Opinion: UK Rap Not Repped at The Brits
Watching this year’s Brit Awards made me feel disgusted. The reason why I felt this was because none of the artists from the rap scene were really involved in the event.
‘United Kingdem’ rap as they say, has had an amazing couple of years, but despite the success it has had many of the artists that are in the scene are not being represented when it comes to the Brit awards because of the music they are making and the numbers of records they are selling.
UK rap/hip hop was once the stomping ground of champions such as Roots Manuva, London Posse. But nearly a decade on, after grime’s ever-expanding success a new wave of rappers is emerging. The rap scene is now known for some of its new and renowned artists and these are the likes of Giggs, Skepta and Tinchy Stryder and they are known for their impressive ways of telling stories about life experiences about growing up on tough London estates. However, their ever so appealing music is still not being sold to many, even though most of their music videos on YouTube are ranging from 1- 6 million views.
The Brits should be for all artists and all genres of music to celebrate the success of British music, but this was not the case this year and none of the artists from the rap scene even performed at the event and this raised questions.
A recent interview in The Guardian newspaper featured Ben Scarrs from A&R Records who is responsible for signing Tinchy Stryder saying: “The music made; it’s unapologetic and uncompromising, people aren’t making it for the charts,” and this might be suggesting that the artists from the scene are making music that they love and cherish, hence why they are not selling as much.
However, the likes of Giggs, Skepta and Tinchy Stryder did appear on the music charts and they have even linked up with major American artists so it shows despite the tough gritty music some of the rappers are now choosing to go into mainstream music to be able to sell records.
On the other hand some of them still choose to stay in the scene as they feel it is softer and does not give them the opportunity to tell their life stories as this might not sell records, but if they do go into the mainstream music will they be accepted, will they sell albums?.