OCULATE UK - DIGITAL COVER 006 - JUNE 2026

GRIME REIMAGINED

THURSDAY 11TH JUNE 2026

WORDS BY ANEESA AHMED

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ARCHIE OLIVER

The energy in the room was nothing short of electric on the day of the Oculate cover shoot. The musicians hype each other up, keeping their collective creative spirit alive. Some of them have never met each other in real life before, and even those who have were rarely given a chance to actually speak and bond, but it's clear that they all have a mutual admiration for each other's crafts. “You could tell who’s track was playing on the speaker because it’s just their DNA…they’re in this room because they’re the only ones who can do it in their way,” explains producer t.o over a video call a few weeks after the photoshoot.

He’s referring to his co-cover stars, a roster of grime artists, MCs and producers who are defining figures in the genre in 2025. Some, such as Manga Saint Hilare, have been in and around the scene for years. While others, such as Wilfred, are newer arrivals - but long-term fans. Nevertheless, the full group - comprising of Manga Saint Hilare, Saiming, Namesbliss, Stacy NKR, Scruz, Wilfred, t.o, Deeriginal and Pozzy - are present in the studio - and though a photographer is directing them, the real magic is organic.

t.o was also including himself in this bold statement, and praises himself for maintaining his authenticity and integrity in the music business - saying that he never let go of his own artistic identity for the sake of being liked. It may have been easy to make something he thought could be palatable, even commercially successful, but it would just be mundane. “We need to make things that last, we need to leave an imprint - otherwise you just keep repeating what you hear and nothing new ever comes,” he says.

Grime as a genre was not made by accident, it's the product of a fusion of sounds and culture rumbling together through east London tower blocks and pirate radio stations like Rinse FM, Deja Vu and Heat FM in the early 2000s. Influenced by other genres such as UK garage, jungle, drum and bass, and dancehall, it’s characterised by combining 140-bpm rhythms, harsh electronic textures, and rapid rapped verses - grime represented multicultural, young Britain. “Grime is the UK’s undeniable homegrown genre,” according to Saiming. “Grime is at the foundation of a lot of what we do.”

Early pioneers including Wiley, Dizzee Rascal, Kano, and Lethal Bizzle helped define the genre’s distinct gritty and DIY identity - and they were all cited by the cover stars as inspirations of their own. 2000s crews such as Roll Deep, N.A.S.T.Y. Crew and More Fire Crew built grime’s foundation through radio clashes, innovative production, and rapid-fire MCing and rapping style that became musically unique. But bars and flow aside, it offered a representation to young Black Brits in a way that the American hip-hop market could not fill.

Others, such as Manga Saint Hilare, don’t remember exactly how they got into it. According to Manga, grime was everywhere when he was growing up in the early 2000s; “Grime was just the culture. It was just what happened…it’s hard to explain it now, but grime was just the youth culture of the time. Everyone was MCing, or DJing, or something.”

Fast-forward to 2025, and grime has evolved alongside society and technology. As pirate radio stations started to fade, and streaming platforms such as YouTube became increasingly popular, new faces, voices and ideas were being brought into the scene. Now anyone can get involved, regardless of who you do or don’t know. The internet helped the sound spread further and wider, allowing people from the outside to put their own spin on it.

Over the past few years, subgenres including mellow grime, alt-grime, set grime, and neo-grime have started to prop up - many of these are being furthered by the people present at the cover shoot. What binds all of these subgenres together is its shared DNA of rhythm, culture, and attitude. Whether it’s the introspective pads of mellow grime, the aggressive bars of battle sets, or the experimental textures of alt-grime, every variant of the genre maintains the signature 140 BPM pulse, syncopated hi-hats, cyclical flows, and clever lyricism - but some also borrow properties from other genres such as jazz and electronic. “Grime is so grandiose,” says t.o. “I’ve been striving to get that [in my own production], and I’ve realised that good music, especially in the grime genre, is always about making the parts talk to each other.”

Some artists prefer to adapt a traditional, 2010s-style approach to their music, such DeeRiginal, who channels some of the raw emotion and realness associated with classic grime. His track ‘Social Life Challenges’ is an all-scars-on-show offering of vulnerability - where listeners can hear him open up about his own internal battles. Meanwhile, scruz’s production-style is akin to the early pioneers - as he fuses elements from other genres such as garage, jungle, drum and bass.

Meanwhile, on the more mellow side, Namesbliss merges ambient textures and clever grime flows in ‘ADHD’. Namesbliss taps into personal, introspective lyricism with more ambient production - which was a style he was drawn to since he was young. “I’ve always just loved words,” he says. “When I was in primary school, I would just make up words - and it would catch on with my friends and then it would catch up with the class. Now I have the same experience with my listeners, where I coin something and then it catches on.”

Elsewhere in the more mellow side, Stacy NKR fuses the swing rhythms of jazz with her own smooth vocals. She credits neo-soul and hip-hop as having a major influence on her sound, but keeps the UK grime sound present throughout. Similarly, Pozzy brings a youthful energy to his rapid-fire bars, which he pairs with minimal, but effective, production. A relatively new figure in the scene, Pozzy is quickly finding his feet in the industry; “Grime is sick to me, it allows anyone who wants to say something to say it.”

Similarly, Saiming experiments with hybrid flows, drawing subtle influence from jazz, drill and electronic music, as showcased in new EP ‘give thanks and breathe’. Stacy NKR’s production leans melodic and vocal-centric, as heard in tracks like ‘your eyes’, meanwhile Wilfred plays with experimental textures and jazz-inspired production - as seen in ‘love riddim’ with Oakland and Joe James. Manga Saint Hilare functions as a link between past and present, mentoring younger artists while demonstrating the flexibility of grime as a medium - clearly seen in his latest EP, ‘OUTERNATIONAL’ with Lewi B.

Grime culture has always existed both inside and outside the studio, and it continues to do so now. MCs and artists are still frequently billed at nightclubs, clashes are still active, radio stations such Rinse FM, Sigil, Balamii and Reprezent continue to offer acts a platform, and festivals such as Outlook (which both Manga Saint Hilare and Namesbliss called a “highlight of festival season” and Wireless celebrate the culture on a bigger scale.

But as new subgenres and offshoots are born, Manga argues that there’s an overcategorisation which is leading to the overcomplication of a genre that was one more homogenous. “Everyone is trying to make a separate thing, but it’s just grime,” he says. “People can have different interpretations of what that is, but it’s grime…I forgot who I was talking to…maybe it was DaMetalMessiah, maybe it was Neffa T, but we were talking about 140. I was like ‘what even is 140? 140 is just grime’, and then they said 140 is a thing of dubstep…but really, I think it’s all grime. You can have dubstep, and drill, but in the end it's just grime.”

What’s causing this separation? Manga believes it's who is listening to the music, not necessarily who is making it or playing it. t.o also thinks it's important to not read into the categories too much - and to just let the music speak for itself. “Categorisations don’t even mean anything at the end of the day,” he says. “Because if I’m looking at this shirt and I’m saying it’s red, and then you’re saying it’s red, how do we even know if we’re seeing the same red?”

However, Namesbliss disagrees with this idea - and believes that categories could be seen as a good thing to help listeners discover what type of sounds they like, and to offer direction. He says that many of his newer listeners found him by seeing his music labelled a certain way, and that it helped them contextualise his catalogue within the wider genre. “There is a lot of categorisation…but I think that humans need categories,” says Namesbliss. “When someone makes a distinct sound that’s signature to them, people will jump to name that thing. When I released a couple of tunes, people online were straight to calling it ‘lofi grime’. So I started calling it ‘lofi grime’. It was initially used by me as a marketing tool, as it may get more engagement with the song - so sometimes it is more of a way to help fans find what they like.”

Grime’s newer sounds are gaining momentum overseas, as international audiences are still connecting with its authentic ring and fierce energy.

The genre has its global reputation because it speaks to the British habit of rolling up your sleeves and pushing through regardless, according to Wilfred. There is a willingness to rough it out and simply give it a go. “[Grime] means being British,” he says. “[It’s] a knock on effect from British punk culture, the ‘download a DAW and figure it out’ mindset of Wiley in the early 00s…feels like stories my dad told me about himself picking up a bass and learning by ear how to play fast punk tunes.”

Where does the genre move on from here? Manga argues that a hit track, and a new seminal album is needed - one that lives up to the name and legacy of the likes of Dizzee Rascal’s ‘Boy in da Corner’, Skepta’s ‘Konnichiwa’ or Stormzy’s ‘Gang Signs & Prayer’. “We need an album to say ‘this is grime’,” he says. “I always say how JME’s ‘Grime MC’ is a sick album, because he’s always going to do what he’s going to do - but him calling it ‘Grime MC’ is very important…[now] everybody wants to be in the middle. There’s bare people doing grime, but we need a new household name.”

Ultimately, the artists believe that this new generation is keeping their sound rooted in the 2000s DIY underground spirit, and that will keep the genre’s longevity. As the artists play around with new types of sounds, they’re needing to bring fresh ideas from the ground up as a reminder that innovation is best done without a safety net. This innovation and authenticity is what helped propel grime into popularity at the start, and is what will shine through moving forward. Each of these acts know how to make their mark. “The DIY and grittiness is so needed,” says t.o. “We live in an age of convenience, where everything is packaged in plastic and ready to go - it’s just engineered to be as accessible as possible. They want everyone to enjoy it so they can make as much money as possible. That can be great for some things, but not for things like art - you should make it as authentic as possible.”

Saiming echoes this, but also believes that the reason that its been able to maintain its identity is because of the cross-generational collaboration that is seen in the scene; “I think there’s a lot of exciting artists and producers coming through with different takes on the genre, as well as some of grime’s legends still championing the sound and uplifting newer names.”