London

United Kingdom

Grime · 140bpm · UK drill · sound system inheritance

Story, bloodline and 10 names

Britain got hip hop early and then built something else with it. Pirate radio, jungle and garage collided into grime around 2002 — 140bpm, square-wave bass, MCs at double the American tempo — and twenty years later UK drill travelled back across the Atlantic and reset New York.

Bloodline · 1 stop from The Bronx

1973The Bronx
1988London

Jamaican sound systems were already in Notting Hill, so Britain had the infrastructure before it had the music. Then the 1982 New York City Rap Tour landed with Bambaataa, Fab 5 Freddy and the Rock Steady Crew, and London had both halves.

Next stopsLagos, Accra, Nairobi, Down Under, Mumbai

Roll DeepBoy Better KnowRuff Sqwad67

Roster

1988

London Possedeep cut

The first UK crew to rap in their own accent instead of an American one.

YT W

2002

Wiley

Godfather of grime; invented the Eskibeat template and gave it away.

YT W

2003