DRAPES!For those of you who don't know (which should be all of you), TEMPA T (also affectionately known as TEMPZ) is a grime MC from the UK with a hi-top fade, and he is absolutely fucking mad and should probably be locked up.
I'm a bit of a culture vulture for British junk. "Grime" is the UK's answer to American hiphop. I have to be real though; I find grime very culturally interesting, but a lot of even the most popular and respected of it is just not very good. Perhaps I'm biased considering I don't even really like most American hip hop very much, but I have my own problems with grime specifically.
Some of the more popular kinds of music in the UK (and most of Europe nowadays by my observation) are the endless various forms of electronic dance music. I attribute this to the already very strong rave culture which exists all over the old world. Euro kids live for getting effed the eff up and having humongous dance parties with massive speakers and glowsticks and stuff. For the most part I don't like any kind of digital electronic music (except dubstep, which will get its own post one of these days).
For the cliffs notes version; "Garage" broke in London in the 1990's, and is the British answer to American house music. It's a lot like house music, but it has reggae-style offbeat kicks as a part of what they call "2-step". I find it darker sounding as well. Grime is essentially someone rapping over garage music.
A lot of people in America don't realize this, but when it comes to drugs and gangs and violence and stuff, England is pretty effed the eff up. They have an illegal immigration issue just like here, except where we have Mexicans, Guatemalans, and El Salvadorans, they have Africans, Pakistanis, and Bangladeshis and stuff. This causes a lot of tension, because as a lot of Americans also don't realize, England along with a lot of Europe is pretty freaking racist. I could write a more extended history about it but just for starters there's these dewshes.
The point is, a lot of people don't take England seriously when they talk about hard street life and such. And so grime MCs feel as though they have to out-gangsta American hip hop.
Enter... TEMPA T
TEMPZ's music is mostly about convincing people that he is insane. "Swing" is about hitting people with baseball bats ("Swing of the bat to you face / SWINNNGGGG / YOU'RE ON THE FLOOR, NO MOVEMENT YOU'RE ON THE FLOOR"). Another concept key to understanding the music of TEMPA T is the par. A "par" in British slang is similar to an insult or diss. If you encounter or listen to TEMPA T, prepare to be parred. If you par TEMPA T, be prepared to regret it.
My first and favorite TEMPA T track; Next Hype. It's about a day in the life of TEMPZ. Once you have a full understanding of the enigma of this guy, the opening sequence of this video becomes hilarious.
Some memorable lyrics;
CLEAR! all the things in your house
CLEAR! all the things in your fridge
SMASH! all your plates on the rack
CLEAR! all your kids' toys
CLEAR! all your CD rack, won't get none of your CD's back,
Drag off your curtain rail from the wall
Kick off your HDTV from the stand!
It gets crazier than that...
Catch man on the field flying his kite
Roll man down on the grass with a knife
Watch how his friends despite from afar
I can hear screams from his wife
Run after man let me draw for his life
Blood pouring I got stains on my knife
Leave man dead in a field over night
When I'm sleeping dreaming won't think of him twice.
So yeah. TEMPZ is apeshit crazy. To be real I don't quite fully understand why he appeals to me, but there's something about his utter rage and brazenness that fascinates me. American rappers pioneered the gangsta element of hip hop music, but I feel as though it's more about flash and dazzle here. Though I know it's all an act I still think TEMPZ would actually straight up kill your ass if you parred him. And that ain't a par.
***BONUS: BILL'S FAVORITE GRIME SLANG**
Par - Defined above
Leng - Gun
Bax - Literally smash somebody
Drapes - When you jump someone, take their stuff and give them an unnecessary beating just to show 'em who's boss. When you do this it is customary to scream DRAPES
Mash - Short for machine gun, thought that was clever
Ring off di ting - Shoot up someone or something
Boi off di ting - Don't actually know for sure... stabbing someone possibly?
