Abstract
In this chapter, I will principally examine issues of race in the British Grime music scene.
Grime music is a Black British musical form that has a multicultural scene, physically and virtually. Friendship groups in the scene reflect local (racialised and classed) demographics. Online friendships formed across racial boundaries. Lindner (99–110, 2008) found whilst Black youth culture is the most influential on British youth culture in the noughties, this does not benefit Black British youth who remain under the surveillance of politicians, the media and educationalists. This extends to include the prevalence of relabelling genres/categorising (i.e. knowledge creation and production), policing and legislature surrounding the Black and urban music scenes in Britain.
I will explore race, class and gender in the scene, specifically cases where problems and issues arose for fans in relation to multi-cultural consumption of Black cultural products; and examine notions of authenticity, criminalisation, belonging and processes of racialisation and genderisation in the scene and in wider British society.
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Notes
- 1.
All names have been changed.
- 2.
BBC Press Office (2002).
- 3.
Presenter speaking at Soft launch of the Black Music Research Unit – BMRU (2013).
- 4.
Gboyega (2013).
- 5.
Black British Music.
- 6.
British Black Music: Race Equality: In Music Industry Launch.
- 7.
University of the Arts (2015).
- 8.
Joyce (2014).
- 9.
Aizlewood (2016).
- 10.
Renshaw (2016).
- 11.
The British Blacklist (n.d.).
- 12.
The Ultimate Seminar (2012).
- 13.
Platt (2015).
- 14.
Leeds University Student Union (2016).
- 15.
- 16.
The British Library (n.d.) The S.S. Windrush was a significant ship involved in post war migration since the Second World War from the Caribbean, docking in Tilbury on Britain’s south coast. Whilst there had been a small degree of migration and settlement before S.S Windrush, it marked the beginning specific phase of mass migration in British history (1940s–1970s) from the colonies. Black Britishness is a specific classification and set of lived experiences within the wider Black Atlantic or African Diaspora.
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Charles, M. (2019). Are You Grime or Part-Time?! Reviewing Race and ‘Realness’ in Britain’s Grime Scene. In: Essed, P., Farquharson, K., Pillay, K., White, E.J. (eds) Relating Worlds of Racism. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78990-3_12
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