Smiley Culture RIP
I’m very sad to hear the news about the passing of legendary UK MC / deejay Smiley Culture. Especially in the reported circumstances, currently the subject of an IPCC investigation.
It’s important to remember how culturally significant he was. The first black British street voice to have a chart hit. He made it possible for authentic British voices with real conscious narratives to be heard in a popular context. He was largely a one hit wonder to many, but to others he was the grandfather British MC. He started a lineage that can be followed through the Hip House MCs of the late 80s and early 90s, through jungle MCs, UK Hip Hop and to acts today such as The Streets and the grime-gone-pop acts that dominate today’s charts.
Indeed, without Smiley, the very idea that it might be possible to be successful with lyrics about the black urban experience may never have been planted. Today the pop charts are littered with these voices.
His chosen alias in many ways pre-empted his importance. The early UK reggae sound system culture, with which he was involved, would evolve through acid house, hardcore and jungle and the ‘Smiley Culture’ would become eponymous with it.
Tonight I re-listened to my favourite Smiley Culture tracks. Police Officer is the one everyone remembers. Today that track took on a more sombre tone. What is essentially a tale of how Smiley’s minor celebrity got him off the hook when he had a brush with the law is totally different to what he must have experienced this morning when police raided his home.
A post over at History is Made at Night flags up a quote from There Ain’t No Black in the Union Jack author and theorist Paul Gilroy that scratches under the surface of Smiley’s other big hit Cockney Translation. An erudite observation that resonates loudly in light of the Met’s ongoing mistreatment and dangerous social profiling of black men.
Today on twitter Gilroy commented: “The Met are obviously planning to celebrate the 30 yr anniversary of Operation “Swamp 81” in style.”, referring to the racist stop and search policing tactics that would spark the Brixton riots. Let’s hope there was no foul play involved with Smiley’s demise today but one cannot help but have doubts. Hopefully the IPCC investigation may shed some light on what happened, but again one cannot but have doubts.
The exact circumstances will remain tragic whatever we learn. But what we do know is that Smiley has left a musical legacy few can compete with and that his contribution to UK music culture cannot be overstated.
