Check out this must see Birmingham Grime documentary

Grime is big money today. Artists like Stormzy and Dave top the charts and fill out arenas. While Grime is seen as a London thing, Birmingham has a thriving Grime scene of it’s own and legendary documentary maker, Risky Roadz is documenting it.

I must admit to having some ‘skin in the game’ as an adopted son of Brum! That’s why I’m pleased to share my thoughts on the documentary ‘+44 presents Risky Roadz 0121′ on Amazon Prime/Music.’

The film starts with Risky preparing to return after a long hiatus from film making. We are introduced to MC Trilla who gives us a brief oral history of the scene in Brum going back to the 90s.

Throughout the documentary we get video footage of freestyles from characters like MC Sox, a man as articulate as his bars.

What makes this film so enjoyable is the rappers who are a bunch of lads!

It’s not just lads though, the absolute legend, Lady Leshurr makes an appearance and rightly so. This brings us to the issue of the Brummie accent.

Preditah is interviewed by Roadz and like Leshurr he makes a point of his pride in Birmingham, a theme that unsurprisingly runs through the doc. In fact there is a sense of pride in redefining Hip Hop in a UK centric way. UK rappers are no longer the outliers, they have their own style, tell their own stories and carry a unique identity.

The sheer number of MCs in this film is mind blowing and their talent is abundantly clear. We also meet DJs like Big Mikee and Silk City Radio owner, Cleon Smith who facilitated the Brum Grime scene. This offers an insight into the now defunct pirate radio ecosystem and lays bare the difficulties of those times.

While those were expensive times, the lack of radio stations is a current concern. Further on we meet the talent managers and online PR companies such as JDZ Media and P110.

So much is packed into this film including Brummie comedy skits. Even if you don’t know much about Grime/UK Hip Hop, this is still a really Int and entertaining watch. After watching, I will be hitting Spotify to listen to all this homegrown talent.