Exclusive: Read An Extract From ‘Hold Tight’, A Book About Grime And Black British Culture

A must-read for grime heads.

Hold Tight Cover
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Hold Tight Cover

Hold Tight: Black Masculinity, Millennials And The Meaning Of Grime is a new book from school teacher, music critic and author Jeffrey Boakye which looks at grime as a significant moment in the history of British music. Based around a track-by-track breakdown of 50 genre-defining grime tracks, Boakye explores the stories behind each track and puts them in the social and political context of the time. He also looks at how they relate to the concept of masculinity, dissecting tracks like "Moschino", "Creeper", "Next Hype", "Too Many Man", "Rhythm & Gash" and "I Can C U" to look at the ways that masculinity is expressed. Though the tone is often light-hearted, and despite never claiming to be an "insider", Boakye writes entertainingly and knowledgeably about subjects clearly close to his heart.

As much as anything, this book is an engaging analysis of grime from a personal perspective, which just adds as another reminder of grime's cultural significance. Ahead of the book's release on July 6th, we've got an exclusive extract that sees Boakye share a memory of Tempa T's riotous "Next Hype", before approaching it from the vantage point of a critic, how it compares to his other tracks, the almost cartoonish masculinity and the tantalising sense of danger. Scroll down below to see how Jeffrey looks back on the grime tune most likely to make you smash up your own house.

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"Next Hype" —​ Tempa T (2009)

‘Son,’ I’ll say with a grave look in my eye. ‘If you don’t tidy your room and eat all your vegetables, he’ll sneak into your room in the night while you’re sleeping…’

The launch of Hold Tight: Black Masculinity, Millennials And The Meaning Of Grime takes place tonight (June 27) at Rough Trade East, and has a panel discussion with Kieran Yates, Krucial Kidd, Doc Brown and, of course, Jeffrey Boakye.

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