"Why do older generations forget what it was like to be young?"

Its deeper than rap... literally

The Older Generation’s Dissatisfaction with the Younger Generation

I love Skepta. I think Bullet from a Gun and the Ignorance is Bliss album, by extension, is one of the greatest displays of artistic ability in UK music. However, I recently found myself disagreeing with a musical opinion of his. In what can only be described as some sort of tirade, Big Smoke went on to detail why, in his opinion, the current UK music scene is a mere shadow of what it used to be. This had a particular focus on the ‘underground’ scene. 

Skepta’s Tweet about the U.K. Underground Music Scene

To clarify, I am not a music expert nor an ethnographer or anything that sounds remotely similar or as cool. I am really just a consumer. But I think being a consumer still grants us the privilege and power of observation. Music, like all iterations of the arts, is a microcosm of society. As such, it too is subjected to generational divides and tensions. Older generations leap at the chance to declare that the current state of things are in decline and used to be much better back in their day. And music, specifically the UK music scene, is frequently regarded as being in a slump and in a worse condition than when it was being led by this generation’s predecessors.

As well as being a Skepta fan, I am also a huge football fan. Football analysis and commentary, at least on social media, falls into the ‘Back in the Olden Days’ gimmick at least twice a month. Most recently, members of Football Twitter reminisced over ‘Barclays Men’ from the Barclays Premier League era. Players who were ‘real men’, who never hesitated to dive into a smashing tackle or to throw their body anywhere in the final third to deliver the winning goal for their team. The trend dominated Tik Tok and Twitter, with Premier League clubs such as Brentford, joining in and even presenting new signings as representations of ‘Barclays Men’.

The old Barclays Premier League logo which is associated with the ‘Barclays Era’ of Top Flight Football in England

Why we have to stop exalting the past

But why does this matter?

It’s fair to say the current state of affairs is pretty dismal. I think that provides even more impetus for us, especially in the UK, to place our rose coloured glasses on whilst we forage through memories of the past. It’s an escapism that is just shy of cruelty, the world will never go back to the way it was decades ago, we can’t even go back to life pre-Covid. And yet, we find ourselves constantly playing replay on memories we can only see and never relive. But, in doing so, we also force the rose tinted glasses to double as black out glasses. Obscuring the positives and advancements that have been made in this generation's lifetime and what is to come. This takes me back to music.

Skepta is not the first, and I’m sure he won’t be the last, of the older generation to lament over the direction the new generation is taking music in. And this is why I’m forced to disagree. Firstly, and quite simply, I think it’s because it feels like such a repetitive conversation happening across the creative board. It emerges from what feels like every few months, and it makes me want to scream, please just speak to each other. For those that believe everything is stunted and horrible, I implore you to genuinely see and engage in the content your critics enjoy and indulge in. As harsh as it sounds, the old days are gone, we need to get over them (whilst paying homage and respects) and invest in and energise what is to come.

The hints and gleams of the future of UK music is very promising, to me at least. If you are expecting a regeneration of Wileys, Kanos and BBKs, the direction will not be exciting and will feel glum. But, that is the essence of change and development, things cannot stay the way they were and we also cannot return to the way they were. That only reeks of a lack of originality and authenticity. It’s the same reason why everyone is tired of Y2K themed parties. Since the turn of the 2020s we’ve lived in nostalgia and tried to pass it off as innovation which has only cheapened creativity. 

Things look different because they are different, there is no denying that. I think what unnerves older generations, and this goes beyond music, is the unfamiliar. With all due respect, they are no longer the ones steering the flagship of change and creating the new subcultures amongst the youth. I think that is a difficult truth to reconcile with, it is a constant reminder of one’s mortality. That you will not be young forever, that there will be a new world that emerges. One with a new language and a new character and with new faces to pass the torch on to. But make no mistake, the torch will be passed regardless of whether you embrace it or not.

Similarities and Differences

I myself have sometimes been guilty of making ahistorical claims, such as saying the younger generation have been robbed of their childhood and that they will not know the pleasures of the world I was a youth in. It has taken sitting and spending time with a lot of my younger cousins to see for myself that the fundamentals of most things in life remain the same. They just look different.

Back to the music (this is my last pivot), Skepta concluded his discussion with a mock surrender. Quoting someone who expressed shock that people were trying to ‘educate’ a UK rap giant. His influence and status in Black British music, even UK music, is forever stamped in my opinion. But, that does not mean that he is infallible and his opinions are above critique. Some of the stuff he was saying is not 100% true. Claims that there is no community in the UK music scene is not only a wild generalisation but also not factual. If we talk about the UK underground scene, or non-mainstream scene, that could not be further from the truth. Whilst I am not a contributor to the UK music scene, and my consumption basically ends at Spotify and on social media platforms, observing them has shown me there is a cute sense of camaraderie from artists to producers to DJs to commentators. It seems like everyone knows everyone. This assumption is only reaffirmed when you attend ‘community’ events where it feels like you’re in a Marvel movie with unlimited crossovers. Contributors and consumers from all areas of the music scene overlap at such events. This diversity and mixing has only been helped by social media where you can quite literally talk to one of your favourite artists on Twitter or via an interactive Instagram story on a casual Tuesday morning. This has only enabled even more interaction and camaraderie amongst artists themselves.

The provenance of the criticism of this generation’s UK music scene is interesting. Whilst critiquing, Skepta simultaneously uplifted his generation and the scene he bursted into, citing that he is “from a nurtured scene, pirate radio, magazines, raves, shoots…”. That I can’t disagree with, whilst I wasn’t present during his rise, YouTube and documentaries keep it in a time capsule for me to still have access to even years later. But it’s interesting, and almost ironic, that the very things he referenced are still transpiring in the UK music scene just in a different format. I can’t speak for the ‘magazines’ and ‘shoots’ but I can say the legacy of' ‘pirate radio’ and ‘raves’ has certainly been carried on in the current music climate.

Balamii Radio, which is distributed and proliferated across social media platforms, has allowed me to discover new artists and tap into what they are currently doing. Victory Lap Radio is another perfect example, connected to Balamii, it showcases new talent and the burgeoning and established relationships between artists of all mediums themselves. One of the most notable Victory Lap freestyles has to be the Victory Lap RTW episode. It featured heavyweights in the current U.K. music and current Black British culture, namely, Santan Dave, Central Cee, and even the owner of Corteiz, Clint419. I think it is important for those that belong to older generations, particularly across the creative scenes, to be mindful of the rhetoric they use when discussing the talent and trajectory of the current contributors. Because oftentimes, they end up sounding like the very people who refused to see their vision when they were younger.

Victory Lap RTW Episode

Skepta is not the villain nor the antagonist

Truthfully, Skepta is not the best example of the older generation not making way for the younger generation in music. He himself has been one to embrace and uplift new coming artists on the UK scene. His annual Big Smoke festival has featured several ‘underground’ artists. And UK rappers themselves testified to the support they receive from the rap giant in their own rise, such as Youngs Teflon. However, his tweets fell into the category of a rhetoric that disparages current trends, and succeeded in opening the conversation of generational divides once again.

The End

On a general note, in the present day things have changed. Some for the better, some for the worse. Personally, I think that music has evolved whilst staying faithful to its essence. And, more importantly, lessons are still being passed down to younger generations. The other day I was walking around in Barking, it was around 3:30pm so all the school kids were still milling around. It made me smile seeing that girls still wore socks over their tights. It was something I saw my friends do when I was in Secondary, I tried it once but it made my feet feel too warm so I never did it again. I saw my sister who is 3 years my senior do it too, and I was introduced to it by my cousin who is 10 years my senior when she was attending secondary school all the way in South East London.

An unofficial staple of British Secondary School uniform

Important things, like wearing socks over tights or trying to sneak the small JD Just Do It bag in as your school bag, are preserved and passed on amongst and between generations. Music is no different, what is meant to stay, and become a core feature will. What falls on the outskirts and remains as unique to one generation either develops or is left behind. To me, that is not necessarily a bad thing. It is how we can trace change and growth, and sometimes, decline across history. We need to stop grieving over the past. We are in the present and only the future is left to come.