The UK's take on hiphop has finally come of age. For the second week in a row Tinie Tempah is holding onto the number one spot in the UK's national chart with the single 'Pass Out'.

(over 4 million Youtube spins)

For years UK heads complained that the domestic hiphop scene was never able to establish itself in the mainstream, British MCs watched while their European counterparts in France, Germany and elsewhere established their own homegrown scenes which sat alongside other genres in terms of sales and commercial acceptance.

The first time UK rap artists succeeded commercially was in the 80's with artists like Derek B (RIP) The Cookie Crew achieving crossover success. Ice T even signed London crew: 'Hijack' to Rhyme Syndicate but this was not released in the US. After that initial phase, it seemed the only hiphop getting mainstream attention in the UK was from the US.
Over the years, major labels took a few chances on UK acts (Silent Eclipse - Island Records, The Brotherhood - Virgin) while some acts achieved moderate success on the indy circuit - Roots Manuva, Ty, Blak Twang, Skinnyman. But none of these seemed to be able to make the leap over to mainstream pop culture. There were many theories as to what was missing, but whatever it is seems to have been overcome.

Then grime was born - a distinctly London sound born out of hiphop and dance music.
The first UK 'grime wave' comprised Dizzee Rascal (passed over by the UK arm of Def Jam before signing with XL Recordings), Kano, Wiley and Sway (signed by Akon to Konvict but not yet released in the US)
Since then a slew of new artists including N-Dubz, Tinchy Stryder, Chipmunk and DJ Ironik have been taking over the charts dubbed the 'Brap pack' (British Rap) by popular daily newspaper The Sun.
Dizzee has even been making hits with pop artists Calvin Harris and Florence and the Machine, but they're not just charting - they're GETTING NUMBER ONES. PLURAL.

Tinchy's story is exciting in itself having scored 2 number one's in 2009, selling over a million singles, a sell out tour and in Rocawearesque style pushing his 'Star in the hood' T shirt brand to crazy sales figures.

Photo © Paul Hampartsoumian

Alongside Tinie Tempah is producer of Pass Out: Labrinth who currently has the major labels fighting to sign him.

Some consider the US acceptance of UK 'urban' music is due in no small part to the success of Estelle's Grammy award winning collabo with Kanye West. This has just been reinforced by the news that UK singer Taio Cruz' single has set a new record as the highest climber for a first charting single having jumped from number #53 to #1 on the Billboard 100 in the US with 'Break your heart' just last week.

So who's next? Can South London rapper and BET award winner Giggs get through having signed with Tinchy Stryder's management team and Dizzee's record label XL? Can he overcome the police shutting down any event he's booked to perform at?

Photo © Paul Hampartsoumian

Watch this space...