'Heard Some Man Wanna Take My Style'

What’s going on with ‘Eskibeat Recordings’? It all looked so promising. The recruitment of the best young MCs, top producers still learning their craft, Wiley securing his legacy when the inevitable time comes.

MCs joined, spat bars in the middle of the road for an esteemed video podcast, and then left. Currently, ‘Eskibeat’ is a byword for confusion; a label that seemingly has no MCs in a scene that is held together by their dominance, but does have a very good (yet obsolete) graphic designer, and a talented DJ who has no-one to wheel tunes for. The label had signs of artificialness; North, East, South, and West all represented, one MC from each area of London to fully encapsulate grime’s hub and reign in the best super-group since…

However, there have been signs of moves to revitalise Eskibeat recently, which is welcome, since it gives some slight opportunity try and make sense of things. The first move was to sell T-Shirts with ‘Eskibeat’ on them, but in a ‘Run DMC’ style in an attempt to garner some sort of retro-credibility. Apparently, no-one wants retro-credibility for £25, so the next move involved Wiley asking RWD Forum whether he should embark on an album project with Eskibeat.


*EDIT* Now £19.99!

Since when have kings been democratic? You can’t blame Richard for kicking up a bit of hype, but it seems as if the saga of Eskibeat Recordings just needs to be put to an end. Does anyone actually know who is in Eskibeat? Does anyone actually know if Wiley actually knows who is in Eskibeat? The MCs have claimed they have nothing to do with the label anymore, and even if they did Little Dee has commitments with OGs’ second mixtape in addition to Roll Deep work, Chipmunk has an album due to drop, and Ice Kid… well, I don’t even know, perhaps some Hoodstars work, but having a dislike for someone who has tried to help further your career implies you can’t do much else to establish some sort of musical relationship.

It all seems like a bit of a failure, even if, in a sense, Eskibeat has worked from the perspective of production, with Bless Beats providing the beat for ‘Wearing My Rolex’ and the first stepping stone to a nice little deal with Atlantic Records. Even if the song doesn’t sound anything like ‘Eski’.


Wiley couldn't be persuaded to wear an Eskibeat Recordings tee

I’m not too cynical very often, but I can’t see any sort of Eskibeat project happening, at least not for a while. As a grime fan, I don’t think I would be alone in preferring a good Little Dee mixtape, in addition to good features on Roll Deep and Organised Grime projects, a decent debut album from Chipmunk, and really for Ice Kid just to put some work in. Oh, and for ‘Grime Wave’ and ‘Race Against Time’ to deliver. If you don’t mind Will. Safe.