I was in Holland and Barrett earlier buying some vitamin D tablets with my mum. Whilst getting my Clubcard out, one of the ladies behind the counter asked me, “what does ‘Pars r us’ mean?”. The way she asked me in her classic southern mum voice made me chuckle. I hesitated for a moment as I wasn’t sure what angle to approach the question with. Do I try and give her a mini lesson in the history of Grime? Would she even know what Grime is? Do I reference Tempa T? Do I tell her Westwood taught Tempa’s mum how to par on her knees … in the alleyway? These were all of questions that rushed through my head during those 3 seconds that I clambered for an appropriate answer.

In the end I just said “It’s a reference to a niche music genre from the early 2000s” to which I didn’t get much of a reply. I think I may have gotten a, “ah okay” at best. I felt like perhaps she wasn’t satisfied with the answer, feeling like I was holding back but ultimately, I didn’t think she’d have resonated with the full answer. “It’s a play on the Toys’r’us logo. Pars mean insult basically” I added. Once again, I refrained from adding Westwood’s specific example of parring; she wouldn’t have benefitted from such an image. I left the shop wondering if she would ever stumble across the Next Hype music video and think “I’ve seen that T shirt!”. In fact, I wonder if they’ve got a white board in their staff room similar to the one in Westwood’s Office with their par count next to their names. “Linda | 34 Pars”. Either way she was ‘today years old’ when she came across one of Grime’s best bootleg T’s.