Grime is nothing if not a resilient scene. Since its inception at the start of the last decade, it's been written off more times than I could count – overtaken by dubstep, supplanted by funky – but it’s always managed to keep moving along, and will probably outlast the lot. In its current state, it’s fair to say that the instrumentals and DJs lead the pack: the rise of Butterz over the last couple of years only serves to illustrate that, really.

At a certain point, though, it felt like a new wave of British MCs were taking over. The pirate radio stations were ablaze with crews from every area of London – youth clubs and schools throughout the capital were full of aspiring MCs, producers and DJs. Once Dizzee Rascal, Wiley and Kano (among others) broke through into the mainstream, it briefly felt like there was a real change in British music, with East London leading. There was even a television channel of sorts in Channel U: hundreds of independently produced grime videos, all competing for attention on Sky (some of them truly terrible, I might add).

We know now, of course, that this alleged rise of the MCs was hopeful at best. Bar the longevity of Dizzee, it wasn’t until the second wave of Tinie Tempah et al really gave any credence to the idea that a British MC could be successful. As a result, grime fell back underground and a lot of the people within the scene along with it. This article, although by no means definitive, is an attempt to shed some light on MCs that aren’t around anymore; I'd prefer it if they were.