# The 9 Best Grime Tracks of All Time London MC music built on cheap software at 140 BPM, born on pirate radio in the east of the city around 2002. Square-wave basslines, no swing, and a vocal delivery that treats the beat as something to fight. - **Origin:** East London, 2002 - **Tempo:** 138–142 BPM - **Also known as:** eskibeat, eski, sublow, 8-bar - **Tracks:** 9 - **Updated:** 2026-08-29 - **Canonical page:** https://waxonia.com/genre/grime/ ## The list ### 1. [Musical Mob](https://waxonia.com/artist/musical-mob/) — [Pulse X](https://waxonia.com/track/musical-mob--pulse-x/) *2002* Two notes, a square wave and almost no other content. Usually named as the first grime record, and the reason an entire scene decided that a beat could be this bare and still work. [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Musical%20Mob%20Pulse%20X) · [Search YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/search?q=Musical%20Mob%20Pulse%20X) ### 2. [Dizzee Rascal](https://waxonia.com/artist/dizzee-rascal/) — [I Luv U](https://waxonia.com/track/dizzee-rascal--i-luv-u/) *2002 · XL* Made at sixteen on a school computer. A row between two teenagers about a pregnancy, over a beat that sounds like the argument, and nothing in British music had sounded that unmediated before. Also on: [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/). [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Dizzee%20Rascal%20I%20Luv%20U) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=YH0KWX2a8zY) ### 3. [Wiley](https://waxonia.com/artist/wiley/) — [Eskimo](https://waxonia.com/track/wiley--eskimo/) *2002 · Wiley Kat* The instrumental that named a subgenre and set the emotional temperature: cold, hollow, and deliberately unwelcoming. Wiley's whole theory of the music is audible in ninety seconds. Also on: [The Waxonia Desk — Ghosts](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-ghosts/), [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/). [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Wiley%20Eskimo) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=u3rWH9pWkVQ) ### 4. [Lethal Bizzle](https://waxonia.com/artist/lethal-bizzle/) — [Pow! (Forward)](https://waxonia.com/track/lethal-bizzle--pow-forward/) *2004 · Relentless* Eight MCs, one relentless beat, and a record banned from so many venues that the ban became part of its reputation. The genre's most efficient demonstration of what a posse cut is for. [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Lethal%20Bizzle%20Pow!%20(Forward)) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=60lMDCXFblc) ### 5. [XTC](https://waxonia.com/artist/xtc/) — [Functions on the Low](https://waxonia.com/track/xtc--functions-on-the-low/) *2004* A mournful string figure over a beat with nothing in the middle. Ignored for a decade, then rediscovered as the backing for Stormzy's Shut Up, which is a fair verdict on how good it always was. [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/XTC%20Functions%20on%20the%20Low) · [Search YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/search?q=XTC%20Functions%20on%20the%20Low) ### 6. [Wiley](https://waxonia.com/artist/wiley/) — [Wot Do U Call It?](https://waxonia.com/track/wiley--wot-do-u-call-it/) *2004 · XL* A single whose entire subject is the argument about what to call this music. Wiley refuses garage, refuses urban, and in refusing them names the thing by negation. [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Wiley%20Wot%20Do%20U%20Call%20It%3F) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=tvCaWKqyKjg) ### 7. [Jammer featuring Wiley, Kano, D Double E and Durrty Goodz](https://waxonia.com/artist/jammer-featuring-wiley-kano-d-double-e-and-durrty-goodz/) — [Destruction VIP](https://waxonia.com/track/jammer-featuring-wiley-kano-d-double-e-and-durrty-goodz--destruction-vip/) *2006* The clash record. Four of the best MCs in London taking turns over one beat, with D Double E's verse still cited as the high-water mark for the form. [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Jammer%20featuring%20Wiley%2C%20Kano%2C%20D%20Double%20E%20and%20Durrty%20Goodz%20Destruction%20VIP) · [Search YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/search?q=Jammer%20featuring%20Wiley%2C%20Kano%2C%20D%20Double%20E%20and%20Durrty%20Goodz%20Destruction%20VIP) ### 8. [Skepta & JME](https://waxonia.com/artist/skepta-and-jme/) — [That's Not Me](https://waxonia.com/track/skepta-and-jme--thats-not-me/) *2014 · Boy Better Know* The comeback, and a public apology for a decade of chasing American pop. Made for eighty pounds, on purpose, and it reset the scene's standards overnight. [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Skepta%20%26%20JME%20That's%20Not%20Me) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=APPMOAGH8Kc) ### 9. [Skepta](https://waxonia.com/artist/skepta/) — [Shutdown](https://waxonia.com/track/skepta--shutdown/) *2015 · Boy Better Know* Grime as a fully confident export, with the beat still built from almost nothing. Thirteen years after Pulse X, the genre's commercial peak sounds no less austere than its beginning. Also on: [The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred](https://waxonia.com/selection/the-desk-the-hundred/). [Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Skepta%20Shutdown) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=MQOG5BkY2Bc) --- Hand-curated by Waxonia. We host no audio; all links point to streaming platforms.