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Inner City Pressure

The Story of Grime

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Inner City Pressure

By: Dan Hancox
Narrated by: Ash Hunter
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Summary

A GUARDIAN, OBSERVER, PITCHFORK, NPR, METRO AND HERALD SCOTLAND BEST MUSIC BOOK OF 2018

‘The definitive grime biography’ NME

’A landmark genre history’ Pitchfork

This audiobook is narrated by Ash Hunter, stage and screen actor who is currently playing Hamilton in the West End production of the musical.

The year 2000. As Britain celebrates the new millennium, something is stirring in the crumbling council estates of inner-city London. Making beats on stolen software, spitting lyrics on tower block rooftops and beaming out signals from pirate-radio aerials, a group of teenagers raised on UK garage, American hip-hop and Jamaican reggae stumble upon a dazzling new genre.

Against all odds, these young MCs will grow up to become some of the UK’s most famous musicians, scoring number one records and dominating British pop culture for years to come. Hip-hop royalty will fawn over them, billion dollar brands will queue up to beg for their endorsements and through their determined DIY ethics they’ll turn the music industry's logic on its head.

But getting there won’t be easy. Successive governments will attempt to control their music, their behaviour and even their clothes. The media will demonise them and the police will shut down their clubs. National radio stations and live music venues will ban them. There will be riots, fighting in the streets, even murder. And the inner-city landscape that shaped them will be changed beyond all recognition.

Drawn from over a decade of in depth interviews and research with all the key MCs, DJs and industry players, in this extraordinary book the UK’s best grime journalist Dan Hancox tells the remarkable story of how a group of outsiders went on to create a genre that has become a British institution. Here, for the first time, is the full story of grime.

 History & Criticism Music Politics & Government Social Sciences Sociology Urban Hip-Hop Inspiring Pirate
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Critic reviews

‘Grime is the sound of 21st century protest. Inner City Pressure is essential reading from a superb writer on the political awakening of a generation’ Owen Jones

‘Dan Hancox charts a remarkable story from pirate radio to the front pages. This is a story that deserves to be heard’ David Lammy MP

‘Unputdownable and bristling with insights about grime and the city it was born in. Anyone with any interest in grime, you need to be reading this, trust me’ Jeffrey Boakye, author of Hold Tight

'It says something about the last two decades that the first real history of 21st century London comes in the form of a book about grime. Hancox tells the story of a city and a music scene with restraint, humour and anger’ Owen Hatherley, author of A Guide to the New Ruins of Great Britain

‘Riveting… Grime, black music’s rawest response against social injustice, has the chronicler it deserves. Hancox is a tremendous guide’ Kitty Empire, Observer

‘An extraordinary pop music story. Hancox’s deep knowledge of London illuminates the music … just as you could tell the story of the US in the Sixties via rock music, Hancox sees 21st Century London through a grime lens, from the 2011 riots to Grenfell Tower’ Dorian Lynskey, GQ

‘A vivid and serious study of grime, stretching from its earliest stirrings through to its unexpected love-fest clinch with Corbyn’ Simon Reynolds

‘A terrific achievement and an instant London classic’ Leo Hollis, author of Cities Are Good For You

‘An absolutely brilliant read’ Tom Dyckhoff

‘A must read’ DJ Slimzee

‘A dazzling book’ Ellie Mae O’Hagan

‘An excellent, thorough history’ Wire

‘An exhaustive, thrilling account of one of UK music’s most fascinating and complex musical experiences’ Clash

All stars
Most relevant
Best book I read in 2019. Written with craft, care and a real love for the genre and the many facinating characters within it. Expect a lot of visits to YouTube for more context. such a great experience reading and jumping into that platform to watch the moments described. expertly researched also. I tip my hat to Hancox, incredible work!

fantastic

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I can't claim to be an aficionado of grime music or know much about this particular youth culture, but it was a book that caught my eye and having seen the genre character assassinated by the right wing tabloids over the years, I thought I'd have a closer look and get the view from the other side.

Hancox writes about more than just the music and the main players in the genre, some of whom I've heard of. I might be middle-aged but I don't live in a cave..... Stormzy, So Solid Crew, Dizzee Rascal, Wiley, Tinchy Stryder. Others are less familiar.

There's a lot about London in the past twenty years and the changing face of the capital.... Cameron, Labour, Tony Blair, Boris Johnson, urban renewal, poverty, surveillance, underground scene, tower blocks, public transport, Grenfell, Theresa May, sexism, machismo, musical rivalries, collaborations and support structures, pirate radio, police powers and abuse, riots, protest, kettling, Corbyn, Canary Wharf, public transport, tuition fees, Lib Dems, Nick Clegg, ASBOs, benefit cuts, child poverty, education, changes to support structures, Form 696, racism, profiling, opportunity - or lack of, persistence, drill music, mainstream acceptance, Garage, Jamaica, Africa, reggae, origins, family, hierarchy, MCing, rapping, beats, "hug a hoodie", public perceptions, and a helluva lot more.

I might have benefited from a print version which I could have run in tandem with some music samples from the artists mentioned throughout the narrative, but that wasn't really an option as this was an audio book. I'm not a student of music so a lot of the jargon about the construction of the music and the pace of it - 140 beats, 16 bars, blah blah blah was just kind of white noise to me.

I liked the information which was imparted. It was educational, informative, angry and an effective counter argument to the shallowness and distorted viewpoint of the mainstream media's depiction of the grime scene.

Looking back I think most forms of youth culture get villified before ultimate acceptance ...... rock n roll, hippies, punk. The point of acceptance might just signify the death of something exciting, energised and vibrant.... possibly.

Narration was good, though the pronunciation of a word or two which recurred during the narrative slightly irritated me.... MACHISMO - is it said MUH-KIS-MOW or MACHISMO? A minor gripe.

Overall very good and a bit of a change from my usual reading.

4 from 5

Dan Hancox is a journalist and writes for The Guardian and other publications. Undoubtedly he does a helluva lot more than that. Narration was by Ash Hunter.

Read - (listened to) September, 2019
Published - 2018
Page count - 352 (10 hours 51 minutes)
Source - Audible after allowing my Edelweiss ARC download to lapse
Format - Audible

https://col2910.blogspot.com/2019/09/dan-hancox-inner-city-pressure-story-of.html

Educational, informative, entertaining

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If you wanna know what's what in the history of Grime, this is the book for you!

F'ing brilliant!

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I loved this. Well read, and a great piece of work that I could not turn off. So many throwbacks to back in the day and Dan goes deep into the roots of Grime and the political context. All the slang and references sounded real because the narrator was clearly from ends, and so it wasn’t awkward to listen to as I expected. I could play it all again. I loved the insights and Dan’s perspectives and comparisons. Totally respected the genre and felt like it was written by someone who, like me, grew up with and around Grime. Amazing work.

So good. Full of throwbacks and insight

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I remember so many of the cultural milestones mentioned throughout the book, and it was also about so much more than just grime. I can identify with having my club night shut down by the police in the late organising stages over unfounded security "concerns".

Excellent!

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