MOBO Awards 2013 - 18 Years Old

The past few years I found myself slightly... unsatisfied...with the nominations and winners of some of the categories in the MOBO awards - that being said, it's hard to complain when it is one of the biggest supporters fighting in the "urban" corner of the music scene. This year however, restored some faith into me I must say. I shall explain how and why in my MOBOs 18th birthday analysis which I know you didn't ask for but you might as well just read because you're here now...

Now, I'm abusing the powers of juxtaposition to make sure this post is positive, so I'll get my negative out of the way. Note that I said "negative". Singular. Which is progress from last years negatives.

The night kicked off with Tinie Tempah. He is a great performer, he did his thing and yeah... Quite frankly though, I thought that was all the stage time he really should have got. It sounds harsh, I know. I can't argue that he has done so much for the scene, I've hailed him on this very blog before, but when he returned to the stage to accept the award for Best Hip Hop/Grime Act I can't say I was pleased. I like Tinie. He's humble despite his success. Trampoline was a tune (even if it is slightly Americanised). However, winning the award over nominees such as Akala and Wretch 32 who fit the category much more appropriately made me feel like the MOBOs missed the spot once again. I know the vote is public, but he shouldn't have really been a nominee. You can hardly class Tinie's music as Hip Hop or Grime anymore - that's not a bad thing at all...he's got to do what he has got to do and he is still very much supporting the scene he came from. My problem here lies more in the hands of the MOBOs who seem to have slipped him in as a nominee not based on the music he is supplying but the hype he's surrounded by. With the power the MOBOs have, they shouldn't be filling the nominations with artists that will get the show the most views but supporting the artists who may be underground yet are simultaneously worthy contenders of the category. 

Anyway lets be happy now...

WILEEEEEEEEEES FINALLY GOT A MOBO! Joy and jubilation! For someone who created one of the most prominent genres in the UK urban music scene it's shocking that this is his FIRST ever MOBO award. It's so refreshing - and I mean cold glass of water after running a marathon in a heatwave (lol) refreshing - to see his years of graft paying off. Along side his plaques for his number one singles he can now put a nice, shiny MOBO on his mantlepiece. In true Wiley-styley there was no sign of him at awards but lets give credit where it is due...he did leave a video message and I'll give him 10 bonus points for putting Angel aka my babes on my screen to represent and pick up the award for him. Maybe in the near future he'll get the chance to accept his own award for the success of an album full of, dare I say it, Grime tunes? No, this isn't me getting caught up in the excitement of him finally winning a MOBO. Mr Cowie, dedicated to the genre he fathered, is apparently leaving behind the formula to success he's been using since Summer 2012 and is bringing it back to the days we saw in the Lights On video. It's not a crazy Wiley-styley stunt. Now that he's in a stronger position than ever and has a better experience of the industry, it's an educated move to become successful and in his eyes this means making music he wants to make. Who knows? It could be possible. Maybe he will bring real Eski to the charts. Either way....congratulations and a big fat GWAAN WILEY!

Krept and Konan winning Best Newcomer was not only responsible for another burst of joy but was also responsible for best reaction of the night, coming from Krept's evidently proud Dad. It makes me proud to see such humble and nice guys (I've met them so I can actually back these claims up) tearing the scene up. They're so unstoppable right now its unbelievable to think this is all being achieved independently. They held a top 20 position in the Official Album Charts for A MIXTAPE and then win Best Newcomer at the MOBOs with no backing of a major label. They had tough competition from fellow nominees (who were ALL worthy so well done MOBOs) Jacob Banks, Shakka, Daley and Etta Bond but the award belonged to Krept and Kones and their victorious past few months. It feels like their recent success is the brewing before the storm rather than the climax of it. That makes me really really excited because they're adding strength and direction to the UK rap scene, which seems like it's lagging at times. They have a real potential to impact.

Other stars of the show include Naughty Boy who won two awards (the second win was accompanied by a wonderfully entertaining drunken speech) with Sam Smith (who looked adorably shy on that stage...and much taller than I had expected) for Best Song and Best Video with their, not even catchy but, contagious song La La La La (dun know the Indian musical flavours seasoning that track!). Also getting the double was Laura Mvula who's soul cleansing sound  helped her cop Best Female and Best R&B and Soul Act. 

After playing a flashback of past MOBO performances - such as LL Cool J, Jigga, Destiny's Child and Mary J Blige - the performers this year had their parade slightly rained on. Nevertheless, the stage held the likes of Iggy Azalea whose cake is way out of Mr Kipling's leauge, FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUSE ODG and Rudimental with a capital MENTAL. Now, if we are giving out prizes for the performance of the night then it goes to none other than So Solid Crew who closed the show with the same song they opened the show with 12 years ago: 21 SECONDS T-T-T 21 SECONDS T-T-T. They created a legacy so strong they were able to come back years later and still kill the stage using just their history and energy. It makes me wish I went to that comeback show. Maybe then I could have blagged my way backstage and asked Lisa Mafia how she still looks fiyaaaaaaaaaaa.

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Trampoline - Tinie Tempah

It has been just shy of 3 and a half years since Tinie Tempah Disturbed London. He's never been a stranger to big tunes - throw yourself back to 'Tears' and 'Wifey' - but what was originally just a demo, Pass Out, had an unexpectedly HUGE impact. It dropped back in the first months of 2010 and ever since then Tinie has been riding that shockwave of success to a double platinum album, touring in any country Virgin Airlines could take him and all the while sitting comfortably in charts all over the world. There is no doubt that he has broken boundaries, one of which was the barrier between our underground urban scene and the Top 40. Recently the UK music scene has transformed and Tinie's disturbance is partly responsible.

With such effects, it's only natural he's had a considerable amount of weight on his shoulders over the past 2 years. The Demonstration has been pushed back further than Jamie Foxx's hairline (Sorry Jamie) and, unlike the hair near Jamie's forehead (Soz again), the anticipation has grown and grown. His silence since his debut album was tapped at with his 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY EP' and collab on Calvin Harris' 'Drinking From The Bottle'. But it was only after yesterday's Monday-Evening-Lull was shaken when he uploaded the final installment of his teasers, that the silence was shattered on Mista Jam's show tonight as 'Trampoline' met our ears and violated every cell in our bodies...

Now, I'll give you 3 words: TURNNN IT UPPPPP!

And I'll give you 3 more: REALOAD IT YOOOOO!

The same cheeky personal plastered over the track. The same crazy energy invading your body from the speakers. But this time over a ridiculous instrumental, courtesy of Diplo. And to help tame the beast, a rapper - who lets face it, is used to featuring on a banger or two - 2 CHAINZZZZZZZZ (if you didn't read that in the proper voice then please re-read and try again).

The sound is interesting. It's hot and fresh. It didn't come as a total shock to me, but that didn't stop it from hitting me and making me reload it so it could hit me again. I would say it dropped at the perfect time as summer has now started, but whatever the weather, whatever you are doing and wherever you are if the volume is up loud, you can be stiffer than Wiley and still be moving as fluid as the petrol igniting the fiyaaaaa that is 'Trampoline'.  It's lively. It's strong. It's proof that Tinie hasn't lost the ability to switch it UP and make you get DOWN.

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The Music Scene So Far

Remember back in 2010 when JLS and Tinie Tempah release Eyes Wide Shut? They were probably the 2 biggest Urban music acts we had out there with mainstream success... and JLS weren’t didn’t even make urban music.

 But now when I switch on Capital FM (which I admit isn't often) I’m hearing Wiley, Wretch and Sway. Now to be fair, we’ve always had people in the Urban music charts - think So Solid Crew. But who else from them days had chart success and made a big enough impression for us to remember their names?

…Stop trying to think of names. Very few is the answer. Now just read on...

Recently the urban music scene has achieved a new type success, in which we don't just have one hit wonders, but artists that are creating history and are here to stay. I’d say we have to go back to the start of 2010 to find where this started...‘Pass Out’. 

Now this has been a progression, and it wasn't just this one song that changed the whole scene. Without the success of artists from way back such as Craig David, Dizzee or Tinchy from not long before, I don’t think it would have been as easy for Tinie Tempah to make such an sudden impact. But ‘Pass Out’ certainly gave the game a boost and opened the ears of the music industry.  

The success of Tinie and Labrinth with that track did many things. It connected mainstream music to the latest of underground urban music scene. Tinie was a grime artist before his chart success, and with Pass Out, he opened the music industry to the genre and made it accessible and available on a mainstream level. People who hadn’t even heard of grime or brushed it off with that same old guns, gangs and drugs stereotype, now saw a different side to the whole genre and culture... and actually enjoyed it! Not only that, but it inspired other artists on the underground that it was possible to break through the charts. Wiley has even said when talking about his recent success, that seeing people like Tinie Tempah having their success inspired him and made him believe it was possible. It does seem exaggerated, but it’s true. A year ago, did you ever think you’d see Wiley on a Now 83 CD?

After Tinie broke through, we got a whole bunch of artists hitting the charts with songs influenced from the bars they spit on Tottenham streets and beats they produced in their bedroom. Plan B, Wretch 32, Skepta all have had chart success and are now names that even your mum will recognise. 

Now I realise I’ve mainly just been talking about Grime, but I feel this is the one genre under the urban branch that has grown, evolved and made the most progress recently. It has been the dominant UK urban genre which has developed from some of our most prominent genres: bassline, dancehall, garage, drum and bass with, ofcourse, the influence of Hip Hop. 

But what is better, we’ve had other genres breaking through to, with the likes of Angel, Delilah and Katy B (to name JUST a few) and introducing not only a UK take on some of the USA's most popular genres, but they are even creating sounds so fresh and different it is hard to label them.

Giggs - one of the underground's finest is should be releasing
an album soon... it'll be interesting to see if anything he puts
out will make chart impact.

Like I said before, we’ve always had people from the Urban music scene in and out of the charts but I feel like urban music as a whole is being taken more seriously as a genre and a culture. SBTV, a company that began with Jamal Edwards filming MC’s spraying in the middle of the estate, is now a renowned and respected brand. People are beginning to understand more about the whole culture, and with that they understand the music and are more willing to listen to it. With this shift in the behaviour, the artists born out of urban music and culture are not only making an impact, but one that is lasting and they are staying there.

No I know there will be some of you saying something along the lines of “*insert artist here* is a sell out now”, but no one said it was perfect. It is progression and we are getting there. We’re a long way from being like the USA, where some of the realest Hip Hop and sweetest slow jams hold the number 1 spot but we’re getting there. If turning a bit mainstream is what it takes to hold a spot in the charts right now, then so be it… we can “re-evolve” later. All I'm saying is, I'm excited to see what happens in 2013.

p.s apologies for saying Urban so much...I know..it was probably as annoying as Tulisa's "Urban roots" *bbm cover's face*

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