dontdiedontkillanyon
New member
Pitchfork: Would it be wrong to see Skepta’s use of these photos as a protest against the BRITs?
Hattie Collins: I think that the prize he really cared about was the Mercury [which he won], and I think Stormzy has perhaps been a more vocal figure in grime about the BRITs and the lack of diversity last year. I think Skepta really probably just wanted to use his platform to shine a light on the scene. It was more a chance to display 100-odd people who would possibly most likely never get to be that stage.
His use of that imagery felt meaningful, whereas the BRITs using grime to promote how supposedly inclusive they are turned out to be hollow when they didn't reward any of the artists. Were you surprised?
HC: I was surprised, but I'm surprised at myself for being surprised, because why did I expect any better? Somebody said this to me last night—they gave us the chips but not the steak. I had several conversations last night with key industry people who were patting themselves on the back like, [adopts posh voice], “Oh, you must be so pleased.” Are you insane? If anything it just highlights again how out of touch they are.
Olivia Rose: This might sound mad, but to me it's like Brexit, it's like Trump. How does all of this mad stuff keep happening in 2017? It's so obvious—you only have to look at people's Instagram followers to see who the breakthrough artists of the year were. Ignoring "urban music” is just whitewashing, it really is. The people who vote are not in tune with what the music means to people who live in this country. Somebody asked me last night, “Who is Stormzy?” How can you not have heard his name?
Chip and Stormzy backstage at a show, from ‘This Is Grime’
There's always debate about whether grime “needs” the validation of the industry at large. Do you think what happened last night matters?
HC: It will have no consequences whatsoever on the scene itself. Having said that, if Stormzy had won, if Skepta had won, the impact would actually have been pretty big. You know, Stormzy has an album out this week. It was so telling that it took Ed Sheeran to bring out one of the hottest music stars in this country—you can compare it to Adele and Beyoncé at the Grammys. The Brits itself didn't want to bring Stormzy onstage, and kudos to Ed for sharing the stage with Stormzy and giving him some love on the air.
It has been theorized that as totally independent artists, their success is seen as a threat to the system that the BRITs is founded on. What do you think?
OR: If that is the case, then the music industry needs to wake up. Things are done in a different way now, and you either adapt or react against it. It's so the BRITs that they would reward the dead man and not the black man. That's the bottom line.
Grime doesn't have a huge written culture around it. Why was it important to make This Is Grime an oral history?
HC: I've written about grime for a long time, so I don't see myself as outside of the scene, but I'm also certainly not a person who's shaped it, so I was very cautious of extolling what I believed grime to be. One of the important things about grime is that it's made by a bunch of mates from East London, so I wanted it to have its own voice.
OR: There is no true history. There's so many different versions of the same story: how grime got its name, when things started, where exactly you pinpoint that. That was the other thing, allowing the story to be told in all of its different forms.
HC: Since we've done the book, I'm hearing more and more stories, and it feels such a waste not to continue to document them, so hopefully it'll be a shifting project.
Kano in his car, from ‘This Is Grime’
What would the next chapter be?
HC: It would be the last year: the Mercury, the BRITs. It would be really good to have a very frank discussion about the industry and the impact of these institutions upon the scene. It's not just about awards—it does have a deeper impact politically and culturally. I think that's really interesting in this post-Brexit, Trump-ruling world—these conversations that are important, that have been important throughout grime with things like the Form 696 era.
Any final thoughts about last night?
OR: My final comment is, fuck the BRITs! Skepta’s after-party was a turn-up, we all had fun.
Did any of the artists talk to you about what had happened?
HC: I spoke to Skepta for quite a while, but definitely not about the BRITs. I honestly don't think that they're bothered. He's riding so high in his life right now, I just don't think he will give the BRITs a second thought.
Boy Better Know co-founder (and Skepta’s brother) JME, from ‘This Is Grime’
http://pitchfork.com/thepitch/1449-how-skepta-tried-to-show-the-establishment-this-is-grime/
Hattie Collins: I think that the prize he really cared about was the Mercury [which he won], and I think Stormzy has perhaps been a more vocal figure in grime about the BRITs and the lack of diversity last year. I think Skepta really probably just wanted to use his platform to shine a light on the scene. It was more a chance to display 100-odd people who would possibly most likely never get to be that stage.
His use of that imagery felt meaningful, whereas the BRITs using grime to promote how supposedly inclusive they are turned out to be hollow when they didn't reward any of the artists. Were you surprised?
HC: I was surprised, but I'm surprised at myself for being surprised, because why did I expect any better? Somebody said this to me last night—they gave us the chips but not the steak. I had several conversations last night with key industry people who were patting themselves on the back like, [adopts posh voice], “Oh, you must be so pleased.” Are you insane? If anything it just highlights again how out of touch they are.
Olivia Rose: This might sound mad, but to me it's like Brexit, it's like Trump. How does all of this mad stuff keep happening in 2017? It's so obvious—you only have to look at people's Instagram followers to see who the breakthrough artists of the year were. Ignoring "urban music” is just whitewashing, it really is. The people who vote are not in tune with what the music means to people who live in this country. Somebody asked me last night, “Who is Stormzy?” How can you not have heard his name?
Chip and Stormzy backstage at a show, from ‘This Is Grime’
There's always debate about whether grime “needs” the validation of the industry at large. Do you think what happened last night matters?
HC: It will have no consequences whatsoever on the scene itself. Having said that, if Stormzy had won, if Skepta had won, the impact would actually have been pretty big. You know, Stormzy has an album out this week. It was so telling that it took Ed Sheeran to bring out one of the hottest music stars in this country—you can compare it to Adele and Beyoncé at the Grammys. The Brits itself didn't want to bring Stormzy onstage, and kudos to Ed for sharing the stage with Stormzy and giving him some love on the air.
It has been theorized that as totally independent artists, their success is seen as a threat to the system that the BRITs is founded on. What do you think?
OR: If that is the case, then the music industry needs to wake up. Things are done in a different way now, and you either adapt or react against it. It's so the BRITs that they would reward the dead man and not the black man. That's the bottom line.
Grime doesn't have a huge written culture around it. Why was it important to make This Is Grime an oral history?
HC: I've written about grime for a long time, so I don't see myself as outside of the scene, but I'm also certainly not a person who's shaped it, so I was very cautious of extolling what I believed grime to be. One of the important things about grime is that it's made by a bunch of mates from East London, so I wanted it to have its own voice.
OR: There is no true history. There's so many different versions of the same story: how grime got its name, when things started, where exactly you pinpoint that. That was the other thing, allowing the story to be told in all of its different forms.
HC: Since we've done the book, I'm hearing more and more stories, and it feels such a waste not to continue to document them, so hopefully it'll be a shifting project.
Kano in his car, from ‘This Is Grime’
What would the next chapter be?
HC: It would be the last year: the Mercury, the BRITs. It would be really good to have a very frank discussion about the industry and the impact of these institutions upon the scene. It's not just about awards—it does have a deeper impact politically and culturally. I think that's really interesting in this post-Brexit, Trump-ruling world—these conversations that are important, that have been important throughout grime with things like the Form 696 era.
Any final thoughts about last night?
OR: My final comment is, fuck the BRITs! Skepta’s after-party was a turn-up, we all had fun.
Did any of the artists talk to you about what had happened?
HC: I spoke to Skepta for quite a while, but definitely not about the BRITs. I honestly don't think that they're bothered. He's riding so high in his life right now, I just don't think he will give the BRITs a second thought.
Boy Better Know co-founder (and Skepta’s brother) JME, from ‘This Is Grime’
http://pitchfork.com/thepitch/1449-how-skepta-tried-to-show-the-establishment-this-is-grime/
