Following on from part 4, the Grime scene war season opened up a new chapter over the weekend with a couple new faces joining in on the action and in doing so, further elevating the efforts to rebuild the scene.

Possibly due to the Valentines Day hangover, the mood on Twitter on Saturday was the most loving and least hostile I think I’ve ever seen. The abundance of positive energy being shared for Valentines day had, what seemed like everyone, trying to share positive energy and uplift people in what had been a bit of a politically hostile week with the Jamaica 50 scandal putting a dark cloud of Blighted Britain. But the positive, non-confrontation, pro-inspirational attitude that was spreading on the socials all came to halt when out of nowhere Stormzy drops into the TL with this alarming statement.



With news of Stormzy finally honoring a follow up clash with Wiley spreading like wildfire, so many questions around the topic of the re-ignition of this particular beef began to present themselves. The first of which being the discussion on conduct within Grime. The initial Wiley & Stormzy saga and the amount of “Mum related insults” were a big topic of discussion, and this particular issue was raised again when the two began laying into eachother online on a next hype.

Tempa T in particular was making considerable effort to push that conversation.

You have to admire the Tempz’s intention to raise the level of maturity within the scene. I agree with the sentiment that Mum’s should be left out it, but at the same time, if we’re gunna start censoring the the bars, then the Music is going to lose it’s integrity to some degree.

Now while we’re on the topic of integrity, the action Stormzy took over the weekend does raise questions about his own integrity and true intentions. Though he’s claimed to want to honour the culture by clashing Wiley on radio, it should be noted that Wiley did offer him out for a Radio clash not long before and the request was very much aired. Which makes you wonder why he wants to do it now? You could make the argument that Stormzy’s been busy with his tour and hasn’t been available to honour the follow up. But the reality is, he’s made it abundantly clear since the initial clash that he had no desire to pursue it any further.

If you ask me, this may be an attempted to spark up some more publicity to push ticket sales and raise his credibility in the scene. I feel like, based on the opinions shared online by the likes of Wiley and Poet reflect this reality. I believe Stormzy, although highly successful in his field, is not satisfied with his status as effectively being a ‘Popstar’. In his interview with Charlamagne he talks about not having the opportunity to collab with Drake and based on the way he discussed the topic, it came across strongly that this was something that concerned him. After all, Drakes worked with the other top flight Black British hoodstars so why not, Big Mike? The answer to this isn’t exactly clear, but I believe, street credibility may be a factor.

Wiley’s continued to push the conversation around a live clash at the o2 involving Eddie Hearn. This has been an idea that’s been floating around for sometime now. It’s unclear whether this will come together, especially given the conflict between the two, but the reality is, that an event like this would give Stormzy the credibility he truly desires and be a interesting new take on how Grime could be performed. Though it’s not necessary to involve Eddie Hear at all, with there being plenty of promoter – Eskimo dances Cheeky for instance. However, there would be a lot to gain from the involvement of Matchroom and there elite promotional reach and experience.

After the hype between Wiley and Stormzy fizzled out on Twitter when Stormzy made his final call for Wiley to clash him on Radio, Jammer pop’s up out of absolutely no where to stick his horse in the race.

After Jammer’s little flurry, things went a quite for a little while. That was until Yizzy dropped his follow up wardub ‘Prince Of Grime 2’ in which he sends for Jammer, AJ Tracey, Mez and Dot Rotten again with this highly creative war dub selection, salute.

After Yizzy delivered his dub there was a period of a couple hours while people took it and gave their verdicts. Now this is the part of the story that where it gets especially interesting. Jammer, who’d spent a considerable amount of time saying all sorts about Wiley, was doing all the talking and none of the working. Meanwhile, completely unbeknownst to the rest of us, Mez was quietly preparing to shower down on a certain MC who tried to question his pen.

How Mez executed his wardub was a example, and excellent execution of, ‘The Art Of War’. He kept expectations as low as possible by not saying anything on twitter, and subsequently over delivered in this devastating wardub. Mez always receieved a bit of criticism for his style, but since spitting alongside the father of his flow D Double E, it was almost accepted he would be the new successor of this particular style. The dub delivers on flows, content and punchlines consistently throughout the track, and in my opinion, has been one of the best wardub’s of the year, but I’ll let you be the judge of that.

The Grime scene seems to be growing legs with a conceited effort made by some of the movers and shakers in the scene develop the culture by asking the right questions and trying to deliver the answers.

Question: how do you dance to grime? Answer: pic.twitter.com/wMHbu7lt8Q — SOUTH LONDON SPACE AGENCY (@SLSALABEL) February 14, 2020

It’s been inspiring to see the Grime scene becoming a more formidable part of the Black British cultural movement with a team effort on the part of the artists to push the boundaries with the developments we’ve seen so far this year show no signs of stopping.

To be continued…

Written by Timi Ben-Edigbe

/@TIMI.WATSONROSE