BRICK MAGAZINE EDITION 06

tary-style visuals that possess the ability to “My nan loaned me £300 pounds for my frst enter into grime’s core emotions and visu- camera. I had no practice, no experience. It alise them. His work has always run con- was 2003 and there was no YouTube so I current with grime itself, from its incipient had to buy books to fnd out how to do it. I RISKY ROADZ: pirate radio days with Ruff Sqwad, Nasty documented the scene as a whole: the pro- Crew, Meridian Crew and Roll Deep to ducers, the radio and the battles. I wanted directing visuals to Skepta’s “That’s Not to show everything about the scene. A Plus Me”, “Man” and “It Ain’t Safe” – all in his was doing it, Jammer and Ratty were doing ubiquitous raggo-self-shot-style. He nev- it too. Jammer documented rap battles - we I will start this piece by emphasizing that er writes down his ideas either, refecting ran what was being seen by fans of grime.” grime is not the UK’s version of hip-hop. grime’s abundance of freestyles in his flm- More than that, it’s a complex fusion of the ing methods: “I just have a constant fow multifarious infuences that make up this of ideas and conversations in my head, all EXPLORING small island: reggae, electronica, hip-hop, in various stages of development so I’m al- ska and rocksteady. Its cadences career in ways ready to go. I rely on spontaneity and triplets, bars beyond bars, 140bpm, hearts tap into the same energy as the artist [I’m racing and brains connecting at a speed out- working with.]” The 33-year-old (who still side of intoxication. Grime is the beat be- lives in the Bethnal Green home he grew BIRMINGHAM hind everything - it’s ubiquitous in the DNA up in) was at the epicentre of the subculture of British culture. Something that started in from the start, he “grew up listening to old the bedrooms and pirate radio stations of school garage and pirate radio, jungle and Roony’s descriptions of grime at East London, grime’s vital pulse can still ragga… until Pay As U Go and Nasty Crew its inception are endearing, a nebulous sub- WITH be found in the grimmest, darkest quarters came along and things got darker.” culture – small, secretive and precious. Sit- despite the city largely becoming a homog- ting in his Bethnal Green home he states: enous home-ground for grime’s pioneers “all the scene has been here, in my house, to live in comfortably - its edge has been with my nan. Grime has always been this blunted somewhat. thing we did because we loved it. No re- GRIME’S GREAT Long before anyone else saw wards. We’re just one big dysfunctional grime as a serious art form (let alone one family. I think that comes out in the videos whose cultural signifcance was more of a because we know each other so well.” threat than its Form 696), Roony Samuel Keefe did. Wanting to capture what was He continues: “My frst video was the J2K DOCUMENTER, happening around him, the young Londoner As a young DJ, Roony would buy interview inside Rhythm Division. The took matters into his own hands. Literally. his records at Rhythm Division in Bow, DVD was sold in some stores and news of Armed with a Sony Handycam he docu- a store he says was “the home of grime”, it spread by word of mouth, RWD magazine mented grime’s history in real-time. before earning a Saturday job there. The and Grime Forum. The flm was three hours job not only immersed him in the scene he long, but everyone loved it. That was Risky ROONY loved, but also inspired him to pick up a Roadz #1. They wanted #2, so I used my stu- camera for the frst time: dent loan to fund the production.”

“The [grime] artists used to come in [to the Risky Roadz #2 was released in shop] so I got to know people. Pirate ra- 2005, and soon after came both The Move- SAMUEL KEEFE. dio was where we got to feel these voices ment Documentary and the Fuck Radio but couldn’t see what the characters looked DVD in 2006 – a literal fuck you to the like. I got to see them [at work] but other attitude of pirate radio stations at the time: people wanted to see them, too. I wanted to “there was a backlash against pirate radio as You’ll likely know Roony by his showcase our love of this music to the world it didn’t like the rowdy cyphers. They said infamous moniker Risky Roadz. And if so I just thought – why don’t I make a flm? there were too many artists going to sets.” not, you’ll be familiar with his trademark Let me show people who these voices are, All of this output helped to pave Roony’s WORDS: NINA BHADRESHWAR aesthetic: rough-and-ready, DIY, documen- where they’re from, how they live.” inevitable path towards creating music vid-

188 189 BRICK MAGAZINE EDITION 06 eos; something he developed an interest in one spare copy I had of Risky Roadz Lost Risky Roadz style, Roony uses every actu- “while learning “The Knowledge” to be a Tapes.” ality in his world as his material; the dash- black cab driver.” I tell him I think being board mounted camera on his cab forms a a black cab driver must give him a real in- Birmingham is the second largest textured introduction to the world he enters sight into many other facets of London life - city in the UK. It’s a weird amalgam of on arriving in Birmingham. “WE’RE ONE BIG has he had any experience of his two worlds 1980s wastelands: multistoried blocks of The raw footage from this expedi- colliding? fats, disused factories, ugly spaghetti junc- tion, which will become “a flm that’s go- tions sitting against the new digital empires. ing to be called Risky Roadz 0121” fips The Midlands birthed The Specials and between black cabs, dark tales and inter- UB40 in the late 1970s, their infuence still views with those involved in all areas of DYSFUNCTIONAL felt, they produced haunting soundscapes the Midlands grime scene. From artists and of devastation for the U.K. as it rushed to- producers to managers and comedians, they wards American capitalism. And now, in all gathered - regardless of weather and f- the corners and crevasses of the city, cre- nances - to claim their place on flm; shar- ativity has been fourishing through grime. ing consonants, beats and cadences with FAMILY IN GRIME. Stormzy claims Birmingham’s MCs are the their contemporaries, some of whom had real “unsung heroes” of the culture, pushing travelled to Birmingham from Manchester, “The other day I drove Liam Gallagher. I’m the music forwards – declaring Birmingham Derby, Wolverhampton and Bristol – com- actually a big fan of his. He asked me what to be the current epicentre for the sound. ing together where the fre is right now for I do when I’m not driving and I told him I grime. I THINK make videos. He asked me if I meant home At the end of the Risky Roadz videos and I told him no, and mentioned 0121 frst draft footage, there’s a set flmed that I’d done Skepta’s last video. He replied in a freezing cold bunker. A group of MCs like, ‘oh man, I was just watching that yes- are all competing when suddenly, someone terday! Hopefully you won’t be a cabbie for drops “Gangsters” by The Specials and the THAT COMES long.’ - I loved that.” mic is handed to a 13-year-old kid, baseball cap pulled low over his ears. He starts spit- ting at a furious rate of syncopation without After following the Birmingham missing a beat or a breath, relentless and scene for some time, Roony knew (in the fuid as mercury. It’s an iconic moment cap- OUT IN THE same way he felt compelled to tell Lon- tured on flm Risky Roadz style: the young don’s stories all those years ago) that he seizing power and riding over the past. had to let the world know the secrets that Birmingham was keeping. Enlisting sto- VIDEOS BECAUSE ry editor Toby Robson to collaborate with him on the fedgling project, the pair began On the subject of celebrity admir- searching for support to make it a reality. ers, Roony also recalls a morning when he Roony explains how they “went to com- woke to an unprompted infux of Twitter missioning editors but they were stalling,” WE KNOW followers which turned out to be the re- until “fnally, I was like, ‘we should just go sult of a follow from Barack Obama. Roo- and make it.’ Toby wrote the treatment up ny says he “wrote back to thank him and and we interviewed for a sound and camera he said, ‘Keep doing what you’re doing.’” guy, then jumped in my cab one snowy day The young MC is Birming- Soon after came a follow from Drake: “We in February and drove up to Birmingham, ham-born T.Roadz. The son of a producer, EACH OTHER conversed for a year. When I passed the contacting artists on the way.” The aim? his immersion in the grime scene was in- Knowledge, all of us new cabbies went to “To flm sets at Silk City, Birmingham’s pi- evitable. He explains that his dad “was a Miami to celebrate. My pal mentioned that rate radio station. I know grime artists from DJ too and MCs were always coming over Drake was in town whilst we were, so I mes- all over the world so it wasn’t diffcult to to the house. Growing up, there were al- saged him and he sent me his number, gave have a crew of them ready to go, despite ways artists like Trilla coming through but SO WELL.” me VIP passes to the club and I took him the the weather and short notice.” And in true we also had untold vinyl and grime coming

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from London: Wiley, Scorcher, Kano. I re- into a supermarket and you’ve got a shop- the artists, you haven’t got a scene. Without ally grew up on Lord of the Mics and Risky ping list but you might see a tin of beans the artist, there is no infrastructure.” Roadz.” for one pound ffty and think, ‘Oh I’d like Back to London and Roony is ex- that!’ - so although I get the stuff on the list, cited to shine his light on Birmingham’s I also add others. A sell-out show at the are- scene, stating “‘the main obstacles to grime na was on my list but the Risky Roadz movie right now is to avoid being diluted. We have wasn’t, but it was a brilliant experience and to keep pushing through new grime - not I feel so honoured I got to be a part of that. just focus on the already successful.” His Also, yesterday I was recording the SBTV work is the best way to do this, spotlighting Warm-Up Sessions. It’s just been one week names who may not be familiar to the audi- into the summer holidays and I haven’t had ences they’re reaching and creating context a rest yet!” for outsiders, saying “my work is based on “MY NAN wanting to bring people in. People who ar- What began as “messing about en’t in. I want the younger or the fan to feel with lyrics or chatting a rhyme in my head like they are in it with us. Making them feel to myself” later became the winning per- welcome - like they are part of what is go- LOANED ME £300 formance at his primary school’s 2004 tal- ing on.” ent show. Refecting on his beginnings, he says “the positive energy and constructive comments [from winning] had an impact on me. It was a shock, but it made me want to POUNDS FOR MY take it further.” And after recording some tracks at his youth club and posting them on Speaking with an optimism that SoundCloud, he quickly became involved only youth can possess, he enthuses about with various projects in the Birmingham the future of the culture: “‘I want grime scene - notably with MC Mist. T.Roadz to be everywhere - like how pop music is. FIRST CAMERA. explains that Mist “liked what I was doing Grime shows are special. It’s competitive, and wanted to support me, so he brought because you want to spray better than ev- me out on his sell-out tour show at the O2 eryone else but you’re all working together Roony has come from a unique cul- Academy. He said ‘I’ve always wanted to to make each other - and grime - better. You tural standpoint – he began his flm career support someone but I’ve never had anyone don’t get that energy anywhere else.” at the highest bar possible, by documenting I HAD NO to support. My nephews ain’t into it.’ But In contrast, veteran manager of nu- the untamed, undefned organic life force he said when he saw me, he could see how merous artists in the 0121 postcode Despa that is grime. His visual journey has run he could mentor me. He’s helped me a lot Robinson understands that it’s not that sim- parallel to the formation of the subculture on the business side, as well as with writing ple, explaining that “the problem between itself, and his roots remain ever-deep in techniques.” us and progress is our proximity to grime’s the genre that formed him – yet his shoots PRACTICE, NO infrastructure, which is currently in London. consistently reach out to tell new stories to We need our own.” But it’s a double-edged new audiences. A director with the power sword, he says, as “Birmingham has that un- to bring an entire culture into your living fltered rawness because there’s no business room. aspect. It can be very raw and dark some- EXPERIENCE.” times. In Brum, we’re very straight up and it all adds to the favour. [Despite the lack of infrastructure] we’re still putting out music, and some folk are feeding their families off I ask him what his goals are, being it. It’s just a handful of people right now but so young and early in his career? still, success stories. You know it’s a conf- dence thing. If I take this seriously, it may “I have things on my list but there’s also lead somewhere.” – this is a statement re- things that just happen. Like when you go iterated by Roony, who confrms: “without

192 193 BRICK MAGAZINE BUDDY GOOD VIBES

PHOTOGRAPHY Alexis Gross TEXT Ricardo Miguel Vieira 194 FASHION Billy Walsh