As a new generation of Grime producers emerges emboldened by Dubstep and Funky, the genre’s emcees are still facing the same old dilemmas. Stuck in between crossover aspirations and a desire to remain hardcore, Grime emcees remain almost as out of place in today’s pop landscape as they were when the genre first began emerging in Garage’s wake. Still, good tunes abound and with the cognoscenti tired of jump-up Dubstep’s incessant wobble and Funky remaining either too feminine or too experimental for the hardcore, Grime is proving resilient.
I’ll save the detailed scene spotting for those with deep roots in the music, but casual fans (or intrigued Hip-Hop heads) would do well to check out music by one P-Money. Despite sporting a rap-moniker so cringe worthy as to make Lil Flip shake his head in despair, “P’s” ability to flip between the Onyx-level shout-rap that Grime is so proud of and more introspective material has made him one to watch in recent months. Take “Numb”, his track on Starkey’s “Ear Drums & Black Holes”. Far outclassing every other emcee on the album, he lets off a torrent of words detailing the frustrations of contemporary life without ever coming off as emo or whiny. The sing-song hook is the killer: harmonizing with the tune’s synths, he takes it back to a time when rappers crooning on their tracks actually counted as innovative, dedicating the song to the healing power of headphone music. Meanwhile on the Suhk Knight produced “Left the Room”, he explodes with the kind of fiery anger that New York let go sometime around Mama Said Knock You Out. Neither of these tunes are new, but back to back it makes one wonder what an all-star produced P-Money album might sound like.
Download
MP3: Starkey ft P-Money – Numb
MP3 P-Money – Left the Room (Prod Sukh Knight) (left click)
