Run the Road
The underground buzz created by the likes of the Streets and Dizzee Rascal in America points to another seismic shift in popular music headed this way from the U.K.  Like drum 'n' bass and trip-hop, grime is a sound that originated in London's urban housing project bedrooms and caught fire on the its influential pirate radio stations. Not quite hip-hop, not quite techno, and definitely not dancehall, but an aggressive hybrid of all the above, its leading lights get an introduction on this lovingly curated compilation by the folks at Vice. The lyrics are so deep in slang they might as well be in Cantonese and the beats are so pixilated they could have been made on a calculator watch, but tracks like Wonder & Plan B's "Cap Back" and Roll Deep's "Let It Out" display such raw, vital energy they feel the first steps of domestic wonders N.W.A. and Public Enemy.--Aidin Vaziri