Grime's Native Land
Take a trip down Devons Road and the birthplace of 140bpm sonics, with 'This Is Grime' author and former 'RWD' editor, Hattie Collins
Some roads are just... roads. They’ve got pavements, lamp posts, and double yellow lines. Chewing gum ground into the floor, graffiti scribbled on signposts. Then there’s Devons Road.
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Also known as the B140. Not particularly auspicious in itself, granted. Pavements, lamp posts, yellow lines, a bookies and a chippie.
The 323 will take you from Canning Town to Mile End station where the Central line plops passengers into the West End.
Not that all residents ventured that far. Dylan "Dizzee Rascal" Mills, for instance—who grew up on the nearby Crossways estate, aka Three Flats—rarely left Bow. Why would he? His whole world
was right there.
Just off Devons Road was (actually, still is) The Linc Centre, a single-story community club that was one of the many that populated inner-city areas at the time.
It was here that a young Mills fought for his name in front of a couple of hundred people when he clashed a kid with the same name from Poplar. There was only space for one Dizzee. We all know who won.
Grime crew Ruff Sqwad in Bow E3 by Simon WheatleyTRENCH
And it was here that Diz met Ruff Sqwad founding members Tinchy Stryder, Prince Rapid, Slix, Shifty and Dirty Danger, the outrageously talented teenage beatmakers and barrers that would become known as one of grime’s most seminal collectives.
The Linc provided these future superstars the space and equipment to experiment; UK garage still dominated the clubs of the capital city but people around East were experimenting with a darker, grimier sound.
Jon E. Cash called it Sublow, Wiley called it Eskibeat. Somehow, slowly, it became known as grime.
When the lads left The Linc, they’d often go to Stryder’s place, also on the Crossways; his mum preferred the boys to be making a racket under her roof than out roaming those cold, dark streets.
They’d crowd into Tinch’s room—Diz, Shifty, sometimes Mad Max—and write bars while Rapid and Danger made beats.
A number of pirate radio stations sprung up around the area, including Rinse FM: you could hear Tinch on a set with Wiley, Dizzee and Flowdan, DJ Slimzee on the decks. It was a creative, energetic, brilliant time.
Grime crew Ruff Sqwad in Bow E3 by Simon WheatleyTRENCH
Nearly two decades on, Devons Road is still standing strong. It’s still got the bus stops, the lamp posts, the double yellow lines. Maybe it’ll help create another new scene. Maybe not. That’s okay—its legacy is assured. And will be forever.
This digital work has been produced in collaboration with PRS Foundation and POWER UP. The article first featured in TRENCH x Union Black's Chapter One: Game Changers zine.
Words by Hattie Collins
Photography by Simon Wheatley
Videos by Troy Miller, TFL, Nuthing Sorted, The Linc Centre
Commissioned by TRENCH
