Tell me, what’s more compelling? To have a writer appraise music in a competent yet bookish manner or to read them bringing it to life like a novelist? So much so that it means almost as much to you now as it did to them then. Crossing from the world of what happened and why – the play-by-play – into the realm of characters, conflict, tests and obstacles.
From mixtape drops and nods to your ‘endz’, to triumphant arrivals on the national stage that feel like collective wins because you’ve been on the long journey with them, “throwing bricks at glass ceilings” as Kano rapped. Taking some heavy losses too, it must be said.
I’m not talking about a pure expression of fandom or an I-was-there awareness of a genre’s genesis, both of which have merit. This is different. It’s the ability to chronicle the times in anything other than a straight line. To look behind demographic shifts and hit records. To see the turning points and setbacks with an acute sense of time and place. Complexity and precarity. Cause and effect.
To join the dots between past movements and evolving scenes like you’re explaining your family tree. How we get from Cecil Morris’ Peoples Community Radio Link (PCRL) pirate in 80’s Birmingham to West Midlands grime entrepreneur Despa Robinson, who co-founded the label StayFresh and started the artist management and media company BE83. Aniefiok ‘Neef’ Ekpoudom has achieved this and so much more in Where We Come From.
Read the full story on my Substack, Bluejeans & Moonbeams.
Also in this issue: a poem for all ages, why friendships feel like admin, the curious world of crisp flavours, age-gap relationships, Studio Ghibli composer Joe Hisaishi and it’s Fred Again … again.