Slackk Connects Grime's New and Old Schools

Photo via Electronic Beats

For half a century illegal pirate radio stations have dotted the British cityscape, installed in tower blocks or on ferries just off the coast to avoid detection. They carry music and opinions that licensed radio stations won't touch. When Slackk moved to London from Liverpool six years ago, these renegade airwaves were pumping grime loud and clear into people's homes and cars, and that's when he realized he had found his passion.

Slackk was raised by a house music DJ, so music is in his blood. He's devoted to the point of obsession, but that doesn't mean he won't sneak off early on Friday to get a head start at the pub. Beyond his own music, the 28-year-old DJ and producer is best known as the grime archivist responsible for keeping the genre's history alive. It's his mix of nerdy devotion and joyful abandonment that makes him and his music so interesting.

Grime was built from the cornerstones of house, garage, rap and dancehall in the early 00s by kids in the hood armed with cheap software. Their lyrics and aggressive instrumentals naturally reflected the bleakness of their situation, spitting rapid-fire hyperbole over a palette of metallic drums and raw bass lines. It wasn't uncommon to hear that the beef would jump from diss tracks to the street; clubs and the cops clamped down on public performances and it was shunned by the gatekeepers of mass exposure. Although Dizzee Rascal and a few others managed to catch the attention of the country (and the world) with an unadulterated sound, most artists eventually moved on due to lack of opportunity or blended their style with other genres to be more approachable. These days, most MCs in the city are part of the trap-styled "raw rap" scene, and the pirate stations have dwindled. "There used to be hundreds of different crews on stations all over London," he remembers. "It hasn't been like that for a while now."

The pirate stations were the best lens through which to view grime, and to capture that permanently Slackk started a site called Grime Tapes, where he would upload sets from various stations for the world to browse and download. It became an essential resource for many. "Over the years I'd just accumulated all these sets and tapes of really good pirate radio, and there was nowhere else on the Internet you could go to download them, all indexed and that. So I created it. I also wanted to see if anybody else had sets I didn't."

While Grime Tapes is still live (and yes, the links still work) Slackk has moved on to focus on producing and DJing, and has found himself in the middle of a new grime revival. It's been rebooted as a producer-oriented genre, with an international roster of artists and audiences. The beats have gotten weirder and more versatile with higher production value and advanced software. Artists like Visionist and Logos are joined by the likes of Saga and Samename, while producers like Spooky fly the flame for a more classic grime sound. Last month, a "producer war" flared up among grime's international school, and dozens of people fired shots at one another in the form of brand new dubs aimed at specific competitors. The resulting torrent of new music online and on the radio was a testament to the range of styles and sounds involved.

At least part of the new lack of regionalism is due to the ever-expanding impact of the internet, with shows like Boiler Room and NTS taking the place of pirates such as Deja Vu and Kiss FM. But the replacements could never compare in Slackk's eyes: "It's daft to think that something like Boiler Room could cater for such a localized audience as London's pirate radio stations do or have in the past. That's a global thing really. I like Boiler Room—I know some people don't—but it's a different audience."

The relative absence of MCs in grime's new identity as an instrumental genre is a sticking point for many, however—Slackk among them. But he's not pessimistic, and points to British cities outside London where grime MCs are more common. He also mentions Novelist as one of the new crop of producers who graces the mic as well. And despite London MCs' preference for trap rap-style beats, he still holds out hope that the talent will circle back around towards grime. "There are some good new MCs coming through, and it's probably only natural they intersect at some point."

Despite this new context for grime's resurgence, he's quick to point out it's still grime. Not "new wave grime" or anything like that—just "grime." "It's been ten years since grime kicked off," he says. "Cities change. People change. I think it'd be weird if everything was still in standstill. The point of grime is that it can really be anything, and it's hung around as well—the ideas and the spirit of it—even when a larger media or popular interest wanes. It's a really resilient scene."

With the changes come new ravers as well, but it's a mixed crowd according to Slackk: "We're just normal people with jobs man. I think initially it was more just the heads so to speak, but it's definitely opened up a bit now. We even had some teachers at our last party. It's just a load of people in their 20s and 30s getting pissed and having a dance."

Slackk's new EP, Failed Gods, dropped September 23 on Local Action.

Mike Steyels has a dozen identities and forgets which one this is - @iswayski