Kano lists his top five grime instrumentals
The MC, and star of Netflix’s Top Boy, shares the beats you need to understand grime.
Kano provides an essential guide to the essentials of early grime in the latest episode of Top Five. The legendary east London MC and Top Boy star, ranks his favorite beats from across the genre's foundational period, taking time to shout out production from Jammer, Ruff Sqwad, Danny Weed, and more.
"We rarely hear instrumentals any more," he says, explaining the turn-of-the-century period when he was coming up alongside peers such as Dizzee Rascal and Wiley. "[Back] then we were listening to tunes every day with no artist so it was, like, 'How could I spit on this? How could I turn this into something?' It's a blank canvas. That's how we looked at it."
Kano’s latest album, Hoodies All Summer, is out now.