Here is the long heralded Grime extravaganza. I already had a line "No Shade in LA" about someone who kept bumping into their ex. It was a bit cliched and boring and so I thought, what if it was a policeman that the protagonist couldn't stop meeting, which was much more fun to write.
Until it wasn't. Mrs Lutehill immediately said, I don't think you can get away with that these days. And, although I don't think there's overt racism here, it sure does sound like white privilege to think that being wrongly profiled or pursued by the police could be a bit of an amusing anecdote...
So I was thinking of binning the entire thing, or going back to the boring ex story. Instead it now has a final twist to try to turn the mirror on the listener and myself and say this is all very well but there's a serious point here which we shouldn't miss... Too much or not enough, I don't even know.
Musically, grime is essentially rapping over a fast jolty beat, if possible with a bit of East London slang thrown in. I added a prechorus for more variety. It was almost like doing a genre that was totally alien to me... There's a famous grime MC who at the end of each song exclaims "One take!". I am not he.
Finally. if you're the lady from the sample, I'd love to credit you but I can't find out anywhere who you are.
https://soundcloud.com/lutehill/aint-no-shade-master-28-06-2020bAin't No Shade
V1
Man out in London / on a celebration
Not getting drunken / or on a demonstration
Couldn’t evade an / interrogation
From an indecent / fricking policeman
All outspoken / dissing my version
He's draconian / he's taken an aversion
He's getting Grievous on me, fam,
Treating me like I'm his Obi-wan
V2
Moving on nicely / but he's there behind me
He’s been slyly / quietly spying on me
Highly surprisingly / seems I've acquired me
My own violently / arch adversary
Thought our relationship / would be only cursory
But we're joined at the hip now / when's our anniversary?!
Been fleeing the constabulary
Ever since I was in nursery
PRE1
Trying to keep cool like a cactus
Trying to hang tough like a gangsta
Everywhere cops getting tougher
I just need some shade to give me some cover
CH
From E3 - there ain't no shade
to E18 - there ain't no shade
Aldgate East, Petticoat Lane
Dagenham Heathway - ain't no shade
L A, Lagos, San José
Saint Tropez - there ain't no shade
No escape, can't get a break, cos there ain't no shade
V3
I mind my own business / with minimum low stress
But without due process / ain’t getting no rest
Maybe I could hop it / on a bike left by Boris
But what we need to stop this / now is a forest
I'm doing circuits / going round the backstreets
Hanging out like a hermit / to calm down my heartbeat
Here’s my sad plea to Sadiq
Please give us some palm trees
V4
Manz in bad shape / Can't find a safe place
Ain’t no haven / out in the landscape
Cops never be straight / Feels like a police state
My pic saved on / CCTV tape
Always blatant / plain malpractice
In the ways they / traced and tracked us
Perpetrating ABH
on our personal data
PRE2
Trying to keep cool like a cactus
Trying to hang tough like a gangsta
Just trying to get me some closure
But everywhere I go, sure, I’m getting exposure
2xCH
EPILOGUE
Humorous songs about police abuses / maybe not a good image
I only found it amuses / cos I'm white and privileged
Statues and assumptions shattered, new ones emerging
I’m gonna rap #blacklivesmatter and keep listening and learning
(c) Adam Farr, 2020, all rights reserved
Sample: @glamoisticos