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Over time there has been different spikes of popularity for each musical genre and right now there is a rise in the amount of people listening to Grime and Rap. Thanks to the internet and social media Rap and Grime artists are enjoying a high level of success. Stormzy, a Rap and Grime artist, shot to fame through Twitter and Facebook with a song that was recorded in a park. He has more recently released an album which reached number one in the UK charts. This asks the question how is Grime represented in the UK media?

If you speak to any British Rap fan there is a sense of pride when they bring up how many British rappers there are representing England. In fact the popularity of Grime, a darker form of Rap, has taken a huge spike in popularity in the last few years and most recently with the victory of Skepta at the Mercury Prize Awards. Skepta beat David Bowie to a posthumous victory as well as bands like the 1975. Skepta's album sold over 100,000 copies since its release in May 2016 showing the people power that this music possesses. What's even more incredible about this story is the fact that Skepta was not signed to a record label when he released this album, meaning that he had to promote the album himself. He did this with the power of social media choosing to promote his album using Facebook and Twitter. After winning the award Skepta said "I really did this for people to see freedom." The Grime MC says that he wants people to understand that record labels are not necessary and wants people to be inspired by what he, did because he managed to win this prestigious prize without a record label and says that he now feels "no pressure".

Grime is a music genre which is more popular with younger generations but there was a time when Grime was represented poorly by the media with artists at the time shooting themselves in the foot with their actions. One artist in particular "Crazy Titch" in 2006 was sentenced to life in prison for murder giving the genre a terrible reputation because older people would not want their kids to listen to the music that could cause violence. Another 'Grime' disturbance reported in the media was Lethal Bizzle's song 'POW' banned from several nightclubs in England because fights would break out. However, it is this misrepresentation from the media which meant artists like Skepta fought harder to get what they wanted from their careers and thanks to his Mercury prize it shows that Rap and Grime artists in the UK are finally getting the recognition they deserve.

It seemed that after all of the bad reputation and publicity that Grime received it would be impossible for this genre to get up and run again, but up stepped Stormzy who generated so much interest on social media that Grime went from a niche genre into attracting a mass audience. Stormzy made younger people stand up and pay attention to the genre. The most unbelievable part of this story is the fact that his song was recorded on a camera in a park! This backs up Skepta's point after picking up his award that you do not need record labels in order to make a career shown by Stormzy who was only taken notice of after people kept sharing this video on Twitter and Facebook. This has now led to Stormzy reaching number one in the album charts in the UK demonstrating how far Grime has come. He has also recently struck up an unlikely friendship with British pop star Ed Sheeran performing with him on live TV.

Grime's rise is a great springboard for artists like Brad Petrie who are aspiring to reach the top of the music genre. In an interview with Underground magazine Brad said, "The Grime scene has changed every day more and more young artists are reaching the top and this is only going to help me with my aspirations" Brad then went onto comment about Grime's reputation "The reputation of Grime is down to what the current artists make of it. They can either decide to follow in the footsteps of Crazy Titch or they could decide to change people's perceptions on the music that we create by becoming good role models and I think that everyone can use Stormzy as an example for this." Comments of this nature from a young up and coming artist is only good news for Grime as it finally looks like it is going to take a step in the right direction in the eyes of the public and the media.

The success of artists in this genre just goes to show that these Grime stars are versatile and don’t just want to create anger and violence through their music. The fact that Grime MC 'Crazy Titch' committed murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment is the actions of one individual and shouldn't represent the whole genre. If Ed Sheeran was sentenced for murder would the media then slam the whole of the pop genre? It's because of people like this that Grime artists feel as though they have to constantly prove themselves to the media, however, the critics are relaxing and Grime is becoming a norm on radio stations everywhere.

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Bibliography- https://www.bpi.co.uk/home/bpi-official-uk-recorded-music-market-report-for-2016.aspx http://www.mercuryprize.com/news/skepta-wins https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2006/nov/06/isviolenceholdinggrimeback http://www.nme.com/news/music/skepta-34-1199190