British Hip Hop - British Hip Hop Mindset

British Hip Hop Mindset

Acts such as N-Dubz, Tinchy Stryder, Tinie Tempah and Chipmunk, while prominent and commercially successful, are part of a different genre entirely. Since Grime's post-millennial boom period coincided with UK Hip-Hop's, the eagerly anticipated commercial breakout of the latter did not come to fruition. Instead, acts such as the aforementioned were signed to major labels and their traditional sound slightly tweaked to fit a pop sensibility. However, whilst it is the distinctive music that identifies the genre, the lineage of these, and many UK rappers, is unquestionably grime rather than UK Hip-Hop.

Therefore, UK Hip-Hop retains the same core influences as Grime - in terms of Hip-Hop from the US's Golden Age - but greater creative control within the genre allows for expansion on the sound. Whereas commercial responsibilities within modern grime render lyricism within the genre a slow drawl with lyrical concepts indebted to the US, UK Rappers per se are often evocative, as well as original. A wide range of production sounds also prevail, with current mainstays coming as varied as the former Scratch Pervert Harry Love and purveyor of electronic sounds Jon Phonics.

The genre retains the credo of artistic credibility that was absolutely imperative in the aforementioned Golden Age. Since commercial aspirations are often looked suspiciously upon by a critical fanbase, the artists are pushed to experiment and improve. The concept, therefore, of the "hip-hop community" remains within UK Hip-Hop, again influenced by the genre's Golden Age.

The above acts and their pop-like styles are sometimes mocked and ridiculed by acts that remain more underground in Britain, such as Verb T, Braintax, Jehst, Sonnyjim, Task Force, Kashmere, Leaf Dog, Fliptrix, BVA MC, Dirty Dike, Jam Baxter, Skuff, Dr. Syntax, Sleaze, Beit Nun, Dubbledge, Stig of the Dump and Caxton Press. These artists see the success of such pop-like "artists" both at home and abroad as simply a sign of their submissiveness to major record labels and monetary incentives. In the minds of those who follow British Hip Hop, this is seen as a message of direct contradiction to the popular belief that musical acts become famous only ever because of their musical and/or lyrical talent and raises the issue that some underground acts do not gain the recognition that some believe they deserve, simply because of their mis-alignment with mainstream music.

This difference between mainstream and underground acts stems from the collective belief of the underground hip hop community that what is considered to be the true nature of hip hop is defined as making the music relevant to the disenfranchised listeners through beats and lyrics, or as some may say, "speaking the truth". This compliments the collective belief of the community that those acts who claim to be hip hop and are signed up to major labels (especially labels with American origins) are "sell outs" because of the belief that such acts are paid large sums of money by the major labels to make music tailored to the current mass music market.

In the underground British Hip Hop scene, acts are much more respected amongst the community when they are perceived to be making music for artistic value as opposed to monetary value.