Boy Better Know Label Focus | Why I’m excited to host it

Hi all,

If you’re reading this on the date it was published (7th December 2014) then you are just in time for a very exciting Eclectic Sessions tonight.

First of all, tonight’s show marks the Silver Jubilee of Eclectic Sessions. This means tonight, Eclectic Sessions will be broadcasting live on Hub Radio for the 25th time, and what better way to celebrate it then to present one of the most significant collectives in UK rap culture and arguably the most significant collective in Grime; Boy Better Know.

This above logo represents so much for so many. I have a boy better know t-shirt. It’s a black one with white writing (like above). My Dad bought it for me from UK Record Shop for Christmas in 2005 when I was 12. It was/is better than any Nike or Adidas t-shirt; it was/is marginally better than any Akademiks, Averix or Lot 29 t-shirt. This t-shirt really stood for something. I wanted one for so long, not because I bought into the gimmicky sales pitches from JME but because I wanted to boldly show I support the culture. I stood for the culture, which was beyond Boy Better Know, however representing that by wearing a Boy Better Know tee was acceptable. There were other Grime affiliated brands which seemed a bit more egotistical like Tinchy Styder’s ‘Star in the Hood’; they inevitably didn’t have the same value. A ‘Boy Better Know’ tee was seen a stamp of Grime approval. No one, not even rival crews and MCs would ever, sincerely, dis the Boy Better Know tee or the Boy Better Know Brand and I was proud to support that.

Boy Better Know, the label and musical outlet also holds a substantial importance on my teenage years. Limewire was the hub where I sourced every single Tunnel Vision and Back 2 Da Lab mixtape by Eskiboy/Wiley and Frisco Respectively. Low quality JME and Skepta beats were shared and sent over bluetooth networks using Sony Ericsson mobile phones. Those same mobile phones were used as devices to play those same beats as backing tracks whilst crowds of us would huddle around it and spit 16 for 16. Phrases like POOMPLEX, SHH HUT YUH MUH and DERKHEAD became part of our everyday vocabulary.

When the first wave of Grime was in it’s prime, when I used to stay up late to listen to Tim Westwood on Sunday evenings 10-Midnight on 1xtra and Logan Sama Monday evenings 11-1am on Rinse FM (both of which were school nights). Before Tinchy Stryders voice broke and somehow got higher in pitch, when every neighbourhood had a host of local spitters who would send for the spitters in the next neighbourhood, when playground disagreements were settled with bars and diss tracks. Crews such as N.A.S.T.Y, The Movement, OG’z, Ruff Sqwad, Roll Deep and of course Boy Better Know where the central figures in the Grime scene at the time.

I had friends who I labelled as ‘partners in Grime’ that I would discuss current affairs, new bars and new music in Grime with. The culture and the music were just as important as each other, you couldn’t have one without the other. MCs would talk about the scene and the members in it on tracks, hence you could only really relate to the tracks if you knew about the scene. I did, we did, we loved it. I was part of multiple crews in Oxford which I won’t name. We used to go to youth club studios 10 man deep and all spit 16s over grime beats we sourced from one of the attendees USB stick. If not that, we would all gather into one mans bedroom equipped with a Samson USB microphone and a laptop with Audacity installed on it. We would do the same as we would in studio however this time round have to remain dead quiet whilst one of us steps to the mic to record their 16. We wouldn’t project our vocals as well in bedroom studios as we were subconsciously being mindful of the hosts’ mum downstairs. We would do all we can to get our tracks heard, despite the quality being so catastrophically bad. I guess, although none of us would admit to it, we wanted to be Boy Better Know or another one of the crews mentioned previously.

Right now, I am just typing away and not really considering the consistency of this article. Grime is something that I could get carried away with and talk about forever. The reason I am expressing all of this is to essentially represent how excited I am to conduct this Boy Better Know label focus on my beloved show tonight. Although I will be hosting, I am almost certain to be overwhelmed by the nostalgia.

See this passage as the relevant information I’ll be too distracted to deliver on the show, furthermore see it as an apology in advance for sporadic hosting, but most of take my avid enthusiasm and be as agog as I am for tonight’s show.

8pm – http://www.hubradio.co.uk/player

Stay Eclectic

Silecta