Red Bull – who it’s worth remembering are just a refreshment company – have developed a penchant for pushing boundaries in recent years. The brand that promised to give people wings did just that (well, kinda) back in 2012 when they sponsored Felix Baumgartner’s 128,000 foot free fall from space. More recently, they have presented Culture Clash, which has become a central pillar in the urban music scene. And now they’re back with another tantalising concept.
Grime-A-Side is pretty simple really. Imagine a 5-a-side tournament, starting at the quarter final stage, playing out until a winner is decided. It’s basically that, except each team is a grime crew representing a different UK city, and rather than kicking ball, they’ll be spraying a cypher over one beat and one beat only. Check out this visual for the cities represented and their chosen team captains…
Winners will be selected by you, the people. It’s simple, really: watch the battles, see who you think is best, and vote for your winner. Round by round. we will narrow it down until we have a Grime-A-Side Champion.
Eight cities, eight captains, eight teams – only one winner.
Check out the first quarter final below, as AJ Tracey’s London team, including P.K. and Saint, took on Dialect’s Leeds batch, featuring Paddy and Angry. Vote here on who you think came out on top, get your opinions known with #grimeaside on social media, and show some love to the imaginative brilliance coming out of the Red Bull team, without whom none of the aforementioned madness would have been possible.