Turn The Lights Down: Grime’s Romantic Side Explored

Picking out passionate hymns from Kano to Stormzy...

This week, to mark the 22nd birthday of his girlfriend, Rinse FM DJ Maya Jama, grime don Stormzy showed us his softer side, dropping a song by the name of ‘Birthday Girl’. And there’s no doubt about it, the track is pretty cute.

Now it’s not every day that we see one of grime’s hardest artists get all mushy about the leading lady in his life. When you are looking for a great love song, grime is not going exactly going to be your go-to for a soundtrack to your experiences in dating, relationships and heartache.

But, Stormzy is certainly not the first in grime to show off his affectionate side. Taking you back with some tracks that will remind you of your summer love, and others that may make you revisit the days with your ex, we take a look at five of grime's staple loves songs.

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Kano – ‘Brown Eyes’

Back in 2005, from his ‘Home Sweet Home’ album, Kano gave us a sweet song for the summer. The MC was able to give us the perfect feel-good vibe with ‘Brown Eyes’ as he got carried away ruminating about getting exclusive with a special lady. It’s not difficult to see that the brown-eyed female must have been high status for the East London artist from the line, “It's only cool for you to call me when Eastenders is on”.

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Dizzee Rascal – ‘I Luv U’

Okay, so maybe not a song that you can have on in the background whilst you lovingly gaze into the eyes of your significant other! But a teenage Dizzee Rascal kept it completely real in ‘I Luv U’ which is now at least 13 years old, yet still as impressive today with it’s bass heavy beat. The Bow MC gave us a refreshing look at teenage pregnancies and the ‘he-said she-said’ tale s of young love.

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Tinie Tempah – ‘Wifey’

It’s no surprise that Tinie Tempah knows what ‘Girls Like’ when you take a listen to affectionate lines from his 2006 track, ‘Wifey’. Back before Tinie had blown up across the UK and worldwide, he was giving us low budget videos alongside his usual wit. In a song that encompasses the true ‘hubby-wifey’ connection, Tinie, much like Kano in ‘Brown Eyes’, shows the seriousness of this relationship, with the marker being supermarket shopping with his partner and a baby in the trolley, “See this chick is my baby girl and you might find us one day in Sainsburys holding a baby girl who's calling me”.

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Stormzy – ‘All That Matters’

Proving that he’s always had the language of love at the tip of his tongue, this track saw Stormzy spit over an instrumental of Justin Bieber’s ‘All That Matters’. The South London MC certainly showed his versatility, giving us a different side to what we’ve seen from him before, dropping this track for Valentine’s Day two years ago. Stormzy casually lays down some intricate bars about an important lady here putting us all in our warm and fuzzy place.

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Ruff Sqwad feat. Wiley – ‘Together’

Ruff Sqwad delivered a classic track in 2005 with the help of Wiley exploring the age-old breakup-to-make sentiment with a healthy dose of anger. Laced with samples from The Police, this sure did give grime fans an anthem to let out some relationship frustration to.

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Words: Nikita Rathod

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