Sea Shanties and Street Songs
A simple question for my readers: what do 17th century sea shanties have in common with the cutting edge of modern British grime music? At a cursory glance, unless you have a very peculiar and acute taste in music, not a whole hell of a lot. But, once you peel back the layers of each musical medium, the two are more intimately connected than one would expect.
Before I dive into the common features of grime music and sea shanties, you may be asking if this author has any idea what he’s talking about, and more importantly, why. Why would someone born and bred in a leafy suburb of Boston (a town you might favorably compare to plain toast) have any affinity, connection, or even knowledge of grime?
In simple terms, when I first heard Dave’s Six Paths EP in early 2017 I was blown away by the vivid distinctness of the sound, fully uprooted from what I thought rap music sounded like. The music’s urgency, it’s pounding sense of now demanded you listen to it and consider it. At only 17, he wrote with a lyricism and gift for storytelling far beyond his years, shining a light on a population and a reality that had been pushed to the sidelines in British culture. After finishing the 6-track EP, I was immediately hooked.
In more complicated terms, grime presented itself to me during a period of personal upheaval. I was struggling with the aftereffects of a concussion which resulted in seemingly endless hours spent aimlessly and softly listening to music in a dark room, a world condensed solely to my own thoughts and whoever was on the other end of my speakers. Discovering Dave, Stormzy, Skepta, AJ Tracey, Headie One, etc. felt like discovering an entirely new universe, the unique intricacies of their British accents and slang an obvious and enrapturing cultural shock. But as this initial shock faded, I became fascinated by their realities, these voices which spoke for the 37% of London children who grow up in poverty - one of the highest rates of any city in the developed world. They detailed the trials and tribulations of the “road”, the impoverished and crime-riddled areas set directly in the background of the neatly polished rows of exorbitantly priced London flats. The stories they told were similar to those found in American rap but sounded so distinct – different beats, different cadences, different flows, different everything. Grime was like a distant cousin to rap, with sounds that had passed through a long game of telephone and come out the other end with exciting, raw, new possibilities. It’s a genre of music that - while taking cues and selectively sampling from American rap – has distinct origins rooted in the UK garage scene of the 1990s which fused soul and R&B influences with a colder and darker sound that allowed MC’s to overlay off-kilter lyrics on sub-bass heavy tracks. While modern British grime (and drill in particular) has evolved considerably since these early days, its roots in basement house and MC culture remain.
These origins form the basis for why I believe an 18th century sailor - once he had gotten over the initial pure state of shock and awe at the possibilities of modern music – would connect deeply with grime and drill’s musings on daily life. These sailors’ sea shanties focused on those grinding at the edges of polite society, focusing on universal themes: of love and loss, of struggling (often violently) to make a path in the world, of the simple pleasures of life, and above all, of how shit the British weather is. Sea shanties and grime are stripped of pretense, they lay bare the moods and undercurrents of the common man, the trials and tribulations of a gray, salt-sprayed view. Both genres are devoid of glossy overtones, reveling in rough sounds that mark their authenticity. At the end of the day, sea shanties and grime are simultaneously a respite from and a reflection of the daily drudgeries of working-class life. They don’t ask for your permission, they demand your attention.
Now that I’ve convinced you that sailors would be bumping along to the cutting edge of modern drill, feel free to give a listen to a selective sampling of my favorite grime and drill songs in this playlist.