‘It’s definitely a movement’
Tinchy Stryder, Ny and Flukes.
As grime continues to mature and mutate, a new generation of young black artists is making itself heard across the London, England and beyond. Alex Macpherson meets NY
Nyomi Gray, aka Ny, has always been precocious. Home-schooled until the age of eight by her activist mother, she was some way ahead of the education system. “I knew a lot about the world at a young age, and I was used to being spoken to as an adult. I was taught that the Peters map projection was the correct one, not the Mercator one which showed Africa smaller – so you can imagine this lil’ nine-year-old sticking her hand up and saying, ‘Miss, you’ve got the wrong map! I want to speak to the headteacher!’ They hated me.”
Now 22, Ny has grown into a prodigiously talented singer and songwriter. Her 2007 mixtape, Split Endz Vol 2, is full of razor-sharp lyricism, startlingly poetic imagery and keenly observed social commentary; her voice is clear as ice and possessed of a magnetic poise. She has also found the time to make the best single of this year, a swirling vocal take on garage producer Wookie’s glacial track Gallium entitled Fallin’ Again.
Ny tried to kill herself when she was 13. “I had a lot of emotional battles with myself. There were family arguments, my parents broke up and people around me had been murdered. I might have reacted by wanting to go out and smash everything up, or retaliating against people, but by writing and performing I used that adrenaline in a positive way. I’d just write down all my thoughts when I was angry. And once it was out of me, I could move on.” She says writing is still an escape for her: “My friends say that when I’m in music mode, they’ll leave me alone. I’ll sit in the dark and just write for hours, and I’ll be in a zone – sometimes I’m not even conscious of what I’m writing at that minute until I stop and read it back.”
She has gone back to school this year – as a music teacher. “I’ve been teaching 15- to 18-year-olds – they’re interesting, they definitely give you stuff to write about and they’re brutally honest, which I like. I know the language the kids use, I can see what their issues are. Teaching nowadays goes beyond just teaching, it’s almost like counselling. When some of the kids sing about death or whatever, they’d have to go into their own situations and be able to open it up and show other people. And young people, especially young guys, are not really encouraged to do that.”
She wearily sighs when discussing the tendency of politicians to condemn so much black music out of hand – “they don’t understand, it’s like therapy for these kids” – and is especially scathing about radio playlisters: “They’re such little follow-fashions. They’ll say they love the track, but they’re waiting to see if anyone else picks it up. They’re so scared to stand out in case they lose their jobs, but they’d probably have better jobs if they did rebel a bit.
“Black music isn’t selling cos it’s unhealthy. It’s not selling cuz people are scared to put money into it. And when they do, they try to water it down. It’s like, but you put your money into this – so why try to transform it into that? UK labels really need a slap in the head.”
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