When you think of today’s pop music, you’re probably more likely to imagine Harry Styles’s haircuts or Taylor Swift singing about boys and cats than you are the recent resurgence of grime. But according to Godfather of Grime Wiley, the two genres are one and the same. In an interview with the BBC, he described how most mainstream grime is actually pop music, and that “No one has had a Grime number one yet.” He adds, “Any number one that anyone’s had, it’s pop music. England is built on pop music, that’s why the show was called Top of the Pops. It’s a strong pop market.”
What about the critically and commercially acclaimed albums of Skepta and Stormzy? Pop music, pop music, all pop music. “Stormzy and Skepta have made it into something today that pays as well as pop does,” Wiley says, arguing that “the only real form of grime that exists” takes place at “a rave called Grime Originals.”
It figures, since pop music = popular music. And given the way that grime’s taken off in the UK and abroad, it’s no wonder it’s cementing its place in the pop music canon. Fine by us.