The second half of the year began at Rinse FM's 15th Birthday at Matter which gave Boy Better Know the opportunity to cement their place as the top live act in the Grime Scene. You can download the audio here.

They smashed it to pieces again at the night in November

Events have been few and far between elsewhere, but Tempa T and P Money dominated the line ups of the smaller nights across the country slowly building up their fanbases. Hopefully next year there will be more opportunity to see a variety of acts live whether they are accommodated at Dubstep nights like Newham Generals and Badness or at the 'eclectic' nights that choose acts from Dubstep, Hip Hop, Funky and Grime.



Releases were strong, but as usual lackluster promotion and a lack of outlets doesn't allow the music to get the coverage it deserves. Big up the journalists still paying attention regardless of the funky and dubstep hype. A Grime show on 1xtra or Choice would help, but 1xtra chose to go with Dubstep & Electro shows, and Choice is lacking new names and new music.


Next year I would like to see more people pushing individual singles, across the year to build their profile instead of coming and going so fast with mixtapes, which requires longer recording time and larger investment. Lets stop doing going with what is a good look, and roll with what makes sense economically. Spending money on a video for a track with no release date planned is an epic fail. JME did this the best with 'Over Me'. Video released, track battered by the DJs for 6 weeks, then available on iTunes for 79p.

Here are a selection of key releases:


Roll Deep - Street Anthems - All the classic unreleased vocals, including Eskimo. Essential for anyone that has ever read this blog.
Terror Danjah - Hardrive Vol 1 & 2. 40 Tracks for 7.99. Some of the vocal work in the Grime scene is on this CD. Durrty Goodz - Reloadz, Griminal - Cant Be and Frisco - Big Man Ting are the ones to grab.
Target & Danny Weed - Aim High The Revolution - Great collection of work from the Roll Deep producers. Features from Devlin, Wiley, J2k, Shola Ama, Ghetts and more make this unmissable.
The only DJ to release a mixtape this year DJ Magic got really good coverage for putting together a CD full of unreleased material and exclusive freestyles. It was a good listen, hopefully more DJs go down this route next year, as I believe it is long overdue. Grime DJs need a revenue stream to keep them going as bookings are few and far between.
J Sweet - Earth 616 EP - Long overdue from J Sweet, I just hope he can make some sort of return next year. I am going to go and pay him a visit in the near future, hopefully he is still making these type of beats.
Royal T - 1UP or Shatap EP - This is the first producer that I feel like I had a part of their development. I heard over a year ago now, as he had been sending me tunes for a few months beforehand. As soon as I heard this, I knew it was the one. I aired it on my second Rinse FM show, and the feedback was immense. It went on to be a mainstay on radio sets until P Money gave it the official vocal.
P Money - Money Over Everyone - I was a fan of P Money on radio appearances alone. After all the MCs stopped turning up, P Money & Blacks kept it going Sunday Nights on JJs 1-3am practicing on beats that turned up on the CD. Money Over Everone's highlights are: Fruits & Veg, Left The Room, 1UP and Hot Ones are some of the best Grime vocals ever. Yes, ever.
Trim continued to push his mixtape campaign with Monkey Features, his second mixtape of the year. I prefer Soulfood 4 to this, but in general Trims material grows on me. Give me time on this one, I will enjoy it after a few more spins. Check his recent show with Plastician, showing he can still do incredible live sets.
Blackdowns has released two massive Durrty Goodz tracks this year, first Gutter Music (produced by Starkey) and Concrete Streets produced by himself. On the flip Goodz gets the Zomby treatment, which has been fun to mix I must say.
Big H - Street Crime UK - Big H was one of the most highly rated MCs without a CD until this year. Aided by clever virals like the 'This Is Bloodline' documentary and the overwhelming support on Grimeforum he made an impact with his return and debut CD. My personal favourite 'Hooligan' produced by Skepta is played deep into next year.

Newham Generals - Hard - I think this comes in at a close second for tune of the year. The reception for this track everywhere has been sick. They have been performing it effectively all year, I was surprised and happy to hear it done properly. It seems like this was more well received then the entire album, which is a shame, as it had some great tracks on there.


Joker - City Hopper / Output One Two - This release won't define the incredible year Joker has had. We know there is more to come with 'Tron' and his debut album awaiting a release. Hopefully a few other Grime producers can enjoy similar successes next year; touring the world, producing for big artists as well as still putting out quality solo material.


Terror Danjah - Gremlinz - I have been working closely with Terror in the last couple of months, and see this release as a turning point. Gone is the Terror Danjah that ran Aftershock records, developed artists and recorded tones of vocal music. Now focused on the instrumental form, next year sees releases on Hyperdub, Planet Mu and our new label Butterz and a return to DJing.
And finally Starkey - Ok Luv feat Badness only surfaced recently, but it is a great track. Taken off the forthcoming Starkey album "Ear Drums and Black Holes" it adds a different vibe to our sets. More music like this please Starkey!

I know there are tons of other releases but that is most of what I was really into that got released in the last 6 months.

Once again I believe overall it has been a great year for quality music, so we can go into 2010 with our heads up high, and await new music from all the top dogs!

Hold tight

Keep it Grimy

Grimetapes.com continues the 'Wheel' series with highlights of the classic pirate radio moments. to skip the blurb Download Here.

Appearances from Roachee, Trim, Tempa T, K Dot, Dizzee, Wiley, JME, D Double E, Shizzle, HYPER!, Riko, Slicks, Jendor, Big H, Footsie, Monkey!, Terminator and more capture the energy you will find very rarely on the airwaves today.

Radio has been strange this year, there have been periods of time when MCs turn up every week, then nothing for weeks on end. Earlier on in the year when P Money & Blacks were turning up 2 or 3 times a week to Vectra, Smallz and JJs shows it boosted their fan base to culminate in the epic set on Logans show for the release of 'Money Over Everyone'.

Like with everything else Wiley does, people follow after he sets the tone, and his recent return to Rinse FM has motivated Brazen, Scratchy, Flow Dan, J2K, Manga, Trim, and more people to turn up more often. Nowhere near enough MCs are doing radio, just to have BBK & Roll Deep MCs all the time isn't allowing enough talent to develop. Even the names I have just mentioned, they were all there back in the day. Where are the new names? Hopefully next year the younger MC's like Maxsta will be making regular radio appearances, whether its alongside the established MCs or with new talent.

Hopefully 2010 will be more consistent in terms of radio appearances from the top flight talent, and the new names be given a chance to shine. It is difficult to be put on the massive spotlight of Logan's Show without months of live practice. People are still not using the podcast or uStream format to their advantage, if you cannot get on Rinse or another big station, you need to be utilizing the technology to spread your music. Grimedaily isn't the only way to be heard!

Swindle is one of the most promising producers I have come across since I started the Rinse FM show. He was our guest back in February and his stand out track was 'Swaggeristic'. At the time he was focused on working with artists, and I pressured him to experiment just making instrumental music to see what he came up with. 5 months later, I get a new bunch of Swindle tracks in my inbox. And the track now known as 'Air Miles' along with 'Sidechain Remix' are going to help Swindle make a massive impact in 2010.

The first time I came across your name was on Terror Danjahs 'Zumpi Hunter' Remix when Maximum played it on a Boy Better Know studio set in 2007. It was admired by many and only just released this year on Planet Mu. How did that come about, and are there any more plans for Terror & Swindle collaborations?

Me & Terror will always work side by side, future collaborations are inevitable! We been speaking about producing a whole album together, plus there's a Swindle remix of 'Sidechain' so watch out for all that!

I think producer collaboration has been missing for the last few years, is there someone that you would like to do a track with? I think you and Joker need to do one. You could give a track like 'Purple City' some lengman funk!

Joker for definite, we've actually spoken about doing it for ages! I like to work in studio rather then online, so when the times right we may get to work! Also planning stuff with Rude Kid and Wizzy Wow. Gotta get something done with Rapid!!!

We met earlier on this year when you guested on our show, 10 months has passed what has changed in your world musically since then?

I think since then we have seen a lot more acts around us hit the charts in a serious way, so hunger levels have gone up! I know for sure at some point in my career I'm looking for a top 10 at least!!

Who haven't you worked with yet that you would like to do tracks with?

Rapid! its difficult because Ive worked with a lot of people! Scorcher is bringing heat!


With artists that you have previously worked with like Chipmunk achieving massive commercial success do you feel under pressure to make music that could chart? Do you have productions on any mainstream albums coming out next year?

I've submitted beats for Tinie Tempah, Ghetts, Bratt, but no I don't feel pressure, I don't make music to be under pressure. Having the chart success would be great but I'm not going to force it, I think that's were some artists go wrong!


Any plans to get into DJing to help spread your sound?

Its definitely on the cards! We will have to see where next year takes me! At the moment I don't own decks, but was thinking of investing!

What other producers are you rating at the moment? I saw on twitter that you were doing an All star producer tune, is that still going to happen?

Yea that is on its way, me, Terror Danjah, Wizzy Wow, its sounding crazy I hope to put out a couple of all star producer tracks! Producers in UK making noise at the moment for me are: Calvin Harris, Chase n Status and Mark Ronson.

You have spoken about trying to accommodate all of your influences and styles onto an album project, how difficult do you think it will be to make an album like that?

Its very difficult, which is why I've divided up into E.P's 'Who Said Funk?' is out Feb 2010 this is a five vocal track take on 'funky house' this has nothing to do with my next E.P that has hard hitting instrumentals such as 'Air Miles' and 'Sidechain Remix' I am not yet in a position where I could put these all on the same album! The audiences I feel are too different!


'No More' has seen your sound go 'funky'. What has been the reception from that audience? What are your thoughts about the scene in general?

Reception has been great, we were garage track of the week on Radio 1, Pioneers Power Play on Kiss, Bookings, Specials are all new things! The scene in general I think has diversity within itself, with a lot of MC dominated tracks on one side, soulful vocals on the other, and hard instrumentals there as well it will be interesting to see which of those corners will have the longest run!

What would be an ideal 2010 for you? You have a lot of directions you could take!

As long as I'm still able to put my music out and people appreciate it like this year ill be happy, anything else over that will be down to the work I put in!

Any big ups?

Terror Danjah, A.L, Nadia Suliman, Marvel, Every DJ that has EVER played me!, 2Tone Entertainment, Lioness, Mercston

Check Swindle's Discography here and on Twitter here.

January - Fact Magazine



February - Westwood 1xtra Mix


March - Vice Magazine 'Overproof'



July - This Ones A Percy Ingle



September - 24 Hours In The Life

24 Hrs in the life...... from Trav on Vimeo.

2 Years Old!



Plus all the Rinse FM and Butterz TV shows.. Pick your poison!

One of my favourites shows so far. Not sure why, but everything just sat together nicely. Wouldn't know I forgot a whole CD case would ya!

Alternative Link here.

West LDN crew make sure you reach this one!
More 2010 Ones to watch coming shortly, graduating tomorrow, so should be back Thursday!

Peace

Out to Ingmar for the night, was massive! Big up Nikanika on the flicks! Was a very big night, tunes I can remember going down particularly well were Tempa T - Next Hype & Boy Off The Ting, Footsie - 3 Plates, Terror Danjah's Sidechain & Air Bubble, Joker - Stash and Swindles latest untitled production.

So hopefully we will be back in Holland next year, so if your out there and didn't manage to reach this one, hit us up next time.

I met up with Progressive Intelligence who were repping fully on the night, and interviewed them quickly to see what they were feeling. They gave me a free CD which you can download here!

Enjoy!

*Update* -

To skip the speech and get straight to the 'Butterz 2nd Birthday Mix' download here. Or listen below on the player.

We started this blog two years ago when information on Grime online was sparse. It still is to some extent, but this was before Grime Forum was born, before Grimedaily and all of the smaller blogs that have popped up over the last year or so.

We have interviewed quite a lot of interesting people in the scene since then, and had some incredible experiences down to us starting this blog. It is also a year since Skilliam and I have been doing shows on Rinse FM, the transition from being just an opinion to actually finding the new music and sharing it with you guys has been heavy.

Writing this in a hotel room in Holland ready to do our second show here this year would of been unthinkable when we started this! So watch out for what we do next it this is only the beginning. But to reminisce for a bit....

My favourite moments so far have to be (In no order)

Swagger = Swag
Talksport
Guesting on Westwoods 1xtra show
Appearing on Durrty Goodz - Grime Killers Song
Rinse FM w/ JJ & Sir Spyro
24 Hours
Logan Sama Interview
Mz Bratt Interview
6 Months in Grime 2009
Kano 'The Best Grime Show Ever?'

There's so many people I want to big up, so check them out, all on their respective pages, hit them up they are good people. If I missed you I love you and you know it so don't bitch.

2 Plates / Tasha / Matt Benson / Logan Sama / Scratcha / Joo / Terror Danjah / Slackk / JJ / JP / Rude Kid / HIJ / Planet KL / Lockdown / Spyro / Vectra / Bizzle / TRAV!! / RINSE FM!! / Loukia / Dirty Canvas/ Blackdown / FACT / Mosca & Unknown Soulja / Nick / Witts / Lakey / Dan / ALLCAPS / And all the people that have ever put anything on their blog/ booked us / read this / commented / sent tunes / listened on Rinse FM!

Much love! 2010!

J Beatz was one of the first producers I came across on Grime Forum in early 2008. First of all I was shocked at the work rate, then I was shocked at his age. He was sending me a beat a week before I had even joined Rinse FM. Persistence is the key in this game, now he is gone on to get big vocals in 2009 from the likes of Big H and Skepta, 2010 should see him cement his name as producer in his own right with a release on No Hats No Hoods.

SRC hailing from Birmingham is the first of many 2010 ones to watch im going to do over the next few weeks. He reached out to me in May this year with about 10 beats and has been giving me about 10 every month since.



So give us a little introduction to the world of SRC, as I still dont know much about you!

Im a producer/aspring DJ from birmingham. Been makin beats for a few years now since about 03, Ive put out a few free downloads Organised grime, the srcd series and one called four one one.

So has it been an on and off thing or have you been consistently been making beats since 2003?

On and off I would say, I had months without making anything and sometimes its a few in a day. It depends on whats going on at the time.



You mentioned before you had a vocal tune out with a crew, shed a bit more light on that, and are you going to work with any other MCs?

It was a tune called "I Know what U Did" Came out in 2005 maybe. It did quite well with a video on channel U and plays on 1xtra. That was what got me involved in the scene in Birmingham as a lot of DJs & MCs got in touch after hearing it. I've had quite a lot of vocals altogether, from Birmingham MCs.

As for working with MCs I probably will do occasionally but I'm more concerned with beats at the moment. Saying that I'm involved with Vader's "Invasion" Movement so I will definitely have some beats in any projects coming from there.



Do you think not being in London where you could of networked with the bigger MCs has made you focus more on beats?

Not even that you know, it would have probably have been a help if I was in London to get vocals that might get me known, but what it was really was that I found a lot of MCs took long when I wanted a vocal for one of my projects, but when they wanted one it seemed to get done almost instantly. That left me a bit bitter and from then I cut down who I worked with to a minimum. Now though I just like beats more, I only really listen to instrumental tunes in any genre.

So what else are you listening to at the moment?

I listen to a lot of J Dilla, Flying lotus, Afta-1 Madlib, That kinda instrumental hip-hop stuff.

And Grime wise what are you into, and what keeps you motivated to make the music?

Grime wise I try to listen to most of what's out. I like a lot of the Swindle I Terror Danjah stuff you've been playing lately as well as some of the older grime tunes like J-sweet & Virgo. My motivation is just good response I guess. Its always nice when someone says they like a beat you've spent time on. Especially recently having more people approach me about tunes they like motivates me to carry on making beats.


Your a DJ as well? When you start playing out, what kind of set would you do? I assume you would play a lot of your own stuff?

I only really got into it this past year. Bought some decks, but I have played out couple times already alongside my mates B9a & Skeme. I don't play that much of my own stuff yet but I've been slowly working them into my sets. I want to do a mix full of my beats soon though.



What's the plans for next year?

This years gone pretty quick! I'm looking forward to releasing something on vinyl soon, and then follow it up with more both vinyl and digital. Hopefully I get to DJ out some more and just carry on making music and see how it goes. 'Gold Coins' is coming out on Numbers and hopefully others will come throughout the year.

Any last words?

Just big up to you and Skilliam for playing the tunes and helping me out. Oneman & Jackmaster and all the other DJs and people enjoying the music!

Download: SRCD Volume Four

Hit SRC up Myspace / Twitter / Youtube

Terror Danjah guested showcasing his forthcoming material on Hyperdub & Butterz labels in 2010. More on those soon. If you want to download the audio click here.

The blog is nearly two years old, expect a major birthday post at the end of the week!

Dutch crew hit us up here on Friday!

Soon!

Download the audio here

If you haven't been involved in the Twitter phenomena you have been missing out on U Stream. People broadcasting live, from wherever they may be. They come in different styles, so you could get Griminal and his mates spitting live from college, Mz Bratt taking questions from her followers and 50 Cent interacting with his fans. Skilliam and I have taken the route that our Rinse FM colleague DJ Oneman has, broadcasting a radio show live from the house. We are normally on Rinse FM late, and not everyone can check us out live, so it was fun to interact with a different bunch of people.

The show features new music from Starkey, SRC, Maniac and Terror Danjah, along with some Barry White for good measure.

I am not sure how often we are going to do this, but we want to get really creative with it, so watch this space.


Next month we are back in The Netherlands playing alongside Distance for Dub Infusions. Dutch crew you can buy tickets here, and we will be floating about the whole Saturday so if you want to link up, give me a shout.

What's up you lot? It's been so so long since I have spoken to you. Recently I have been trying to sort out my real life, and its resulted in Butterz, Rinse and anything else taking a bit of a hiatus. Now I seem to be over the trials and tribulations, I am back, and I will try not to let Twitter steal my random bursts of thought on Grime.

Since I have been away, Chipmunk has achieved a number 1 in the charts, which has had mixed reactions from the Grime scene. People ask me all the time why the Grime Forum have nothing bad to say about Tinchy Stryder yet when it comes to Chip they are all over him. It is just one thing: EGO. Statements like "Dj's that play just grime play 2 many wack ambitionless artist that I don't want my music played amongst! Explanation for my elevation!" are totally unnecessary. It reminds me of what Kano was doing when 'London Town' came out. Then after the mainstream attention is gone, you have to make double the effort to be accepted by the fans that made you in the first place. How about while your doing well in the mainstream pay homage to where you came from, and never alienate yourself from your core fan base.

For extra thought on this check Blackdowns latest Pitchfork column and Julie's point of view.
So while Chipmunk has been shouting Grimes dead of the rooftops, Wiley made an appearance on Rinse FM for the first time in over a year. It was the first time I have seen twitter light up with everyone locked in across all the scenes to see what he was saying. It's a shame big MCs dont turn up to radio more often, they seem more focused on getting on Grimedaily.

It's at that point of the year when Grime characters start talking about next year. You know, the guys that have done fuck all in 2009, claiming 2010 to be theirs. I wish you lot the best of luck with that.

Ill be back in bit, until then, check:

BBC - Police target 'Hip hop' nightclubs + Grime & 696 on BBC1
Boy Better Know Live @ Matter 31st July
Skepta - Nokia Charger Wire/King Of Grime Free Download
Newham Generals - Hard
Rinse FM - License Petition
FWD v Rinse @ Matter
Terror Danjah - Gremlinz
Dot Rotten - 50 Free Instrumentals

Sparked up by this debate on the Grime Forum we decided to have a little mix up with some of the producers that have been sending us some quality tunes for a while. It is likely that I will feature them here in the near future, when they have releases planned. But for now, check out their music, let me know what you think, and if you would like to send tracks in, please do by emailing me - Elijah@grimeforum.com

P Money - 1UP
Lethal Bizzle - Dont Run Up
Skepta - Gingerbread Man
Terror Danjah - Sidechain
Maniac - Boiler
Rude Kid - Exist 2
OG'z - Passing Thru
Fumin - Just Realised
Wiley - I was like you
DVA - Kill alla Dem VIP
Newham Generals - Murked Again
Griminal - Cant Be
Skepta - O My Days
Sharky Major - Shark Attack
Dot Rotten - Ride for me
Ghetts & Rapid - One Way Road
Wiley - Wheres My Brother
J2k - Over There
Mz Bratt - I like you

*New producer showcase*

SRC - Gold Coins
Desto - Aquanaut
SNK - Break In
Sandman - Checkstation
General Tank - Past to the present
Moony - Double ?
SRC - Oi Oi
Mr Mitch - Hollywood
Santino - Smackhead
Scope - 5,000 volts
SNK - Writers Block
Moony - One2One
???? - ????
Krimzon Productions - Judgement Day
Mr Mitch - Jailhouse
Myrikal - ????
General Tank - ????
Scope - Critical State
SRC - Hymarono

Swindle - With You
Footsie - Tetsuyas Theme
Silencer - Wizard
Terror Danjah - Radar
Maniac - Captain
Terror Danjah - Nightcrawler 2
JME - Computer Girls
Rude Kid & Terror Danjah - The Best Crawler

Click the flyers for more information. If you reach, say hi!

For bookings contact Elijah@Grimeforum.com - And Download the latest Rinse Podcast Here.

Major shouts to everyone on Grimeforum for this. Incredible thread

Features DJ's JJ, Vectra & Spyro. Some legendary stuff, gutted I wasn't part of this.

Enjoy

Swindle - Generations
Skepta - ASAP
Terror Danjah - Planet Shock
Wiley - Mystic Forest
Silencer - Mr T
Geeneus - Jamhot (Davinche Remix)
Big$hot - 007
Dexplicit - Wakadoosa
Maniac - Headshot
Skepta - DTI
Jakes & Joker - 3Klane - (L Vis 1990 Remix)
Tempa T - Next Hype
Maniac - Ugly
Nocturnal - Vet
Terror Danjah - Sqaure Off
????? - ??????
????? - ??????
Wiley - Club 5
J Sweet - Kerb
Eastwood You Aint Ready
DJ Dready - ?????
Mondie - Pull Up Dat
Davinche - ?????
D Double E - Frontline Acapella
Dizzee Rascal - Hoe
Doctor - Calm Down Acapella
Maniac - G.R.I.M.E
Crazy Titch - Singalong Acapella
Youngstar - Bongo
Flirta D - Warpspeed Vectra Special Acapella
Wiley - Outburst
Ruff Sqaud - Dark Spyro Special
????? - R&G Remix
P Money - Freestyle
Maniac - ?????
Terror Danjah - ?????
Silencer - Bonus Stage
Narrows - Saved Soul
Spyro - DEE Refix
JME - 007
Rude Kid - Exist
Frisco - Say My Name
Target - Earth Warrior
Dexplicit - Steamtrain VIP
Caspa - Marmite (LOL)
Rude Kid - Jack Daniels
Bossman - Bongo Eyes
Plasticman - Cha
Maniac - Predator
Jammer -We Run The Show
Dready - Invade
??? - Pulse I Love You
Darque E Freaker - Dirtbag hype
Rude Kid - Are You Ready?
Statik - Supadupe
Scottie D - Libery
Ruff Squad - 100%
Rude Kid - Aftershave
Terror Danjah - Code Morse
Silencer - Goblin
??? - ???
Teeza - Secret Level
DPM - ?????
JME - They've Found Bin Laden (Spyro VIP)
Dexplicit - No
Nocturnal - Don't Phone Me
Waifer - Gunman Skank
Terror Danjah - Stealth Mode
Lewi White - Ice Cream Man Refix/Remix

Next Hype Remixes Vinyl Buy here
Pars R Us T Shirts Buy Here

No Hats No Hoods Volume 1 Buy Here

Best in the scene right now - Download Next Hype remixes here