Essay Plan

"An investigation on how UK grime music influence and has an impact on teenagers"


ALWAYS LINK BACK TO QUESTION OF MY CRITICAL INVESTIGATION


Introduction

• Define what UK grime music actually is and how it mainly attracts teenagers. Then go onto giving a brief definition about the difference between 'Underground' grime music and 'Mainstream' grime music. (Showing a wide range of research which i will then investigate in detail in the main body of the essay with examples from my bibliography). 
• Show an open discussion by Showing that i am going to focussed from both sides of the argument. To what extent the media portrays these artist?

Paragraph 1 

• The positivity of grime music which i found from my research using my main three artist as examples (Chipmunk, Tinchy Stryder and Wretch32). Interviews they've done on radio 1, twitter post and charity music videos can be used as examples of positivity which is all in my folder from my research. 
• Then talk about these three artist above and how they have become 'Mainstream' from 'Underground' and just talk about the benefits of 'Mainstream' music meaning the type of music their doing now.
• (Shows understanding of the critical debates, research skills and media terminology about my CI)

Paragraph 2 

• The things that these artist have done outside the music industry and how as grime artist they are doing other things which influences teens in a positive way. 
• Chipmunk doing his A levels and posting his GCSE results on twitter. Also revision tips on radio 1 (Live lounge)
• Add theory by talking about how these 'Mainstream' grime artist are the dominant ideology to teenagers because of how they represent success in their videos. Also argue how they may be showing success in the wrong ways.
• The fact that females are getting involved in the grime genre shows their doing something positive! (Shows understanding of the chosen investigation with research skills)

Paragraph 3 

• Counter argue the other two paragraphs by talking about the negative ways that grime music influences teenagers. Grime Daily shutdown (Knife crime).
• Talk in detail about the 'Underground' grime music and the things that they do which may affect teens in a negative way. Rapping about knives, guns and a struggled life teens think you have to do this to be a grime artist. 
• However then argue how even 'Mainstream' artist went through the 'Underground' stage (Wide range of arguments from different ways one thing can have so much meanings to it - 'Mainstream' and 'Underground')

Star in the hood website analysis

The 'Star in the hood' website is a clothing site which famous grime artist Tinchy Stryder is sponsored by. The website is strictly advertising the clothes and nothing else, however it still contributes with my topic because it is cloths that Tinchy Stryder wears and is available for anyone to by. And since my CI is how teens are influenced by these grime artist, it makes them more interested in the 'Star in the hood' clothing because a UK grime artist is wearing it. If Tinchy Stryder wearn't spomsored by this clothing line there wouldn't be much teens wearing it.
This website also uses formal English with no slang because it is trying to spread their clothing line across the UK and different genres. For example the website mainly attracts to the grime genre and they possibly want other genres to be involvd with their clothes, showing  how the UK grime scene isn't underground anymore.

This image on the left connotes how average teenagers are wearing the same clothes as a celebrity since their all together in one picture. Therefore this links in with my topic because it influences teenagers to succeed like these artist since they can relate to them.

Spliff TV website analysis

Spliff TV is a website that links with my critical investigation because on a daily basis they upload new videos and songs that any known UK grime artist made. However this website links in with my topic by showing how grime music may have a negarive impact on teenagers because alongside all the new grime music videos, they also post videos of people fighting (Things that are not suitable for some teenagers) and this may give the idea that UK grime always has to involve something to do with in the negative lines.
The videos areeasily accessable and you dont need an account to be able to access certain videos which comes back to the point of giving the idea that you need to have some of these negative videos to produce a piece of UK grime music.

SBTV website analysis

The image above is a screenshot from the sbtv website and this site links in with my topic because it shows a whole range of different things going on with artist in the UK grime scene. For example as you can see on the middle left of the screenshot they are advertising a Christmas party in Camden and selling tickets at the same time. This shows that they are trying to spread the word of sbtv (UK grime music) in a positive way by throwing a productive party rather then a usual party that the grime genre will have such as a street party. Therefore they are showing the positivity of UK grime through their party which is why the sbtv website links with my topic. Subsequently they have all their interviews that they done with several famous artist from around the globe on their website. These interviews contributes with my topic because in the the interviews all the artist just talk about their success and what they get up to in life. Fro example the link below is the sbtv interview of Chipmunk and he basically talks about his new singles and then also what he has done to get to where he is now. And some of the things that he talks about are things that average teenagers get up to in their lives therefore the teenage audience hearing this puts them in a confort zone since they can relate to someone they look up to.

Furthermore the image above is also a screenshot from the sbtv website however it is from the news section. And in this section they show news from outside the UK. For example they show their respect by posting up the news of famous boxer Joe Fraizier pasting away which connotes respect and makes the sbtv website seemed certified. Also they represent other american artist and how their getting on with their music which shows that the UK grime scene is possibly sharing the same interest and features as US rap music. And this brings us back to the point of the sbtv interviews. Interacting more with US music and linking it in with UK grime which shows that UK grime now days is turning more mainstream and commercial rather then just staying underground which is a positive thing.

Internet Links

http://www.starinthehood.net/lookbook.html (Star in the hood website - Tinchy Stryders clothing line)

http://www.tinchystryder.com/ (Tinchy Stryders official website)

http://www.iamchipmunk.com/ (Chipmunks website)

http://www.wretch32.com/ (Wretch 32s website)

http://ndubz.com/ (NDubz website)

http://sbtv.co.uk/ (SBTV website)

http://www.grimescene.co.uk/grime/ (UK grime scene website. with all the different music in uk grime)

http://spifftv.com/ (Spliff tv - Negative influence on teenagers)

http://www.mtv.co.uk/news/chipmunk/118662-chipmunk-to-sign-with-major (MTV website on Chipmunk being signed to sony)

http://wearesme.co.uk/2011/08/21/news-video-sbtv-founder-jamal-edwards-stars-in-new-google-chrome-advert/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-13608668 (BBC news)

UK Grime artist websites

The image above and below is a screenshot of Tinchy Stryder, Chipmunk, Wretch32 and N Dubz's homepage of their official websites. These sites contribute to my topic because i am doing an investigation on how UK grime artist influence or have an affect on teenagers, and all their different sites gives us the idea of mainstream UK artist (UK grime artist that have moved on from underground) and how they are representing being successful.

• There's always a main image or a video of the artist which is aways dominant on the home page as you can see from the screenshots on this post. This relates with my CI because it shows the artist in a positive way by showing their success either with a picture or video. For example the first image above of Tinchy Stryders website has a pictured of his new album.
• Also there is always a link to buying their albums and mixtapes which gives the teenage audience easy access to the artist music and may imfluence them into buying the albums rather than illegal download.
• Moreover the fact that you can 'Join the fan club' and share the website on facebook twitter etc, it makes the teenage audience feel more attached with the artist which links with my topic since i am looking at how these UK grime artist influence and have an affect on teenagers.
• They use formal english with no slang since UK grime may connote of using slang to some people. Also on each artist website they show the institution who they are singed by on the site by giving a brief description of the artist record label showing UK grimes professionalism.

Issues & debates concerning my CI

'Grime Daily' as you can see by the name is all about grime music which is targetted at young people (teenagers). It is based on a youtube channel similar to sbtv and they specifically focuss on the UK music scene where they upload the latest grime music blogs and videos. 'Grime Daily' was built from the heart of the UK grime music scene and has definantly helped certain underground artist to get signed by major record labels because they produced a video on 'Grime Daily'.

A recent debate and issue that has nas occured about 'Grime Daily' is the fact that it had been shut down for 'violating community guidlines'. An artist called Scorcher's music video apparently sparked the censorship because somebody was holding a knife in it. Therefore it was said that 'Grime Daily' is promoting knife crime for young teenagers. Although this wearn't the first video on 'Grime Daily' that has involved a knife, however with the crime rate increasing by a high percentage it was seen as if it was making matters worse and promoting knife crime to teenagers even though that wasn't the intension (Says Dan Edwatds on a 'Grime Daily' blog) Therefore this issue relates with my CI very much since my CI is about how grime music has an affect and influences teenagers, & this issue about 'Grime Daily' shutting down says totally the oppisite and is able to give me more to add for my CI because i can now focuss on both sides of the argument.

Furthermore there are several arguments/debates about 'Grime Daily shutting down from random people and fans. For example there is a blog somebody made called 'MidofGrime' and they basically talked about how 'Grime Daily' may be doing things such as helping grime artist and showing there is a way out of struggle by doing music however "The facts are their title suggest one thing and their actions another" Meaning that the title 'Grime Daily' says they only do grime music, but on the other hand they still make videos which includes knifes etc which kind of does promote knife crime.
(Link to this blog is below)

http://mindofgrime.com/2011/06/17/grime-daily-gone/

Also continuing on this debate about grime ('Grime Daily') having a negative affect on teenagers, there are some people who think otherwise and say that they exaggerated the knife crime influence on 'Grime Daily'.  "The subject matter of the videos becomes irrelevant when you consider the amount of commercial rappers that Youtube still proudly hosts and profits from through targeted advertising. People celebrating violence, pimping, gun crime and drug dealing is certainly nothing new to Youtube, it only seems to have become a problem if you’re not able to give them money at the same time. Perhaps even worse, Youtube plays host to a range of videos from IDF bombs being dropped over Gaza, to fascists’ attacks on immigrants, and non-coherent theories which celebrate violence and murder of minority and oppressed groups. None of these videos seem to be a problem for the watchful eyes of the Youtube admin" This paragraph is from a website that focusses on breaking news that will attract teens, and the quote above is a really good counter argument to the reason why 'Grime Daily' got shut down because they are saying how people are acting as if 'Grime Daily' was the first company to put something to do with a knife, then they go on to comparing this with bobmings in gaza. So as you can see this is a really hot debate which links in very well with my critical investigation because it involves looking into the positive and negative things about UK grime.
(Link to website below of the quote above)

http://www.socialistrevolution.org/2898/grimedaily-shut-down/