Grime artists are being less vocal about the Labour leader this time round (Picture: Getty Images)

The UK grime community don’t look like they’ll be offering Jeremy Corbyn the same support as they did for the 2017 General Election.

They encouraged young people across the country to vote and pledge their support for the Labour Party with the offer of tickets to a secret rave if they did.

MC JME even interviewed Corbyn and explained to him why ‘bare of us’ don’t vote.

But the hype of the Grime4Corbyn movement appears to have died down ahead of the upcoming December 12 General Election, with many big names in the scene doubting its effectiveness.


A manager who asked not to be named told the Guardian: ‘The general consensus is that they were used.

AJ Tracey says he won’t be voting for Jeremy Corbyn this year (Picture: WireImage)

‘They didn’t follow up. They weren’t expecting a general election so soon, and it’s a bit late to go to the grime community now after ignoring us.’



Several prominent artists including JME have not responded to requests to take part in a campaign this year.

Grime artist AJ Tracey backed the Labour leader back in 2017 because he was the ‘best of a bad bunch’ and appeared in a video showing his support.

But in a recent interview with the Observer he said he wouldn’t be voting this time for Corbyn, who he said ‘failed to capitalise’ on the movement’s momentum.

Novelist joined the Labour party before the previous general election but has since declined to discuss his previous involvement with Grime4Corbyn.

JME’s older brother Skepta said in an interview with Q that grime artists had ‘sold themselves for f***ing* bulls***t”.

He said four months after the campaign politicians ‘don’t give a f*** about us again’.

Grime4Corbyn says it has done lots of ‘less high-profile work’ since the 2017 election (Picture: Reuters)

But one of Grime4Corbyn’s organisers Adam Cooper denies any artists were used or manipulated.

He said the group have since delivered workshops and spoken at youth clubs and colleges to discuss the effect they have had on youth politics.

The movement also signed an open letter opposing injunctions which prevent drill rappers from performing certain songs because of their violent lyrics.

Cooper said doing ‘less high-profile work’ could have made it look like the organisation had ‘disappeared’, although the Grime4Corbyn website is no longer active.

The campaigner was also involved in the Fck Boris street party which was held after the Prime Minister stepped into Number 10 in July.

Another rave is due to be held in Johnson’s Uxbridge constituency on Saturday and many more are planned in areas including Kensington, Birmingham, Bristol, Glasgow an Barnet.

Novelist has declined to discuss his past involvement with the Grime4Corbyn campaign (Picture: Redferns)

Cooper says the ‘discourse around young people has changed’, and that their attention is more drawn to the Fck Boris movement.

The PM played off Stormzy’s use of the slogan at Glastonbury by saying he was actually asking the audience to ‘back Boris’

And rapper Slowthai ruffled some feathers with his Mercury Prize performance in which he held up an effigy of the Johnson’s severed head.

A Fck Boris spokesperson said the upcoming election was timed to limit the impact of students voting – as many will have left their student towns for Christmas.



Operation Black Vote 2017 campaigner Lester Holloway said grassroots and street movements played a big role in Labour winning a 77 per cent share of the ethnic minority vote.

He said something ‘new and fresh’ is needed this year and that it makes sense for Grime4Corbyn not to ‘make it too boring by repeating themselves’.

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