British Urban music has – so the received wisdom goes – always suffered from comparisons with the masters of the genre, the Americans. While us plucky Brits were spottily capable of throwing up an international star here or a raft of promising new acts there, our transatlantic cousins were effortlessly mastering every sub-genre, exporting R&B and Hip Hop that was cutting edge yet also slick and commercial.
Just a cursory look at the domestic and stateside chart in recent months would seem to confirm that the tide is well and truly turning, however, and UK Urban is undisputedly coming into its own. In 2009, more than half of the Urban number ones in the UK singles chart were by British acts (such as Tinchy Stryder, JLS and Chipmunk), while Tinie Tempah and Dizzee Rascal have already had Number Ones in 2010. In addition to their domestic success Taio Cruz and Jay Sean are leading the charge in the US, both recently achieving Billboard Hot 100 chart toppers.
This international recognition has been fed further by the growing endorsement of some big names from America. Tinchy Stryder has just signed a joint venture deal with Jay-Z’s Roc Nation, while Diddy has stated that he believes UK Hip Hop is “on the verge of breaking” in the US.
The popularity of Urban is undoubtedly on the increase here but UK acts are driving this success just as much – if not even more so - as the Americans. In each of the past three years, the number of Urban tracks in the year-end UK Top 1,000 has increased: in 2007 it was 199, rising to 209 in 2008 and 249 in 2009. The real growth, however, is in the number of UK tracks within each of those totals – in 2007 it was 31 (16%) but by 2009 this had risen to 57 (23%).
This year has seen the pattern of growth continue. Of the 246 Urban tracks in the Top 1,000 for the first 23 weeks of the year, UK artists account for 67 – a 27% share. Many of these are big hits, meaning in sales terms over a third (36%) were attributable to British acts.
The encouraging aspect is that – much as the US has traditionally done – UK acts such as Wiley, Chase and Status, N-Dubz and Chipmunk are finding their own distinctive voice. They are also proving that they’re more than just one-hit wonders or singles acts – Plan B’s soul-influenced second album was a Number One in April this year and JLS finished 2009 with a near-million selling debut and a follow-up on the way later this year. The future looks rosy too, with the next few weeks and months promising albums from Professor Green, MIA, Devlin and Tinie Tempah – British Urban seems set for its best year yet, and not before time.