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Grime is central to British hip-hop, a brilliant evolution of – and fusing with – that country’s electronic underworld. Though it experienced a rise and subsequent decline in mainstream popularity (consider the international renown of Dizzee Rascal), grime’s been growing since it spewed like acrid bile from beneath Britain’s already unrepentant underground over a decade ago.
Big Dada’s two-disc compilation features the best and brightest in global production. Original gods Wiley and Youngstar draft menacing paeans to grime’s raw-sounding roots with contemporary sonic and sampling cues, while ingenues Preditah and Royal T make music reflecting formative influences like electro, dubstep and EDM trap.
Toronto’s Tre Mission also represents, chopping Rihanna into a stuttering B-more diva. None of this stuff sounds the same, proving grime to be a borderless hinterland populated by some of the most gifted, uninhibited, maniacal musicians.
Top track: Smash It Up Hard by MRK1
