records or going to school to get a tape off a friend was the same as football stickers or even Pokémon cards. We were excited, especially when MCs started to come up. We finally started to have something that was ours. Nobody sounded American anymore. But when it didn’t last and Grime came through, it was a different moment. That was our “forget the flashy stuff”, we’ve got nothing and are creating something. I’d literally meet my friend every Friday to trade new Grime songs we’d collected from that week. - Lee, Designer, Artist
It gave you a nostalgic feeling before you even knew what the word meant. First day of summer, the sun's beaming down on the estate, go for a walk and see all the older boys in their cars blasting out Heartless Crew and Shy FX, birds in tank tops with pink Air Max 90s with Chupa Chups in their mouth. I won't ever have that feeling again I reckon. - Dan, Comedian, Artist
For me it was a time when Reebok trainers were 30 quid, everyone owned a tracksuit, Prada American Cups were worn at school, raves and funerals, all my friends' older brothers wanted to either be a producer or an MC and a time when this sound wasn't even called "Grime". It was also a period that is still talked about and reminisced more than others amongst old friends and new. We can all remember where we were and what we were doing the first time we heard a certain Wiley instrumental. It was also a time that I started drawing on Air Force 1s for people in the area, that then led to making t-shirts that matched, which led to something else, then onto something else etc and now I am here. I'm grateful for growing up during that time and the journey it is taking me on. I have a lot to be thankful for. - Matt, The Pale Girls