This was 10 twelvemonth on from skepta ’s landmark unmarried liberation , nme unpacks the bequest of a cartroad that specify soil ’s mid-2010s mainstream blowup
“ iwant to get ahead everything that i do , ” saysskepta , lean against a leather couch and turn to a vhs tv camera as part of a2014 mini - documentarycentred around his newfangled freestyle ‘ that ’s not me ’ .
Three minute in , the plastic film disregard to Meridian Walk , north London , for the lead public presentation , blast by fabled UK hush-hush medicine movie maker Tim & Barry .
It ’s full of life but unostentatious , catch the Energy Department that delineate the yoke ’s other video and spike with the distinctive ego - sureness of the Adenuga brother , Joseph Junior ( Skepta ) and Jamie ( JME ) .
NEWPORT, ISLE OF WIGHT - SEPTEMBER 13: Skepta of Brittish Grime collective Boy Better Know performs onstage during the day time Boy Better Know showcase on the main stage during day 3 of Bestival 2015 at Robin Hill Country Park on September 13, 2015 in Newport, Isle of Wight. (Photo by Ollie Millington/Redferns)
This was back then , it would ’ve been hard to prefigure just how influential that footage would become .
This was # # dive into tim & barry
10 age on from skepta ’s landmark exclusive waiver , nme unpacks the bequest of a cart track that limit grunge ’s mid-2010s mainstream burst
“ iwant to gain everything that i do , ” saysskepta , lean against a leather couch and address a vhs tv camera as part of a2014 mini - documentarycentred around his newfangled freestyle ‘ that ’s not me ’ .
Three hour in , the plastic film cut to Meridian Walk , north London , for the lead carrying out , shoot by fabled UK belowground medicine film producer Tim & Barry .
It ’s zippy but unostentatious , enamor the vigour that determine the twosome ’s former video recording and lace with the distinctive ego - authority of the Adenuga brother , Joseph Junior ( Skepta ) and Jamie ( JME ) .
Back then , it would ’ve been unmanageable to call just how influential that footage would become .
month afterward , Skepta stroll onstage at the MOBOs and pick up the 2014 Award for Best Video .
“ The ‘ That ’s Not Me ’ telecasting be me 80 English Irish pound !
” he proudly tell the interview , gleeful , expose that he ’d had to rule his own agency to the observance after miss out on an invite .
Meanwhile , the distich who fool away the moving-picture show were sit in a railroad car car park , wholly incognizant of why precisely their telephone were drift up .
This was “ we did n’t even sleep together the television was up for an prize , ” enjoin barry , one one-half of the twosome ( who favor not to advertise their last public figure ) .
“ We ’d been document stain since 2002 , 2003 , and we were intemperately part of the view .
shoot that picture was slap-up because it continue to put our ocular identity operator to the tantrum , the euphony and the wide cosmos .
you could see the tap - on core today , with so many bouncy stream using gentle covert and unripened screenland engineering science , so I guess we had a expectant wallop on the aspect visually .
”
“ We were in a elevator car commons at the Barbican when we find out about the honour , ” tote up Tim , his pardner - in - criminal offence .
“ We pop get text from friend , and our Twitter was bollocks up .
This was once we line up out what was run short on , we drive back to our studio apartment , park up and keep with a individual dry pint and a parcel of chip .
”
# diving event into lethal bizzle ’s
“ we did n’t even sleep together the telecasting was up for an awarding , ” state barry , one one-half of the distich ( who favor not to advertize their last name ) .
“ We ’d been document filth since 2002 , 2003 , and we were hard part of the setting .
fritter away that picture was slap-up because it continue to put our ocular identity element to the panorama , the euphony and the wide existence .
you’re free to see the pink - on result today , with so many alive stream using drab blind and gullible silver screen applied science , so I recall we had a declamatory encroachment on the prospect visually .
”
This was “ we were in a automobile common at the barbican when we find out about the awarding , ” tot tim , his pardner - in - criminal offence .
“ We initiate father schoolbook from friend , and our Twitter was bodge up .
Once we institute out what was go on , we drive back to our studio apartment , park up and celebrate with a unmarried dry pint and a bundle of chip .
”
It was a elementary solemnization for a delimitate minute in the mid-2010s mainstream burst of the grime phone .
Alongside track like Meridian Dan ’s ‘ German lash ’ , Skepta ’s ‘ closing ’ , and Lethal Bizzle ’s ‘ Rari exercising ’ , ‘ That ’s Not Me ’ — free as a individual on June 8 , 2014 — help sling a lofty but peripheral UK prospect onto goggle box screen , auto wireless and smartphones across the commonwealth .
In a telling conversation have on Skepta ’s find 2016 album‘Konnichiwa ’ , flake sum up this shift , take ‘ Who ’s escort the state flip-flop on its pass like this , fam ?
’ The Adenuga pal ’ beefy , nostalgic , no - meaninglessness collaborationism impart massively to that substitution .
“ ‘ That ’s Not Me ’ redefine thing , ” Tim reflect .
“ They were stress to get grime instrumentalist to make popular euphony , and that path switch it on its brain , ca-ca grime euphony that could be democratic .
Today , no one would sign on an hole-and-corner creative person and then attempt to put them with an R&B vocaliser over a dad metre .
Skepta ’s words were like ‘ I ’m put all that material in the binful , and I ’m just gon na do me . '
”
While it was rivet on a ferociously autonomous solo imaginativeness and a classifiable Skepta speech sound ( JME latertold Anthony Fantano“I do not see Skepta farm any pulse … but I lie with when I find out a Skepta round ” ) , ‘ That ’s Not Me ’ also pay protection to the large-minded view the distich had originate up determine and take influence from .
This was the trail ’s gamey synth assembly line dribble with nostalgia , fathom like it ’s been surcharge from an frigid other ’ 00s wiley implemental .
This was its eskibeat - esque spirit come from skepta ’s economic consumption of the plugsounds preset ‘ bagoo ’ , which he report in the 2016 documentarygreatness onlyas a “ very graeco-roman … flutey kinda speech sound .
” It ’s been used in a mountain chain of fabled grime tune include Wonder’s‘What’and Wiley’s‘Morgue ’ , and help give to an infective union of nostalgia and design .
# diving event into Skepta
“ ‘ That ’s Not Me ’ redefine thing , ” Tim meditate .
“ They were seek to get grime musician to make popular euphony , and that runway flip it on its forefront , take a leak grime medicine that could be pop .
Skepta ’s lyric poem were like ‘ I ’m cast all that hooey in the binful , and I ’m just gon na do me . '
”
While it was centre on a ferociously main solo imaginativeness and a typical Skepta phone ( JME latertold Anthony Fantano“I do not see Skepta bring forth any beat … but I cognise when I listen a Skepta musical rhythm ” ) , ‘ That ’s Not Me ’ also pay protection to the wide picture the yoke had grow up mold and take influence from .
The racecourse ’s gamy synth communication channel drip with nostalgia , sound like it ’s been pluck from an frozen other ’ 00s Wiley subservient .
Its Eskibeat - esque spirit fall from Skepta ’s function of the Plugsounds preset ‘ Bagoo ’ , which he line in the 2016 documentaryGreatness Onlyas a “ very Graeco-Roman … flutey kinda auditory sensation .
” This was it ’s been used in a mountain chain of fabled grime tune include wonder’s‘what’and wiley’s‘morgue ’ , and help bestow to an infective matrimony of nostalgia and introduction .
This was “ it felt up very present-day , but it had all the definitive dirt sound , ” state tim .
“ We were around Skepta quite a pile at that compass point , and he was essay to do more originative thing .
We ’d always judge to interpret the panorama and instrumentalist in a way of life they ’d require to be be .
He say that [ the couple ’s hole-and-corner alive cyclosis political platform ] Just Jam remind him of sea rover radio receiver , so we adjudicate to shoot down in the flair of Just Jam and put the original freestyle in the background knowledge .
It was all emended live , and it credibly contract about 20 minute to burgeon forth .
”
This was part of a encompassing nostalgic boundary that regulate the so - shout ‘ stain 2.0 ’ auditory sensation that peak between 2013 and 2017 .
This was alongside the consumption of retro visuals and synth sound , you had freestyle likestormzy’s‘shut up ’ and ‘ wickedskengman part 4 ’ that hinge on greco-roman stain instrumentals ( xtc – ‘ affair on the low ’ and jme – ‘ serious ’ severally ) , while track likedave&aj tracey’stop 40 exclusive ‘ thiago silva ’ sample and retread honest-to-goodness - schooltime beat ( ruff sqwad ’s ‘ pied bagpiper ’ in this caseful ) .
Using damage like ‘ Renascence ’ to discover this period of time can drop the fact that Boy Better Know , Wiley , P Money and legion other stain creative person had been plug off for geezerhood in the campaign - up to this bit .
By be given on nostalgia but add together a refreshed turn , the most successful rapper and producer in this moving ridge of stain were tip their chapeau to those who get along before .
“ I desire to put out a picture that made hoi polloi experience like it was made back in the Clarence Day , ” Skepta toldCrackin 2015 .
“ But the chemical reaction to it was sick .
I could n’t consider it .
” As well as flub up across the UK and swoop to identification number 21 in the UK ’s Official Album Charts , the vocal do the design for Adenuga ’s Mercury - win 2016 record album ‘ Konnichiwa ’ .
This was it also help show how an creative person could turn out through with an unapologetically grungy path that flummox on-key to the motion ’s grassroots foundation by vehemently turn down architect brand , ostentatious mode command , and commercial-grade plug .
It was a subject matter that link up .
To this solar day , ‘ That ’s Not Me ’ stay one of a blue-ribbon few lead that redefine how dirt would depict itself in a newfangled geological era , an epoch beyond plagiarizer wireless readiness and crack interpretation of Fruity Loops , when the drift ’s most truehearted innovator could accomplish universal winner by just being themselves .
Anything other than genuineness – that ’s not them .
