Grime celebrates diversity in Britain but there are still people who are underrepresented at high levels in the genre. As a platform that has given a voice to the working-class and ethnic minorities, where are all the Black Women in Grime?
In 2017, journalist Yomi Adegoke wrote an article in The Guardian that explores colourism in grime and asked, ‘why are Black Women still a minority?’. Within the article Adegoke highlighted that “Black Women as photographers, producers, DJs, journalists, managers and tastemakers within British Grime and rap remain invisible” and dark-skinned women especially are shunned by the music industry as a whole.
In a follow-up radio documentary, Adegoke was on a mission to find out more about why Black Women in grime are noticeably absent. Helping her get to the bottom of the issue was a panel of people in the industry including Girls of Grime founder, Shakira Walters and grime MC, Lioness.
Colourism — the preference of lighter skin tones — is widespread in the music and entertainment industry. The representation of dark-skinned women in popular culture is limited, especially in music videos, and it is no coincidence that some of the biggest female artists in the UK are either lighter-skinned or white.
As part of a movement that gives a platform to women in Grime, Shakira Walters is well aware that the music industry has an agenda that Black Women do not fit into. “If we want to talk about how the music industry is set up, Black Women aren’t a hot topic for them,” said Walters.
Speaking about the radio documentary, Walters shared the experiences of some of the other panellists. “Lioness and I did an interview and I listened to her when she was doing her interview. She said that she stopped doing music when A&R told her it would be better if she was light-skinned and that she probably wouldn’t make it in this business.
“She stopped doing music for more than six years,” added Shakira. “You can’t be the best in the game if you’re going into A&R and being told that you won’t be successful because of your skin colour.”
Like many people in the industry, rapper Lady Sanity is aware that colourism is not always overt.
Sanity said, “I’ve probably experienced it without even knowing. These things tend to happen more behind the scenes than to your face. There’s opportunities you’ve probably been overlooked for just because you weren’t a bit lighter.”
Colourism affects men just as much as it affects women. Jude Yawson, a 25-year-old writer, co-wrote ‘Rise Up: The #Merky Story So Far’, the motivational story of how one of the biggest artists in grime came to be. “When I was writing this book about Stormzy and his come up, I would look at him entering different settings and I would see that people already had pre-conceptions,” said Yawson. “Coming from Croydon, obviously a very tall, dark-skinned guy — people looked at him and instantly thought ‘danger’.”
Media representation plays an important role in the way people of colour are perceived. Platforms that reach the masses can be used to make people aware that colourism is something that exists and needs to be tackled.
“I think the best way we can approach colourism would be to help define people’s experiences — it’s all about representation,” said Yawson. “People that are victims of colourism need to be put in positions where they can dictate their story.”
Walters said, “Representation is a massive issue. There needs to be someone who people can look to and say, ‘she’s done it before, why did I think I couldn’t do that role?’”
