“We urge the authorities to tell the fucking truth, first and foremost. We urge them to do something. We urge the fucking government to be held accountable for the fuckery.” So said Stormzy – the nation’s leading grime star – on stage at Glastonbury, unzipping his trademark Adidas track top to reveal a T-shirt emblazoned with the word Grenfell on a heart-shaped London Underground roundel.
As he rapped his verse from the Simon Cowell-backed charity single (“Because that could’ve been my mum’s house / Or that could’ve been my nephew”), it was one of the most moving and politically charged moments of the weekend, easily on a par with Jeremy Corbyn’s statesmanlike address. It was also yet another example of the unprecedented level of support from musicians in the wake of the fire that ripped through the high-rise block in North Kensington. As well as paying various visits to victims and firefighters who tackled the inferno, Adele pleaded with her Wembley Stadium audience to donate money, describing the situation as “out of control”. Meanwhile, the likes of Lily Allen, Sam Duckworth (AKA Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly), rapper and poet Akala and AJ Tracey – the rising grime MC who lives a stone’s throw from Grenfell – are just some of the musicians who have been helping on the ground, making TV appearances and spreading the word via social media. This week sees a sold-out benefit concert from guitar acts including Childhood, Peace and the Rhythm Method at nearby Bush Hall.
Elsewhere, more amateur artists from the genres most closely associated with the multiracial, working-class demographic of Grenfell have also been quick to show their support. Among them, north London rapper Shocka, whose Grenfell Freestyle – performed over an instrumental of 2Pac’s Changes – went viral on Instagram after being reposted by rapper Giggs. In Paddington, up and coming rap and grime acts hosted an event called West London Stand Tall at Notting Hill Arts Club. An Afrobeats benefit was held in Islington.
However, one such event, #CXLTURE, garnered attention for the wrong reasons, when the Trapeze club in east London appeared to make racist insinuations, describing their bashment and trap genres as “crap”: “We do not entertain them as they attract poor quality demographic and result in problems.” Following 1,300 retweets and media scrutiny, the club sacked the member of staff responsible for the message, and donated £2,000 to the Red Cross.
The organiser, Taireen Hussain, is now putting on the event at a different venue. “#CXLTURE had the aim of uniting as many people as possible for the love of music,” she says. “Our take was that music unites people and puts aside the differences. The tragedy also united people and we knew that this [event] could mobilise people.”
Of course, the Cowell song has in many ways eclipsed all of their efforts, becoming the fastest-selling record in a decade, shooting to No 1 just two days after its release. In its official video, images of crying victims and shellshocked emergency services staff are interspersed with footage of the likes of Craig David, James Blunt and Jessie J performing Simon and Garfunkel’s Bridge Over Troubled Water.
However, Cowell’s involvement made the song unpalatable for many. Writing for i-D, Rozan Ahmed – who lost friends and family in Grenfell – wrote an open letter to the chart guru: “A charity single, right now? What kind of light are you trying to shed? How specifically are you helping in what is still an ongoing disaster?”. Journalist Jasmine Dotiwala also tweeted that those on the ground “hate the idea of a charity single about them”.
Naturally, a fundraising song helmed by a white millionaire famed for rolling his eyes on primetime TV does jar heavily with the circumstances of Grenfell. Increasingly, money – and the lack of it both spent on, and offered to, the victims – is a huge part of the narrative around the tragedy. As the story emerges, the social divisions in Kensington and Chelsea become ever clearer; the borough’s richest residents received council tax rebates due to a surplus in funds, while people died in a block where it appears cost-cutting was the main concern.
But the single also features acts who grew up in the area, such as Rita Ora, and WSTRN, a pop-rap act popular with the Capital FM crowd. What were their initial thoughts on the project? “It didn’t take any persuading, but I wanted to make sure my community was being represented properly,” explains Louis Rei from the band. “We were already actively trying to find ways to help out, so this was just an added bonus. I appreciate having the opportunity to be that voice. If people like ourselves, Angel [singer and brother of Rei’s bandmate Akelle Charles] and AJ Tracey don’t speak out in times like this, who will? It’s become quite obvious the community isn’t listened to like they should be. We come from the same or similar places to the people affected, so we represent them.”
Although the song has received a lot more attention than many grassroots efforts, artists like WSTRN bridge that gap; Angel is currently organising a benefit concert, Grenfell Live, for the end of July, at which they are set to perform, among other acts.
Perhaps this mix of mainstream and marginalised voices is the ideal situation in a city so socially divided. Grenfell was all about forgotten people; two cities operating cheek by jowl, with multimillion-pound townhouses next to people in unsafe accommodation being ignored by a tenant management organisation. And when Cowell’s charity single ultimately falls down the charts, at a time when so much remains uncertain for the survivors, it might need grassroots music stars to help keep Grenfell in the news cycle.
