Grime
Bass · 2002 · 138 to 142 BPM · also known as Eskibeat, Sublow
Grime came out of East London between 2002 and 2004, where teenagers made their own rap over skeletal eight bar instrumentals at 140 beats per minute, produced on PlayStation consoles and FruityLoops and spread through pirate radio. Wiley called it eskibeat, but history settled on the name grime. It is MC music above everything, cold and fast, and stands as the true vocal descendant of garage and one of the major British sounds of the century.
17 reference tracks
- Wiley: Eskimo (2002)
- Dizzee Rascal: I Luv U (2003)
- Lethal Bizzle: Pow Forward (2004)
- Ruff Sqwad: Together (2004)
- Kano: P s and Q s (2005)
- Skepta: That's Not Me (2014)
- JME: 96 Of My Life (2019)
- Ghetts feat. Skepta: IC3 (2021)
- Pete & Bas: Sindhu Sesh (2022)
- Pete & Bas: Shuffle (2022)
- Glints & Daan: (Not A) Housewife (2024)
- JME: 96 Bars of Revenge
- Dizzee Rascal: Stop Dat
- Dizzee Rascal: Brand New Day
- Dizzee Rascal: Fix Up, Look Sharp
- Dizzee Rascal: Sittin' Here
- Dizzee Rascal: Jus' a Rascal
At a glance
- Tempo: 138 to 142 BPM
- First appeared: around 2002
- Machines: Music 2000 (PlayStation), FL Studio, Korg Triton
- The sound: FruityLoops, PlayStation Music 2000, Square waves 8-bar, Basses gunshot, Sidechain radio pirate
- Labels: Boy Better Know, Rinse, Keysound Recordings, Oil Gang, Eskibeat, Coyote
- Key artists: Wiley, Dizzee Rascal, Skepta, Ruff Sqwad, Terror Danjah
Producing Grime
Grime sits at 140 BPM, the speed of the garage it came from, but square, cold and fast with no swing; two feels coexist, the common one placing the snare on two and four. A short digital kick with no sub, often on one plus a syncopated sixteenth, sits under a sharp, loud snare or clap on two and four, sometimes a sampled gunshot, hats kept low or absent. The bass is a blunt, monophonic square wave with a short decay and little filtering, playing a syncopated, memorable sixteenth note riff, often in minor with octave jumps. Cold digital strings, bells, orchestra stabs, sirens and video game bleeps fill out the sound, the mix pumping hard off the kick to imitate a pirate radio sidechain, the only voice being the MC rapping live.
The full production course, in French: tempo, drums, bass, sounds, arrangement, mix, plugins and machines, and a step by step start.
Frequently asked
What is Grime?
Grime came out of East London between 2002 and 2004, where teenagers made their own rap over skeletal eight bar instrumentals at 140 beats per minute, produced on PlayStation consoles and FruityLoops and spread through pirate radio. Wiley called it eskibeat, but history settled on the name grime.…
What tempo is Grime played at?
Between 138 and 142 BPM.
Who are the key Grime artists?
Wiley, Dizzee Rascal, Skepta, Ruff Sqwad, Terror Danjah.
