‘We’re just too interested in the top 100 to care about music with a message’
Elle Money is an Economics student at Newcastle University.
Before knowing anything:
Grime is so clever. The way in which they manipulate words is to have so many different meanings whilst having one overarching meaning is just astounding to me. As soon as the song started I was hooked. In fact, by just the name itself I was hooked. The beat was intense and the way his voice interacted with the beat was like nothing I’ve heard before. Yes, it was repetitive, but I think it needed to be that way because it was almost like he was getting the message into our heads that way. I am slightly unsure as to what the overall message of the song was, because from the video it was wither black rights or governmental fraud… But that confused message kind of undermined it for me. Why not just create two songs; one about the government and one about black rights? I’m sure there was a reason for it but to me, the message got lost along the way.
After being informed:
He had to be from London, where else do grime artists come from? I’m surprised the song isn’t more popular if I’m honest, particularly considering the political upheaval we’ve been in recently, I would have thought more people (especially the young) would have been drawn to this kind of music. I assume we’re just too interested in the top 100 to care about music with a message. Even after it’s been explained to me, I still am unsure of the overall message which he’s trying to tell, but I think he is too. He’s trying to push as many messages onto the listener as possible in a short space of time, and it’s effective, but only because of the beat. I think without the hook and the chorus, the song would lose a lot of it’s intended meaning upon the listener.