Will 2026 Be The Year That Grime Music Truly Returns?

Image Credit: Time Out Magazine

If you are like me, you would have been an avid fan of grime music back in the early 2000’s. Unfortunately, you would have slowly watched the scene be filtered down in the early 2010’s and subsequently seen many offshoots of the genre reappear but not contain the same flare you once knew and loved. However, in the latter part of 2025, there seemed to be a slow and steady reprisal of grime seeping its way back into the music industry. Of course we are only in the very early stages of 2026, but if this carries on, we may find ourselves being able to see grime back in full force! Before we look into the signs that points us into the direction of this genre renaissance, lets first take a trip down memory lane and remember what makes grime music different, and the artists that pioneered the genre who breathed some truly exciting life into London culture.

If you ask a true grime fan one thing that sets it apart from other genres, many will quickly tell you that grime was commonly based on a production that was 140bpm. Lyrically, the tracks were deemed as quite aggressive in nature and depicted a side to London culture that many had not seen or heard be portrayed in the music industry. For me though, the main factors that separated it from other genres, was the level of passion and dedication these artists had, as grime music was quickly being seen as a necessary tool for young artists who were struggling to make a name for themselves and build a better life.

The foundation of grime music was created by many different groups and solo artists that all helped pave the way for their younger peers to carry on the torch. These early trailblazers included groups such as More Fire Crew, Ruff Squad and N.A.S.T.Y Crew. As well as solo artists like Dizzee Rascal, Wiley, Skepta, Kano, Ghetts, Lethal Bizzle and many more. These artists were formed between the late 90’s and early 2000’s and were responsible for some of the biggest grime anthems today, with some achieving chart success with a handful of their songs.

Grime music seemed to hit the mainstream conscience in 2003, when Dizzee Rascal released his debut album ‘Boy in da Corner’ to critical acclaim. The turning point in this album campaign, came when it won the coveted Mercury Music Prize, which was the first time a grime artist had won a major award. Suddenly, the industry was forced to take note of the genre that was rapidly sweeping the nation, which was probably looked on as a threat but later seen as a golden opportunity for many mainstream labels.

Before grime artists were creating music and songs for their fans to listen to, many of these artists rose through the ranks, clashing each other on pirate radio stations such as Rinse FM, Deja Vu FM and Axe FM, as well as appearing on the now iconic Lord of the Mics and Practice Hours DVDs. If you couldn’t prove yourself a worthy opponent in these spaces, then it was time to pack your bags and find a different path. These clashes were seen as a true staple of the culture, where many legendary battles have taken place like Crazy Titch vs Dizzee Rascal, Wiley vs Kano and Skepta vs Devilman to name a few. The art of clashing was seen as the real trenches of the music genre, and if you could prove yourself in the trenches, potential stardom was on the horizon.

After Dizzee won the Mercury Music Prize, the floodgates of grime music had well and truly opened, and the underground artists were quickly getting mainstream success with the music that truly represented the grime culture. Songs like ‘Pow’ (2004) by Lethal Bizzle, ‘Typical Me’ (2005) by Kano featuring Ghetts, ‘Wot Do U Call It?’ (2004) by Wiley, and many more had made a serious impact within the industry.

If we are talking about grime music and the culture, it wouldn’t be fitting to not talk about the platforms that helped shine a light on these unsigned artists, which helped showcase their talent to the masses. One of the most prolific platforms that nurtured grime music was the TV station, Channel U, later rebranding itself as Channel AKA, which was active between 2003 and 2018. This channel played a pivotal role in the rise of grime music and is seen as a legendary staple in the culture. As grime music grew, labels and music tastemakers had to keep an eye on the songs and videos that were getting requested frequently by the viewers of the channel, so they themselves could swoop in early to capitalise on these rising stars.

After the birth of Channel U/AKA, many online platforms were born and helped infiltrate the grime genre into a more mainstream audience. Channels like SB.TV, (founded by the late Jamal Edwards) GRM Daily (founded by Posty) and Link Up TV (founded by Rashid Kasirye) have been seen as the main channels to shine a light on the up-and-coming artists at the time. These platforms and artists mutually benefitted each other and propelled the culture.

Now that we have touched on the birth of the genre, as well as its rapid rise in popularity and the platforms that helped nurture the talent, I do think it is important to touch on the contributing factors that may have led to the gradual filtering of the genre. Looking back on the scene, I personally believe we start to see the genre get diluted in terms of its’ actual sound around the years of 2008 and 2009.

Around this time, many of these celebrated grime artists started releasing material that had a definite more commercial sound. Songs like “Stryderman” (2008) by Tinchy Stryder, “Wearing My Rolex” (2008) by Wiley, “Dance wiv Me” (2008) by Dizzee Rascal and Calvin Harris as well as “Oopsy Daisy” (2009) by Chip, all being some of the early songs to really take over the charts in a big way. This is in no way me trying to slight any of these artists and their decisions to make these songs, as all these songs were seen as real opportunities to create a much more comfortable life permanently. However, if you look at these songs, there does seem to be one overarching contributing factor, and that is the infiltration of major labels.

“Stryderman” was the first release by Tinchy Stryder that was affiliated with Island Records, “Wearing My Rolex” by Wiley was released by Warner Records, “Dance Wiv Me” by Dizzee Rascal & Calvin Harris was Dizzee’s first release away from independent label XL and was instead released through Columbia Records/Sony Music, the exact same labels that also released “Oopsy Daisy” by Chipmunk in 2009, which consequently topped the UK singles chart. The pattern is clearly there to see. During this time, there were many critics, both from the industry and other artists about their peers “selling out” for the money and fame. The arguments against these songs were that creating them to appease the radios was conforming to the power of the labels, rather than trying to keep pushing the sound to a place where the labels must fold the power to the artist.

Fast forward to 2014-2016 and we have a few major grime moments that really shook up the industry once again. In 2014, Meridian Crew alumni Meridian Dan, released a polished version of his 2013 underground hit ‘German Whip’ featuring guest verses from grime pioneers Big H and JME, through PMR/EMI Records. The track became a huge breakthrough success, charting at number 13 on the UK singles chart.

Following this, in 2015, Stormzy burst on the scene and started churning out a slew of grime tracks that quickly gained popularity in the industry. However, a real pivotal moment in the early stages of his career is when he performed the track ‘Shut Up’, during an Anthony Joshua walkout in December of that year. After the performance, a Christmas campaign was created to get the song to number one to prevent that year’s X-Factor winner snagging the top position. Although it didn’t manage to do this, it did crack the top 10 and peaked at number eight on the chart. A huge achievement for an unsigned artist, and a grime track in general. What made this achievement extra special, is that the track was originally uploaded as a freestyle with Stormzy rapping it in a South London car park, over the infamous grime beat called ‘Functions on the Low’ produced by XTC, originally released by the group Ruff Squad back in 2004.

Another stand out moment in grime, came when Skepta released his career defining album Konnichiwa, which was released to critical acclaim and commercial success. This album not only cemented Skepta as one of the greats in British music and culture but also was another building block on the foundation of grime. Whilst the album was not a complete grime album, as there were many other elements of different genres sprinkled in, the album was presented with a level of confidence, assertiveness and hunger that grime is renowned for. The album was a huge cultural moment and went on to win the coveted Mercury Music Prize, bringing more eyes to the album and genre, including its history.

Let’s not forget the impact ‘Thiago Silva’ has had on the current British music scene. As we all know, British rapper Dave, is now seen as one of the most influential rappers in the UK and can transcend the constrictions of genres. However, his breakout moment was his collaboration with AJ Tracey in the form of their hit single ‘Thiago Silva’. Even though both Dave and AJ Tracey themselves aren’t deemed as “grime artists”, ‘Thiago Silva’ is a track that is now seen as one of the modern staples in the genre. The track is producer by 169 and samples the track ‘Pied Piper’ originally released by Ruff Squad in 2003 and originally didn’t make a dent on the UK singles chart when it was first released in 2016. (Fun fact: ‘Pied Piper’ by Ruff Squad was also sampled by Stormzy in 2014 on ‘WickedSkengMan Part 3’).

However, all that changed, when the now legendary moment where Dave brought up a fan in the Glastonbury crowd to perform the song in 2019, and the nation watched as Alex keenly volunteered and plucked up the courage to rap with one of his idols to a rapturous crowd. The moment sparked a media frenzy and quickly went viral online and climbed up the charts to crack the Top 40. Suddenly, the nation became enamoured with Dave and Alex as well as having many new fans of the grime genre. This moment also shifted a lot of perspective on the stereotypes of grime. Grime music has always thrived within live crowds, and there have been many raves and parties that have helped specifically accommodate the genre within the UK music market. Sidewinder events have been one of the early event pioneers that has allowed grime music to flourish in its true form within a live crowd, as well as Red Bull Culture Clash, that has always allowed the grime stars to take the stage to big crowds. The issue has always been that stereotypes have seemed to block the event opportunities within grime from expanding, based on there being potential violence, without there being nearly as many repercussions in other genres for any violence that takes place within their spaces. The moment Alex started rapping on stage, to an audience that was there to see one of their favourite artists who created such a strong grime song, the crowd, grime fans and the nation, were reminded that all music genres, including grime can bring people together and lazy stereotypes need to be reconsidered. All genres deserve space for their music to grow in front of their fans.

Taking a step back and looking at all these big moments in grime which have helped the genre in so many ways, their one weakness is they seemed to be few and far between and somewhat sporadic. The new wave of British rappers that currently shape the musical landscape in the UK had already started sowing the seeds of their career, that can be argued is somewhat inspired by the grime artists before. Yet they have also made sure to create their own unique sounds, which of course is what you want to achieve as an artist. We are now in a space where it is actively encouraged to constantly develop, evolve and grow your artistic license and identity. Rappers like J-Hus, Headie One and Central Cee are all at the top of their game right now and have vocally expressed their admiration for the grime stars before them but now incorporate many different genres within their music, like Drill, Trap, Afro Beats and Hip-Hop. These genres are not quintessentially British, subsequentially allowing them to reach a more worldwide appeal.

While the current stars of today were building their fanbase and claiming the top of the pecking order in terms of chart success, many of the original grime artists seemed to either disappear or take extended hiatuses. This left more space for the younger artists to take over and for the grime genre to lose its momentum. Prolific artists such as Scorcher, Griminal and many more, took breaks from the scene for several different reasons. However, since 2025, it seems that these artists are now back to reclaim their spot in the scene and push the genre back into London culture, but this time with more knowledge, experience and an urge to not compromise on the sound.

The comeback of these grime pioneers comes at a perfect time, as a lot of young rappers who grew up listening to them are now starting to build names for themselves in the industry, and now they are working together to create tracks that contain the true grime essence. One perfect example of this is RB. RB is still in his teens but has built up a partnership with Scorcher, which was first seen when Scorcher brought him on to a DJ AG set. Now they have made multiple tracks together which has the grime fans excited for the new generation to come through. We have also seen a rise in grime diss tracks being thrown out, with a lot of help from Chip, as well as many platforms still putting on showcases to highlight the talent in the scene currently; like Link Up TV starting their Behind Bars: Grime Sets last year, shining light on upcoming grime artists like DUPPY, as well as many others.

Another reason why grime music has the potential for a real comeback, is the fact that the artists who trailblazed the genre in its formative years, have the right knowledge and skills that many other artists from different genres might not have. In the early stages of their careers, these artists were able to capitalise and monetise from the tools that were available to them, which included channels like Channel U and SB.TV. These stars did a great amount of market research and were able to get their music heard from the right people and showcase their music on the right platforms. From this extensive market research, they were then able to cultivate loyal fanbases, get their music played on national television and radio, as well as build brands that were able to tap into their audiences, (take Boy Better Know for example). At a time when record labels were seen as a necessity to get your music heard on that kind of scale, grime music was pushing back and taking a more DIY approach, using it to their advantage and creating record labels themselves. This genre was able to thrive in such a way, because of its music and the business behind it being created by the people, for the people. Now, we are living in a time where every genre is taking a stand against the major labels and are trying to go the DIY approach as much as possible. It seems like a perfect time for the grime veterans to lead by example and bring their knowledge and expertise to the table.

With a resurgence of traction within the genre, we are bound to see more guest verses from these acclaimed grime stars populating the mainstream space on some of the most popular songs within the industry. Artists like J-Hus, Fredo and Headie One are all either in the early stages of their comebacks or due one imminently. It makes sense for them to collaborate with the grime artists, as not only could it bring even more eyes on their music but also allow them to pay homage to the artists that helped pave the way for their respective careers.

So, with the comeback of artists such as Wiley, Scorcher and Griminal returning to their roots, and them beginning to usher in new talent, as well as key platforms creating new avenues to carry on the grime torch, combined with the consistency of diss tracks being released, the genre seems to be back in full force. Many young artists are being inspired by the nostalgic element that grime has to them and are looking to get in on the action. If they have the talent and the hunger, then the more established acts are more than happy to champion them as well.

Image Credit: James Gould

Looking to the future, what can we do to push the scene forward, and which tastemakers should we be continuing to champion to facilitate the growth? Obviously, the way we consume music has changed drastically since the early 2000’s, so television doesn’t hold nearly as much strength as it once did. This means creating a reimagined version of the old Channel U probably won’t have the same impact. However, that doesn’t mean we can’t continue to find new ways to shine a light on the genre. Currently, DJ AG is one of the go-to people when it comes to showcasing emerging talent from all genres, but his roots are deeply embedded in grime. Before his viral Tik-Tok streams that take place outside, he was a regular DJ and MC on pirate radio station Axe Fm. This means he has a deep knowledge and passion for the scene, as well as holding strong relationships with many of the artists within the genre. It would be great to see him expand into balancing his own streams as well as having his own traditional show on a platform like BBC Radio 1Xtra, where he can showcase artists from different genres, but also have a specific “grime slot” where he brings in new and old artists to either freestyle or clash.

Another possible avenue could be having a Lord of the Mics return, but in a bigger and bolder way, like create yearly events in partnership with Boiler Room, bringing a wider demographic to the events, where it can also be livestreamed.

With all these factors and potential opportunities, 2026 and beyond could be a strong time for the genre. Not to mention, Skepta has confirmed that his upcoming sixth album ‘Fork and Knife’ is being released later this year. It’s going to be interesting to see how the almost inevitable rise of grime pans out. Let’s watch this space and see what happens.