[Photo credit: Courtney Frances]
Last night we made history, with the first ever Rated Awards ceremony going down in Islington, the 900-person capacity venue packed to the brim full of artists, industry players and fans alike.
The show was also broadcast to over 25,000 people on the live stream, creating an occasion that will certainly go down in the culture’s history books, our scene in the spotlight like it hasn’t been for so long.
Despite a couple of early logistical setbacks, the entire ceremony went down with very little issue. Gracepoint was filled with a harmonious and united atmosphere, a welcome togetherness of celebration for how far we’ve all come.
Stormzy picked up the first award of the night, winning best video for his smash “Know Me From”, with other early winners including Jevon winning the Get Rated award, Bugzy Malone taking home Best Breakthrough, Charlie Sloth announced as Best DJ and Big Narstie collecting Best Personality.
Undeniably the man of the year so far, Skepta, won not only Best Track with “Shutdown”, but also Artist Of The Year. Despite not being able to attend proceedings, Skeppy received a warm response from the audience. The Best Producer of the year was announced as Diztortion, the man responsible for Lethal Bizzle’s chart topper “Fester Skank”, while Krept & Konan took home Best Project for their monumental LP ‘The Long Way Home’, knocking competition from their Play Dirty comrade Yungen, among others, out of the way.
Performances on the night were touching upper echelon too, particularly when South London opened the show, with the Section Boyz tearing it up with their anthem “Trapping Ain’t Dead”. Bonkaz got the crowd on their feet again too with “We Run The Block”, Little Simz strutted through the aisle during a high-energy performance of “Dead Body” and surprise-guests WSTRN had the gyaldem singing their new single “In2” at the top of their lungs.
Ghetts channeled the spirit of Esco during his set, receiving a true veterans welcome and mashing up the show to the point it felt like a Grime rave, not a suit and tie sit-down vibe. Another surprise guest on the night was Giggs, who ran through tracks old and new, his hype on stage the antithesis of his usually-calm demeanour.
The Hollowman also presented the final award – arguably the most important of the evening – the GRM Legacy award, which highlighted the achievements of a long-standing member of the culture. The prestigious prize went to Kano, who himself closed the show with a crazy set, running through classics like “Ps & Qs”, as well as freestyling on Ghetto Kyote.
The Rated’s of course went down with some classic controversial award moments, that no ceremony would be complete without. Ghett’s holding up the live show before his set led to some awkward on-stage blagging from hosts Manny Norte and Claira Hermet, Westwood’s speech and subsequent indirects at Charlie Sloth had the crowd going wild for the Big Dog and Manny’s following on-stage rant was hilarious.
It’s even more obvious now how important the Rated Awards are. The togetherness in the building last night was unparalleled, perhaps best summarised by Bonkaz and Eyez’ reaction to Kano’s set, the two MC’s spitting along to every word and going harder than most in the audience. Thank you to all those involved and who watched at home. Let’s keep making history.
For those that didn’t manage to watch the live stream, don’t worry. Highlights are on their way.
Here are the inaugural Rated Awards WINNERS:
Best Breakthrough Artist
Bugzy Malone
Producer Of The Year
Diztortion
Best DJ
Charlie Sloth
Best Video
Stormzy – Know Me From
Personality of The Year
Big Narstie
Best Track
Skepta – Shutdown
Best Project
Krept & Konan – The Long Way Home
Artist of the Year
Skepta
Get Rated Award
Jevon
GRM Legacy Award
Kano
On behalf of GRM Daily and KA Drinks we would like to thank every artist and fan that participated to make the show historic.