Inner City Pressure: The Story of Grime
Author: Dan Hancox
Inner City Pressure is the ultimate guide of grime. It is a vivid portrayal of the circumstances and events which provided the motivation and the ideal context for a new music genre to flourish and challenge the establishment.
As well as a grime music bible, in many ways it could also serve as a chronicle of 21st century London up until now. Through interviews and extensive research, Hancox has clearly drawn the connecting links between policies developed in the last couple of decades and the evolution of grime. It also traces London’s history and the role that grime artists and culture had on events such as the Olympics, the Grenfell Tower disaster and the 2017 general election, and how these affected the cultural phenomenon.
Hancox explains how the gentrification of East London, the birthplace of grime, often pushed those who had been settled out of that area into poverty and out of the neighbourhoods where their support networks were; and how the increasing use of CCTV and other surveillance methods led to a blossoming of pirate radio stations always on the move.
The changing landscape of life in East London were at the heart of discontent and the birth of a musical movement that would, at its core, challenge the establishment. Without resources, without the support of legit radio stations and the industry, grime refused to die and eventually took over the musical landscape in the UK with artists such as Wiley, Dizzee Rascal and, more recently, Skepta and Stormzy.
It was the establishment constantly working against them and a strong sense of community in East London estates that made them stronger. Setting up makeshift studios in kitchens or bedrooms, they made music that the establishment rejected but that eventually seeped into the mainstream.
Hancox explains how they made music for each other, how they made music together, how they lifted each other up and how what was really important to them was being known in their communities rather than becoming global stars. This is made evident when Hancox interviewed Wiley and asked him what was the greatest moment in his career and his response was that it was when Skepta made it.
I must admit I do not listen to grime music. That is part of what struck me most about this book. Hancox has compiled a chronicle of grime and London that will be of interest to those who love grime and to those who might not. It is gripping and very descriptive. While reading it you might just feel like you were there at the moment grime became a movement.
> Naomi Round
