Stream Live Grime Set From Bok Bok, Featuring Kelela

A female grime MC you say? She’s singing you say? I wouldn’t have believed it even six months ago, but in the year of the Yeezus it is meant to be. Bok Bok recently uploaded a 40 minute grime set recorded from a club set and lo and behold, Fade To Mind signed songstress and frequent Kingdom collaborator Kelela lays down vocals across the majority of the mix! Grime is obviously not generally produced with the intention of a female vocalist riding across the squarewaves and incandescent bass hits, but that idea is being challenged more and more these days. First we had Nguzunguzu’s rework of Samename’s “Make It Hot” featuring vocals from Ashanti and more recently, Kelela and Kingdom’s “Bank Head” from the Vertical XL EP, both tracks utilizing distinctly pop/feminine vocals on traditionally rougher grime production. Of course, there are moments when the Bok Bok/Kelela set falls a little flat (the portion at around 29:00 is pretty damn clunky), but the fact of the matter is that this a truly genre breaking moment for electronic music. If grime’s hard-nosed, eskibeat factions continue to collaborate with talented R&B singers, the results will be dramatic and widespread. As seen in this mix and the aforementioned tracks, the production/instrumental work doesn’t have to change, but an open minded spirit must be embraced. Maybe I’m exaggerating the importance of work like this, but I see grime’s sphere of influence expanding greatly in the coming months.