Monday 15 June 2009

In Praise of N-Dubz

http://www.myspace.com/ndubz

This post is about my love for N Dubz. I’m pretty sure I’m not part of their usual demographic, but I honestly bloody love them! I do wonder about what their demographic really is though, as I know a number of my friends have been converted to the ways of the Dubz-sters and we’re all mid 20s ‘young professionals’.

There are a number of reasons why I love them. The first of which being that they create really really good pop music. It’s catchy, fresh and fun to sing a long to, or have a dance to when you’re stuck in traffic in London...

The second of which is that I think some of the lyrics are genuinely inspired. You can take the piss out of them for being a bit ghetto, and unashamedly colloquial, but they’re honest and witty and reflective of the world they inhabit. To take an example in ‘Papa can you hear me’:

“When someone you loved, who put you up from the start
Built you up and made you into who you are
Who always believed, saying that you'll be a star
Then all of a sudden they just passed

Dash the reaper from ontop of ma wardrobe
Slap *dem crack rocks outa ma mouth*
Put me on stage infront of a crowd
Now we're picking up awards while he's under the ground

My Daddy this and my Daddy that
Well i found mine dead on a couch in ma flat
So much to say, i wish i coulda said bye
The only time i'll talk to him is when i look into the sky”

These lyrics are striking for me because they lack any self-empathy at all. They’re so matter of fact about drugs, death and coping with loss that it’s quite heart wrenching. The guys in this band are young and have been exposed to an awful lot, and tell the story in the same way they would to their mates. I would struggle to achieve anything this brutally honest and touching.

But what might be more poignant here is that actually, this isn’t that far from the norm for a whole host of young people in the UK. Their success must be down to the way young people relate to them and aspire to be them. You don’t have to be perfect to be a success. These guys have a real talent and don’t need to go on X Factor to achieve something, and can have had some fairly shitty life experiences before going out there and becoming successful as artists.

They grew up in Camden, and have commented on the risks that exist in the area for young people –knife crimes, gang fights – from within the sphere of existence, not standing outside looking in. As much as I love our dear Lily Allen (I would like to take this opportunity to formally ask her whether she wants to go for a pint?), she has talked about knife crime in the UK and whilst I admire her passion, it’s about as convincing as ME doing it. I’m not even sure whether I’ve seen a real knife before.

Another reason for my admiration of them is that they are truly representative of the UK. I wouldn’t like to guess at the ethnicities of the group, since I will no doubt seem ignorant, but they look very much like any gaggle of kids you would see hanging about the shopping mall in Wood Green, North London. What made me think about this in particular has been the wincingly pro-ethnicity response of the public, press and parliament, to the winners of Britain’s Got Talent – Diversity.

Clearly, they do represent the non-white youth population. Excellent. But do they really represent WHO many of the non-white youth really are? Their educations? Lifestyles?

I have just been doing a bit of interweb research about this, to see where they grew up (London/Essex) and what they do. I can’t find enough to pass much more of a comment on this, but I would be really interested to find out more about how ‘diverse’ they are. I guess they must be called diversity in reference to their ability to dance in a number of styles. Perhaps someone should mention that to Gordon Brown….

Anyway, I’M DRIFTING.

Dappy, Tulisa and Fazer, I tip my hat to you. Its not one of the snazzy ones that Dappy wears with the big ear-flaps, but I hope that you take my genuine affection for you the right way – I don’t want to jeopardise your street cred, but I think you ROCK.

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