Some of the best and most interesting MCs in grime over the last six months have been the under-18-year-olds BKA "the youngers." Last year, Wiley tried to get a load of them (Chipmunk, Ice Kid, Maveric, Griminal, etc.) together to join his Eskibeat label. Like a lot of things Wiley does, it didn't work out. One young MC who wasn't on Wiley's initial wish list was Double S. Over the past few months he has been a shining beacon in the sometimes dark, foggy world of the grime scene. His grimey, autotuned slow-chorus-double-time-verse banger "From Day," produced by Misty Dubs, is one of the best grime songs in a long time. Get it on the Eye of the Tiger 2 compilation out at the end of next month on True Tiger.
Double S, "From Day"
The autotune might potentially be creeping into grime. I heard an autotuned Badness track, "Burn Dem," on Logan Sama's Kiss FM show on Monday, so I'll be keeping an eye out to see if anyone else follows suit. Also on Logan's show this week was teenage MC Chipmunk whose "Who Are You" video (below) is currently riding high at number 2 in the MTV Base chart (in grime terms, this is like winning a Grammy). BTW, Delinquent's "My Destiny" video is also in this chart at the moment. It's being put out by the same label who released T2's "Heartbroken" and will probably go Top 15 when it's released at the end of the month.
I booked Chipmunk to play my club night last May before I knew how good he really was. I don't think I even paid much attention to him while he performed. Also there that night was a 16-year-old MC called Ice Kid. I didn't realise how talented either of the MCs were until I watched this video a few months later.
Ice Kid, "Water It Down"
If there ever was to be a new Dizzee Rascal, it would be Ice Kid. His "fuck the world" attitude (not in a "I hate my parents" emo way, more in a "I was kicked out of school when I was 15 and now all I do is smoke weed every day" way), introspective lyrics and vocal emotion are as close to a young Dizzee as there has ever been. Tim Westwood has a new show on 1Xtra where he gets grime guests in most weeks, films them freestyling and then uploads it to YouTube, and this week Ice Kid and his Hoodstars crew were on. True to form, Ice Kid couldn't stop swearing and the freestyle was cut short. Coincidentally, it was on Westwood's show that Double S first truly grabbed my attention with a freestyle over a beat by teenage producer Maniac.