Grime producers sample chiptune and video game sounds because these textures were already embedded in East London everyday life

According to scholars de Jong and Schuilenburg, grime samples sawtooth wave sounds (chiptunes) from video game music and ringtones that had become part of everyday life in London. Street Fighter II is specifically cited as frequently sampled, with grime’s battle-MC culture equated to Street Fighter’s 1-on-1 fights. The 1994 SNES soundtrack to Wolverine: Adamantium Rage is noted as a proto-grime artifact. Chiptune sampling gives grime its characteristic 8-bit / icy / futuristic timbre. This is analogous to hip-hop’s vinyl crate-digging, but the ‘crates’ are game cartridges and ringtone packs — consumer technology the producers grew up with.

Examples

Chiptune sources: Street Fighter II soundtrack; SNES game music; mobile ringtones. Wiley’s sinogrime tracks sample from kung fu films and world music. The 1994 SNES Wolverine game soundtrack features ‘staccato strings, eski bleeps and square wave bass’.

Assessment

Explain why chiptune textures fit the sonic aesthetic of eskibeat. Give two examples of cultural contexts where game sounds became raw material for grime producers.