UK grime is growing in popularity in North America. Acts like Stormzy and Skepta, a recent Mercury Prize winner, are making frequent trips across the Atlantic to play sold out shows in cities like New York and Toronto. Skepta, in particular, is co-signed by Drake, which, by embracing the sound and genre, has built a bridge between the two music communities.There is, however, a small collective of UK transplants in Toronto who are pushing the grime scene and sound on a grassroots level. The British Man Dem consist of five members who have relocated to Toronto in their youths and made it their mission to push the UK sound through their own music; introducing new audiences to other avenues of the genre by hosting raves in the city. The Man Dem even opened for grime act D Double E earlier this year.
Noisey followed The British Man Dem to find out why they came to Toronto and to see how to push a scene and sound from a grassroots level.
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