UK POLICE TRY SHUT DOWN BLACK MUSIC

It was more than an uncanny coincidence that the day after I found out the police wanted to shut down Plastic People, an article I’d written championing soundsystem culture in the UK came out. At the end of the article I deliberately mentioned Plastic People as one of the last bastions of that culture in all its freedom and vibrancy. I’d tried to show how soundsystem culture had been the heart of communities that were less antisocial than alienated by a selfish and basically racist mainstream. I’d tried to show it had driven local economies, individual careers, and a musical culture that makes the rest of the world jealous.
I also tried to trace how soundsystems had become an important of symbol of popular unity, from the fight against oppression in a severely racist 1970s Britain through the summer of love in 1989, to where we are today. I also traced the ongoing and unjustified hostility towards soundsystem culture by the police.

Plastic People has one of the best soundsystems in the UK. A lot of people say it’s the best club in the world. It’s certainly my personal favourite. Last summer I had to move house suddenly and I deliberately chose somewhere where I could walk to Plastic in 10 minutes (heaven!). I can’t remember when I first went there but I’m pretty sure it was to Co-op in the early noughties. Co-op was the weekly Sunday night session at which broken-beat thrived. Broken-beat is a uniquely London genre and the Co-op crew all still revered all over the world. In 2005 I became an obsessive attendee of FWD, which was then on Thursday nights bi-weekly. I was there when dubstep exploded and those nights are some of the best memories of my life. I can still remember hearing Skepta over Midnight Request Line and Mala playing Anti War Dub. We used to love it when grime MCs came down.

I’ve never had the slightest trouble there. In the past five years I’ve heard about 1 fight. I recently went to Fabric and had men grabbing me all night. Last summer, the only time I’ve been to Matter at the 02, guys I couldn’t even see kept pinching my ass. One of my friends said she’d had the same thing. I’ve never experienced anything like that level of disrespect at Plastic, let alone anything that warranted its closure. I don’t think anyone’s ever tried to push drugs to me there – but they have at all the other big clubs in London that the police seem to approve of. Maybe because they’re sponsored by big corporations. I’m a young female and I’ll happily go to Plastic on my own if there’s some good music I wanna see. There isn’t another club I’d feel okay to do that.
I’ve also come to know and love many people from my time at Plastic. I can’t even begin to count them all. I just tried and my brain started to boggle, especially at how many of them had gone on to be absolutely massive, world-respected artists. I can’t believe it’s 2010 and I still haven’t been to another club that can rival it. I haven’t yet seen the police report but from where I’m standing this looks like yet another incidence of the law trying to bully a culture which they’re scared of simply because they don’t understand it. If the police are worried about public nuisance and disorder, why don’t they ever shut down football stadiums? To be honest, I suspect that they see a lot of black people there and associate that with crime. It doesn’t say a lot about our future.

Here are Part 1 and Part 2 of my history of soundsystems in the UK. Massive, massive respect to RBMA for commissioning them from me, and for conceiving of The Daily Note.

Here is a piece my friend Dan Hancox wrote about the police targeting grime.

This was posted by decksandthecity on the 23rd of February, 2010

There are 6 Comments

6 Comments »

Great article – I’ve nothing much to add other than I agree with you wholeheartedly.

My first instinct when I heard that the Police were trying to shut down Plastic People was outrage and then yep, seems like Racism is alive and kicking: have we moved on so little since the 70’s? We fool ourselves if we think we, as a country have left those dark days behind.

There is also a powerful sub-text: the experience that Plastic People offers cannot be commodified – it is not defined by consumerism or elitism, branding or marketing, it exists in spite of all those things and only to offer a place for people – of all colours and creeds – to find a common experience and joy in music.

I am gutted that Plastic People is under attack in this way.

Siobhan
Comment by La Ritournelle — February 25, 2010 @ 10:49 am
Rap And Hip-Hop Are An Evil Cancer On The Body Of Music And Humanity~
http://www.facebook.com/?sk=2361831622#!/group.php?gid=10150097694500360
Comment by Sara Britain — March 4, 2010 @ 10:09 pm
[...] emerged with many DJs and music journalists using the Twitter hashtag #saveplasticpeople to create a swell of public awareness , which will hopefully cause those decision-makers to create some kind of constructive [...]
Pingback by London’s Young Musicians Innovate Their Way Out of Cultural Clampdowns « Face Youth Lab — March 8, 2010 @ 5:08 pm
Your blogs so gr8. I agree wiv wot u sed about music n Plastik Peepz and that. I fink the world need more gal like u cos not every1 finks like dat.

You are like my Sound Sistren (I dun a pun).

Fanks.

(p.s. Vizit my website – http://www.Pillz4YourCock.com)
Comment by Not Ed — March 10, 2010 @ 6:47 pm
Basically I think this guy says it pretty well:

http://bit.ly/12ODVC
Comment by Still Not Ed — March 11, 2010 @ 4:47 pm
Sing it sister; I’M WITH YOU ON THIS 1000000 PERCENT; xx
Comment by drumzofthesouth — April 19, 2010 @ 11:15 pm