Marvin Sparks

The headline on the Croydon Advertiser read like something I'd have expected happened until the 90s at the very latest: Exclusive: Police accused of racial profiling after ban on 'unacceptable' Jamaican music https://t.co/zue8UD85ft pic.twitter.com/hwdARMrt7C — Croydon Advertiser (@CroydonAd) March 11, 2016 How is that even allowed in this day and age? A type of music that's commonly associated with participants securing a wine, daggering or bussing gun finger is related to crime and violence? That's what they're allegedly saying. The owners of Dice Bar were told “not to play bashman or John Paul”, translation: bashment or Sean Paul. We don't "bash" man, uzimi? And the only John Paul I know was the pope and I swear my man's reasoning with his peer Jesus while Selassie, Peter Tosh, Jacob Miller and Bob Marley bun him out? "We had a flyer which said R&B, garage, house, bashment and hip hop and I was advised to remove the word b

This is a good old-fashioned long read. I don't care about the ideal word count limit or ISO. Optimum anything can sxck ya mam. Man's 'ere to express, uzimi? If you don't want to know what I think of the singles, skim from here to the next bold. Bold onwards is about the album tracks. In an era where it felt like everyone was trying to make "universal" stuff that sounded/ripped off American aiming to appeal to a global audience by kids who grew up with aspirations to be like rich US hip hop artists, grime's return to the mainstream conversation kicked the regional ownership back into gear. It reminded Londoners that we have a history and identity beyond images we saw on MTV Base. Don't get me wrong, I indulge in the gritty, road rap tales from the younger generation. I love their way with words, passion, hearing their pain, perspective and outlook over trappy beats. But I love balance too. It was lacking 2 to 3 years ago. While there has been hit