Throwback Thursday: UK Garage

Yes, its that time of the week again and this week's Throwback Thursday's topic is on...UK Garage. From the late 1990s to mid 2000s, there was no doubt that Garage music had dominated UK airwaves and soon became a mainstream trend with many artists/DJs reaching within the top 10 of the official UK charts. Garage was said to be the UK equivalent to Hip-Hop as many critics had stated that UK rappers had lost originality because they were rapping in fake American accents and not sticking to their roots. It is also known to be the descendant of house music which originated in New York and Chicago (bet you didn't know that). Artists like Artful Dodger, Shanks & Bigfoot and Grant Nelson whose is heralded as the "Godfather of UK Garage" had released hits during 1999-2000 which had received little airplay but still managed to reach high chart positions; but it was only until 2001 where '21 Seconds' had made UK history for being the first UK garage song to debut at the top of the throne especially taking in the fact that not only were So Solid were from the UK they also had 'spit' lyrics for 21 seconds each in a BRITISH accent, opening barriers for other UK rappers of today to have a brighter opportunity for mainstream success like Dizzee Rascal, Chipmunk and Tinie Tempah who are now expanding their careers overseas. 

Watch and listen to some UK garage songs/music videos below.

So Solid Crew - 21 Seconds

Shanks & Bigfoot - Sweet Like Chocolate

Craig David - Re-Rewind

Daniel Bedingfield - Gotta Get Thru This

Over the 2000s, UK garage had evolved into grime, a genre in its own right which is now no longer recognized as UK garage even though it still borrows elements from garage. This had led UK garage back to the underground scene making it very hard for artists to make garage music return to where it once was.

T2 - Heartbroken

What do you think of UK Garage? 

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