Notorious G-R-I-M-E
G Notorious runs down the top five grime bangers on A Lasting Impression
Ask Boston’s G Notorious how a junglist ended up spinning grime, and he’ll tell you “it’s dirty, street-wise music rather than the glossy, focus-group-approved, marketing-campaign-driven dreck that we are constantly bombarded with on the radio.” But it’s also kind of a no-brainer. “I've been listening to hip-hop for years while playing mostly dance music, plus I've also always liked Dancehall reggae. Grime MCing combines the lyrical styles of hip-hop and dancehall with a uniquely British flow, while the beats and instrumentals pull from those genres as well as garage, drum ’n’ bass, dub, and even techno.” Here’s a few of his favorite recent tracks, all of which can be found on A Lasting Impression:
1. “Run 4 Cover.” “It's a remix of the huge Dancehall anthem ‘Welcome to Jamrock’ and the MCs toast over it in full Ragga style.”
2. “Top Shotta.” For the heavy top-quality production and bassline, plus the MCs bring rhymes that are more clever than most.”
3. “WMD.” “This is really lyrically one of the most interesting grime tracks I've heard. Faction G goes off on a tirade about the US involvement in Iraq and accuses Tony Blair of basically playing ‘lap dog.’ It's great to hear someone step aside from just bigging themselves up and trying to murk the next man and really try to put a message across.”
4. “Broken Wings.” “Okay, the first time I heard this, well, if I was on Springer I would have said ‘Oh, no they di-int!’ The ‘Take these broken wings’ sample from whatever ’80s tune that was is so bad but they made a HUGE tune out of it.” [ed. note: Google ‘Mr. Mister,’ kids.]
5. “There are also several tracks by up and coming US-based grime producers J Courage, Rugged & Prez, and my own remix of Lady Fury's ‘Too Much Drugs,’ which you're probably not going to hear except on A Lasting Impression and on SoulChampion.com.”
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