Current mood: ARE YOU LOCAL???
Category: ARE YOU LOCAL??? Music
For those of you unfamiliar with the fine detail of East London geography, Bow E3 is a district of London that sits betwixt Whietchapel to the west and Stratford to the east, and the River Thames to the south and Hackney to the north …
On the surface, there's nothing remarkable about the area:
It was heavily bombed in the 2nd World War - it's now mostly rebuilt and (until recently) was almost completely ignorable to all except it's residents..
But nowadays, parts of Bow E3 are on the up 'n up:
Yes boss, the 2012 Olympics are set to transform the former industrial heartland on it's eastern fringe into a wúnder yuppie neo-sports park.
Meanwhile it's population is changing from the 'poor with no-where else cheap enough' to the art and New Media overspill, from the pricier and more central areas of Shoreditch, Bethnal Green and Whitechapel...
More important than any of this wet carp, is the fact that Bow is home to both the Fish Island HQ of Paul Giovanni £rd AND the source and stream of Grime music that produced the tracks Bow E3 by Wiley and I Luv You by Dizzee Rascal on Casa Hasa Giovanna Episode 3
Grime
Described by Wikipedia as being 'typified by sparse and minimalist 2-step breakbeats, generally around 130-145 beats per minute. The lyrics and music combine futuristic electronic elements; and dark, guttural, growling bass lines.' Grime is the only decent claim the UK can have to it's own Hip Hop sound.
Yes boss, whereas most UK Hip Hop is a complete fucking joke copy of it's US Big Dadda, Grime AKA Eskibeat has something else about it. It's fresher, rougher and more angular. It's an evolution of garage and drum 'n' bass mixed with rave and traditional African rhythms, mixed with pain and life in and around Bow E3..
It's a sound that's development is ongoing...
Presently the likes of Dizzee Rascal and Lethal Bizzle are moving the scene onto a more indie and pop footing, whilst the underground scene continues to develop and crossover with genres like dubstep and whatever the hell sound is coming next..
Eski E3
Bow E3 by Wiley is part ode to Bow E3, and part side swipe at his former musical partner Dizzee Rascal..
Yes boss, for reasons only really known to Rascal and Wiley, the two main names of Grime no longer appear to get on and their last LPs (released the exact same day last year) contain a generous slab of mutual sledging...
Wiley takes just such a stab at Rascal in Bow E3 and it's rumoured that Pussyhole is Rascals rather unclassy repost..
My Bow E3
I could now go into some bummy old crap about how I'm down with the kids and know the Grime scene that's flourishing right here in my locale - but the truth is I know very little about it..
The large estates - the E3 that's spawned Grime, is visible from my Fish Island balcony and I wander in and around those places as and when the need goes - but that's a different world to the tired old brick built industry and New Media Prison Ghetto's of Fish Island..
When I wander down Wiley's way (as I'm about to do now) I'm normally looking for fashion tips, old furniture on the street, cut price hats and romper suits. I'm looking for peculiar faces, beer, wine, fruit and veg deals. I'm visiting the library, going to the bank, market and post office - or just cutting through to get somewhere else many miles away...
Yes boss, the real and settled community that Wiley & Rascal know and describe throughout their work is almost irrelevant to my days. Though I can see and feel it to some extent, I don't directly relate or interact with any of it because I don't have too…
And this is one of the things I really love about London and cities in general.
I love the worlds within worlds - the mixed up priorities, the mixed up everything,. I love the brutal contrasts and the lives all so very different that take place within the same postcode of each square mile of sweaty smelly city...
Which brings me neatly on to
I LUV U BOW E3 PT2 :: WORLDS COLLIDE
(which'll follow shortly…)
 | Currently listening :
Playtime Is Over
By Wiley
Release date: By 18 September, 2007 |
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