2017 was another strong year for the British rap and grime scenes.
Grime kingpin Wiley dropped arguably his best album yet with Godfather, while we were all blessed by the genre's new star Stormzy and his faith-inspired debut Gang Signs & Prayer. J Hus introduced rap goons to the Afrobeats side of life on Common Sense, while Nines’ One Foot Out kept it all the way gutter to the top of the charts. And we can’t forget Giggs’ Wamp 2 Dem, a mixtape half-dedicated to the haters who didn’t appreciate (or more like understand) his contributions to Drake’s More Life.
Seminal rap crew London Posse endured much criticism for rhyming in English accents in the '80s -- “it went against the grain and wasn’t accepted,” frontman Rodney P said of the time -- but their refusal and proud-to-be-British stance set the blueprint, paving the way for the best of them to formulate what is now one of the world’s brightest musical movements.