Emz nods to grime’s glory years

It was a simpler time – one when bars were recorded on flip phones, 128kbps MP3 files spread like wildfire and cracked copies of Fruity Loops 3 were all you could get.

While grime was blowing up and bringing its unique snapshot of life in British cities to the masses in a hail of kickdrums and squarewaves, you had to do everything yourself if you wanted to be a part of it.

Now, rising Bristol MC Emz has put the DIY origins of grime back in the spotlight with a self-shot, mobile-phone footage nostalgia trip around the city that harkens back to the earliest days of the genre.

The new video for ‘Get Get’, which is the debut single for the upcoming album from Low End Activist, dropped on Thursday and encapsulates the elusive Berlin-based producer’s efforts to pay heed to his own roots in UK dance music culture, while pushing forward into new sonic territory.

We caught up with Emz who told us how the track came together.

“Every now and then I get a pack from producers and hope there’s a gem in there for me,” he told IO.

“This time there certainly was,” he added, referring to the skittering, eskibeat-esque weapon LEA has cooked up (production credits on the track also go to Berlin’s Cocktail Party Effect).

Emz, who has also recently collabed with the likes of Skelecta and Sam Binga, said that from the first listen, ‘Get Get’ provoked feelings of nostalgia.

“I remember hearing the hi hats and the kicks against the sample and the small vocal in the intro and just having a real nostalgic feeling. With how it sounds like it’s on cassette tape too I couldn’t resist.”

“When a beat hits me I hit back n we got a hit!”

Hostile Utopia by Low End Activist will come out on Sneaker Social Club on June 14.

Follow Us