I Love You, Mate: The Best Grime Remixes of American R&B

While other genres have remixed vintage early-2000s R&B legends to death (RIP BrandyHouse, 2011-2014), a clutch of grime artists have dipped their toes in with refreshing results. Fellow anglophile Alexander Iadarola and I rounded up our favorite tunes, which you should play back-to-back next time you’re trying to unite a dancefloor of cowboys and rudeboys or convince a bunch of horny American teens to drink tea with their pinkies out.

Hold tight nitpicker mandem: while homegrown R’n’G is its own wonderful beast we’re strictly dealing with trans-Atlantic bits, because we’re American and we do what we want.

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DJ Milktray – “Hotel”

Cheeky Scottish emotion-sculptor DJ Milktray can’t seem to do anything wrong. That’s easy enough when you’re remixing classics like this; splice the drums into a breathable, grimey format, loop the strings, let Kellz be Kellz, and yeah, it’s gonna bang.

-EM

Prince Lazio – “Go On & Hit It”

Orchestral and crooning–a bit like an Usher cartoon theme remix (in a good way) – this tune is madly pleasant. It found release on the vital Boxed Vol. 1 compilation.

-AI

Kelly Rowland – “Dirty Laundry (Rabit Rework)”

Ok, I said this list was strictly trans-Atlantic and Rabit is from Houston. That’s besides the point. What’s right in the point’s fleshy bullseye is that I watched Kelly Rowland shed real tears while performing this incredible air-it-out ballad in Times Square last year. Rabit knows not to mess with success: he’s tucked a slippery cold synth line gently into the mix, lubricating the way for Rowland’s emotional outpour to flood straight into your feel-hole.

-EM

Finn – “My My”

Another R&B sampler from Boxed Vol. 1. This one peaks when it brings in grime’s signature detuned square wave synth, dirtying the undulating cleanliness of the “My My” sample.

-AI

Cherish – “Unappreciated (Murlo Remix)”

Absolutely no one is fucking with Murlo right now. As far as I’m concerned he’s the modern producer most adventurously exploring the lane carved out by DJ XTC’s life-changing “Functions On The Low,” the purest three minutes of sound ever pounded brashly into Fruity Loops on a cheap Casio by an anonymous teenager. Wide-eyed youth, flowers blooming in the cold streets, innocence amongst decay, etc. You know who else embodies those things? R&B girl groups, which clearly hasn’t escaped our man Murlo. Gorgeous flutes, buzzing pads, three voices pleading for honesty from a cheating boyfriend…I could just die. See also: man’s head-bust bashment fix of Tinashe’s “2 On.”

-EM

Myth vs Beatking – “Air vs Throw That Ass (Rabit Blend)”

Rabit seamlessly lays a hilarious vocal from fellow Houstonian Beatking (who we just interviewed!) over an insistent, light-but-heavy riddim from Myth. This one can be found in full effect in the Glacial Sound mix for the Astral Plane (at 26:25, though we recommend the whole thing) along with Rabit’s killer Ciara flip; sadly, it’s not available as an individual track anywhere.

-AI

MissingNo – “Brandy Flip”

This sublime flip is one of grime’s biggest recent anthems. It rips any mix it finds itself in, notably Goon Club Allstars’ Layers Mix for DIS.

-AI

DJ Milktray – “Little Bit”

In the early 2000’s grime originators and American producers alike dallied with East Asian instrumental palettes. Milktray connects the dots: butter my crumpet if these reedy Scott Storch plinks don’t sound like Jammer’s legendary “Chinaman” white label.

-EM

Lolingo – “New Cross Gate”

Sampling the guitar and drums from Amerie’s iconic “One Thing” and adding some cheeky samples for turn-up factor, not much to dislike about Lolingo’s work here. Another one from Boxed, this time from Vol. 2.

-AI

Plastician – “Still Tippin’”

Rinse.fm legend Plastician flips the woozy Houston anthem into an instrumental slow-burn night-drive deal, and that’s all she wrote.

-EM

Aaliyah – “Are You That Somebody (Dj Milktray Edit)”

This classic Timbaland production was bound to receive a grime edit, and who better than Milktray – he clearly has a proclivity for R&B, as this list shows. The result is relatively no-frills and quite functional; it adds dancefloor heft to an already perfect track.

-AI

Finn – “Keep Calling”

“Songs with Cell Phone Samples” would be another dope listicle. Ginuwine, Aaliyah, and a persistent Nextel chirp – what else could a boy want? Grimey synth badness, obviously.

-EM

Ciara – “Promise (Total Freedom Bootleg)”

One of the best things on this list. Total Freedom mixes Ciara’s honeyed vocal with the slithering synths, spacious production, and all-too-perfect melodic progression of Dot Rotten’s “Real Talk” instrumental – hard to say anything but “yaasss, bruv!” It makes a lovely closing appearance in Strict Face’s recent mix for Golden Syrup.

-AI

MissingNo – “XE2”

You must be living under a rock in a pit full of actual grime if you haven’t already shared a dozen hugs with strangers to this one. Basically got 2013 pregnant.

-EM