IGLOO// Process

PROCESS

2016 has been a tumultuous year to say the least. Political turmoil, celebrity scandal and the loss of some of the greatest artists this world has ever seen.

Amongst these hard-hitting headlines, a scene, a movement, that has been bubbling since the late 90s/early 00s that refused to be ignored was finally given its due.

Grime music. Pure expression and energy in its rawest form, became a household genre with MCs from London to Manchester to Birmingham being given their time in the spotlight.

Of course, the most notable of these has to be Joseph Jnr Adenuga AKA Skepta, the microphone champion. Taking on America, performing with Drake and most recently shutting down Ally Pally. This man and the movement he has helped to build refuses to be stopped.

Mas. wanted to pay homage to grime, a genre that raised us, and no doubt some of our followers. I'm sure we've all been that kid on the bus blasting poor quality rips of early Deja sets, or spitting every word to P's and Q's with your mates in the playground.

To do this we tapped none other than the Godfather, who's Eskibeat sound pioneered grime as we now know it. Wiley.

Working with Creative Coder, George Rowe, the graphics produced for our latest drop are a living embodiment of this ever elusive MC/legendary producer.

Wiley’s classic 'Igloo' was played through an audio-reactive framework. Built with Processing coding language, certain parts of the instrumental produced lines and letters,resulting in completely original graphics, solely dictated by the music. Each time we ran the track it produced a different outcome, something that could never be replicated in its full form once complete.

The phrase BROKEN YOUTH was our secondary focus, initially echoing how many of us have felt this year after Brexit, Trump and so on. However, this sentiment appropriately echoed early grime mentality. Picture Channel U videos of run down blocks and a culture of forgotten, overlooked, broken youth doing all they can to survive, and make it out.

‘Igloo’ took the letters used to make up this phrase and spat them out in a new format each time we reloaded it. Leaving us with the graphic you see before you.

Not instantly obvious, homegrown, and a product of the environment we are in. Much like the genre that made it. Thank you, Wiley, and thank you Grime music.

PRE-ORDERS OF BOTH COLOUR WAYS WILL BE AVAILABLE ON DECEMBER 26TH 2016.