Made in the Manor – Has Kano marked a new milestone for Grime?
- harrypd21
- Apr 4, 2016
- 4 min read
Updated: Jun 28, 2019
After a 10 year hiatus, much of which was apparently spent making this album, Kano has returned with Made in the Manor – an album which begs the question as to whether it can effect a progressive change for Grime music.
It’s not a dig at the scene, which has some truly innovative and high-reaching mindsets such as the obvious trio of: Dizzee Rascal, Wiley, and Skepta, to say that it’s unlikely that any other Grime artist could have made an album like this. A big distinction has to be made here in the difference the number of MC’s within the genre of Grime, and those who can seriously be considered as recording artists – Kano, among a few others, being part of the later. As mentioned, Grime has not stinted on excitement with a constant influx of new and young artists, such as Dave, and AJ Tracey feeling like a young Skepta, bringing a lot of energy back to the roots of screwface, battle-rapping tracks while paving a way for inventive social commentary within the genre.
“…something big and unspeakable about British culture that Kano has masterfully communicated”
Where Made in the Manor has the potential to be truly great; a longstanding seminal album, is in its ability to tap in to something deeper and unspoken about quintessential British culture. It is not just ‘This is England’ which showcases this – if you’ve never drunk Super Tenants on a park bench, had a party shut down by Police, or had fish’n’chips after 5-a-side; you probably ain’t local. This is important because Grime can often seem like it’s a Londo-centric culture. While its unsurprising that move socio-political movements occur in the big city (though Manchester and Birmingham are certainly doing a lot for Grime), the music, or any attempt at some uniting universal sound, is often lost amidst postcodes.
Rightly or wrongly, music is largely consumed by the middle-class, white portions of society whereby the social struggles and side-lining that go hand-in-hand with anti-establishment modes of music can be glamourised as “life on the other side of the tracks”. Subsequently, music about trapping and gun crime isn’t being marketed wholesale to people who are living similar lives, or simply within the “London bubble”.
Therefore, if music moves in trends, from Grime garage and battle roots to the modern saturation with trap-rap (something Kano brazenly addressed, amongst many other industry problems such as the damaging effect of an aura of affluence), and is being marketed to a smaller market than that of the US, you would think there would be more of a cry for something bigger than Grime in some of its current modes.
Surely, an album retains its seminal status for a number of reasons:
the artists dies
commercial success
it is musically flawless
it attempts something innovative or,
it effects a cultural change/movement
Personally, I think the obvious bravery of MITM, with its moments of anti-machismo and slow songs, reflects a high degree of musical achievement – but it is perhaps nothing new, and wholly subjective. Again, commercial success may not be attainable on the levels mentioned before (but if there was ever a time after recent Brit snubs to get behind a body of work from a Grime artist…) Whether this album attempts some innovative is again true however, Kano’s catalogue clearly highlights his musical innovation and his propensity for utilising more instrumentally rich and organic Grime beats. So, while the lyricism and talent of a lot of current Grime artists, and rap in general, can be appreciated distally, there often isn’t a lot of engagement. Why do you think there are artists putting out multiple mixtapes a year which won’t have the same impact as an album 10 years in the making?
The answer, I think, is vision, and Kano’s ability to tap into some primal definition of Britishness. Made in the Manor, throughout its tracklist and promotion campaign, is populated with real people, whereas no matter how many times I hear about “Strally” or “Flipz” on an AJ Tracey or Stormzy track, I’ll never get the feeling that they hold a formative process over the artist’s music. Moreover, the spoken word elements (which reflect Mike Skinner’s professional relationship with Kano) evoke images such as plastic covers on furniture that elicit something instantly recognisable as part of your and my upbringing; some deeply sedimented patriotic feeling. And who has better captured that snapshot moment-in-England than The Streets? MITM has an essence of Oasis or The Arctic Monkeys-as-Grime music about it. The Beatles captured the England (and the world) of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Clash with the England of the punk-era et cetera.
There is something big and unspeakable about British culture that Kano has masterfully communicated in a musically enjoyable, listenable, and progressive album both, hopefully, to listeners and artists alike and we can only hope that he gets the same sage commercial approval (not that he wants, or needs it, as this album displays), that he holds with his fans. If so, It could mean a lot for more than just the career of one man.
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