About this time last year, I came across an old school grime video. It was on an Instagram page which uploaded underground Grime clips. This one however was different. I could see the watermark in the corner which clearly told me that it had been edited. I had seen the clip before but didn’t recognise the instrumental. The video was Skepta, Big H and JME in a booth at BBC radio 1 going bar for bar. The high calibre lyricism was still there yet the backing instrumental had been given a new life. Usually when you are watching these clips on YouTube you would find a recognisable instrumental that you would expect to hear from the 2000s era of Grime. This time however, the beat was bouncy and had you shaking your head like Jammer in the background of every grime video ever. I must have played the video back at least ten times, eager to find out who had created it.

It took some thinking of how I could shazam the clip but eventually I found the original creator, Wize edits. I scrolled through his various videos, finding he had rejigged classic after classic. The next edit that was an instant favourite was the Wiley and Skepta clip taken from the classic 10 minute long Risky Roadz video. Currently the video has been taken down but once again, Wize’s ability to match the original video’s energy with his instrumental choice was spot on. After spending almost an hour going through his selections, it was obvious that Wize was undoubtably elevating these already legendary clips. When it comes to Grime, especially its early 2000s era, touching the instrumentals was unthinkable, even sacrilege.

Apart from the MCs and their iconic bars, there is nothing more signature about the genre than its instrumental style. Yet, Wize a producer and MC himself, has managed to distinctly create a whole new energy with his edits. Living in an era where Drill and Afro beats has taken over the UK charts, it is easy to see how Wize has taken influence from the genres bounce and lively drum tracking. Whilst the classic grime feel had you bobbing your head, throwing up gun fingers and all the rest, Wize had you moving different. Breathing a new lease of life into these old tracks, it had me hearing bars differently. Take for example, Potter Payper’s edit where he says, “It’s me or them, so I’m tryin’ to JLS, make sure your heart don’t beat again”, a line that has stuck with me ever since. Had it not been for this laid-back instrumental and the way the track served as platform to elevate Potter’s writing, I would have never discovered or more importantly, stood out to me.

The same goes for the Ice Kid Westwood video. Here we have a minute and a half of pure vigour coming from then Grime-prodigy Ice Kid. I remember watching a video years ago of Ice and Chipmunk on a school day, spitting whilst the other sat on the street shutter post. These two kids were meant to be the up-and-coming Grime artists, it’s easy to see why. This grabbed the attention of Wiley himself which led to the infamous clip of the two displaying their talent at Westwood’s radio show. That being said, until his reappearance in 2014’s Red Bull Culture Clash, everyone including myself had forgotten about the kid. This was until Wize once again did his thing, reignited his soulful bars with his fiery instrumental. You can tell Ice is mature beyond his age with lines like, “stack dough so I can move to a next Island, I might move to Ireland, with my family, somewhere I don’t move from sirens”, aware of how his ambitions can help him escape an area that will hold him back. He was only 16 when he spat those bars on Westwood’s show so who knows what he could have gone to do.

Since first discovering Wize, his following has increased massively and deservingly so. He’s now working more on his own music and producing instrumentals for current day artists, all whilst finding the time to release the classic edited clips. I thought he was the only producer doing this type of thing until I came across Knxwledge’s Instagram story.

I had known of the American producer since his 2-hour long mixes with Earl Sweatshirt. One day he posted a story about how his Meek Mill edits had been copyrighted, speculating it was someone at the Meek’s label. He described his frustration because he loved these old Meek clips, the initial reason for his edits. Knowing I was a fan of old school clip revamps, I began a deep dive into works of Knxwledge. The first video I came across was whatuneed_ and whilst it was clear there was a distinct difference in sound, the essence was still the same.

Once again, we had a producer wanting to update the energy from an old video of his favourite artist. The music’s equivalent of updating a VHS or DVD into a Blu-ray copy. You want to mimic the feeling you had of when you first watched the clip; yet when you relisten to it, the audio sounds muddy due to the video’s age and the backing track lacks that punch. The soulfulness on whatuneed_ , similar to that of Wize’s Potter Payper edit, provides a great platter for Meek’s lyricism.

We must recognise that the producers do have an advantage in these cases. This whole style relies on a sense of hindsight and the understanding what these MC’s have gone on to achieve. Back when the video surfaced, the artist would have been a newcomer and was giving it their best to prove their talent. Therefore, these old beats served to boost the genre and were ground-breaking during that period; more-so in the case of the Grime clips. The power belonged to the instrumental, with the MC having to match the energy of the track. Wize and Knxwledge have to do the reverse of that, paying homage to the moment created by the MC. We as the audience, watch these videos of Skepta and Meek Mill with the understanding that they went on to do and are doing, something greater. There is not only a sense of nostalgia when we watch these videos back but a recognition that these early examples of their talent are more important now. The videos hold more weight because they are the first embers of a fire that is currently blazing.

Both Wize and Knxwledge as fans as well producers, recognise this too. They have the same task the MC/Rapper did back then, by paying respect to the other half of the track. Their instrumental must absorb the lyrical meanings and cadences during their performance, deciding how best to uplift their performance. It is comparable to how special effects teams spend months colourising old War footage, making it easier for the modern-day audience to connect with what they are experiencing. Through their skill, they remove the barrier that is time. Acknowledging the difficulty of pulling this off only garners more respect for both the producers. Both Wize and Knxwledge are, in my opinion, creating an almost new wave in the music industry. Their ability to breath new life into already classic moments is truly beautiful. I am undoubtably a fan of this new movement and judging by the traction they are receiving, so is the rest of the World.

Here another article worth checking out ranking the top 10 WIZE edits videos!