Integrity - Intellectual

Jme didn’t care about any statistics or ratings, he just wants to spit – he isn’t in music for the money (although he may well appreciate it); he makes G-R-I-M-E for the L-O-V to the E!

A nod to Craig David’s 2001 debut album Born To Do It. A question from this moderator lead to this exchange on Twitter –

https://twitter.com/JmeBBK/status/401294722570129408
https://twitter.com/JmeBBK/status/401297401417576448

Taking it back in time to Windows New Technology – version 3.1 through 4.0 were the precursors to Windows 2000.

Fruity Loops 3 was introduced in 2001 – the first version with a piano roll and metronome. Jamie’s references these programmes to once again show that he’s not new to this, he’s been doing this for time; he’s not looking to stop any time soon either.

Jme is outlining how stuck up label executives are, and all they want him to do is make money for them. But he won’t let them do this, probably as he is assigned to his own record label. His song with Wiley, “The Money” expands on this idea.

#Big bar from the Black Zeus here!

Not much explanation necessary here if you follow it – in the same way that a tan will come after spending time in the sun, and in such, the heat – new fans will only be around when you’re hot, or on top of your game; they’ll only want to give you skin when you’ve finally made it.

Guess you could equate buying followers online to fake tan, eh?

This is a clever play on words for the word ‘choke’. Jme uses the word to say that he doesn’t choke when on the microphone (he doesn’t freeze and forget his bars), whilst also referring to the previous line as he doesn’t choke from the room being smoked up either.

The room being ‘smoked out’ also has two possible meanings. Although Jme doesn’t smoke, as he confirms in the below tweet, it is likely that some of the people he spends time in the studio with do. Alternatively, it could be suggested that the ‘smoke’ is due to the fire bars that Jme is spitting.

The first line reflects that seen on his track “96 Bars Of Jme”, where he says;

I don’t smoke but my room’s smoked out
Can’t see my hand in front of my face

If you’re trying it against Jme, the only outcome is that you’ll end up on the run like Edward Snowden. While I’m sure you know who he is, for those who don’t – Snowden disclosed information about government surveillance programmes – following that he left the US and applied for asylum in many countries, being granted temporary asylum in Russia on August 1st, 2013.

#SERIOUS!

As the title of the track that catapulted Jamie to the public eye, it has since gone on to become synonymous with the man – used in multiple songs, and is a recurring ad-lib on Mistajam’s Radio One show.

http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/watch?v=9_xMxgAJ-2s

When people have been in the music game for a long time, it may appear that it has always been as simple as it is now – not the case. Jme is a big proponent of working hard and it shows, in the way that he and his brother Skepta have managed to get to the level that they have today.

A nod back to the classic Boy Better Know Vol. 1 mixtape – Shh Hut Yuh Muh – in other words – shut your mouth!

“llow it” is short for “allow it”, which is British slang for telling someone to stop. This is a fitting statement as this is where the track stops!

During the time that Jme was in school, he was gaining experience in the music game by making tunes on his computer, while everyone else was typing their CV, looking for a job.

JME’s been MCing for more than 10 years and no one cared back when he wasn’t famous. Now he has made it, everyone tries to get back in on the action, and he’s telling them to fuck off.

Aside from the obvious in what he states, this is a nod back to the freestyle-esque track from Blam; “Pick Up The Mic”.

http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/watch?v=NtVOR6tHmtc

A play on the classic tongue twister:

She sells sea shells on the seashore

Rather than the dreamy image the original tongue twister creates, JME makes his own reflecting the sort of things from his environment – like a boy selling weed and a “P4”, a cheap Pentium processor that probably plays a role in the credit card fraud mentioned in the next lines.

Jme is a known gamer. In many games, a somewhat sweaty and annoying tactic in is “spawn trapping” or “spawn killing”, in which a one person (or a team) will stand at someone’s spawn point, so that as soon as they respawn, the person is standing right there to kill them again, much like Jme ‘trapping’ (moving food/selling drugs) in the place where he was born or his ‘spawn point’. He uses “spawn trapping” as a double entente to signify both this tactic and the fact that he used to have to sell drugs in Tottenham to get by.

As stated above, “Serious” was Jme’s first big track – the Boy Better Know manager Sam knew it too, even if the commercial side of music didn’t want to hear it.

A nod to loyal grime DJ Logan Sama, who hosts the “Keepin' It Grimy” show on Kiss.fm.

Referring to his BMW X6 35D. A high powered 3 litre, 6 cylinder car with two turbochargers.

While Jme can mash up a show on his own, no one does it better than Boy Better Know as a collective – this was scientifically proven when they beat off competition from Major Lazer, Magnetic Man and the previous champs Channel One to win the Red Bull Culture Clash in 2012.

“Top lip slapping” is synonymous with “rapping”, and can also mean speaking. Jme says this as a prelude to this song, almost as if to tell everyone to be quiet before he starts spitting the fire that he always does.

This is outlining how unique JME is, at a rave most people will be drinking alcohol or water if they’ve been on E. JME doesn’t do drugs or drink alcohol, he also leads a vegan lifestyle, so you’ll see him sipping his lemonade.

Mr. Covill was a teacher from Jme’s time at Winchmore; he commented on the song himself.

https://twitter.com/JmeBBK/status/386564298262462465

JME invited any of his fans down to shoot his video for “Murking”; which other artists are doing that?! Bare love for JME! Check out the behind the scenes video below!

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/watch?v=i43BMahOcOY

https://twitter.com/JmeBBK/status/392230034204659713

XP is a shortened version of ‘experience points’; XP is often the source of levelling up in video games – the longer you play, the higher your XP is likely to be. In the same way, Jme has been around for time, so he’s a higher level than most. He’s been known to “Level Up” too, on the remix of Sway’s banger.

‘Deets’ is short for details; selling credit card details is fraud. Here, “swiping” not only means evading the police but is also used to add to the subject of credit cards – the person buying the details will be able to go “swiping galore” with the card to buy whatever they wish.

The only time these guys will succeed (that is, suck-seed) is if they roll a joint (a zoot) and it’s seedy (it’s full of marijuana seeds).

Wordplay with “seedy” sounding like CD from the previous lines.