Taking cues from Dancehall, Jungle & the darker side of Garage, we take a look at how Grime took the Stone Island badge in as their own.
There’s always usually a label or designer brand associated with a subculture or music style. The Skinheads & Rudeboys had Fred Perry polos & Ben Sherman shirts. The Casuals had argyle knitwear from Lyle & Scott & tennis trainers from Diadora. For Britpop it was Burberry shirts, wallabees & parkas. As much as Grime, to some extent, did take cues from US rap & its crews, the dress sense was strictly UK. Originating off the back of late 90s Garage music, some say tracks like ‘Storm’ from Wookie or ‘Hoods Up’ from Jon E Cash marked a new 8 bar era of No Fear caps, Y-3 tracktops, Air Force 1’s & Stone Island knitwear. As a darker musical sound was born thanks to Rinse FM pioneers like DJ Slimzee & Geeneus, Grime as a genre was born from the underground pirate radio world that would give us artists straight out of places like Dagenham such as Dogzilla, Devlin & Deeperman.
Above: Legendary Grime MC, Devlin, sporting a Stone Island jacket.
As a new genre was born so was a new urban style. Grime style ditched the flamboyant Moschino shirts & Prada loafers for what was really a bit of a mix of the UK’s homegrown “designer casual” style of the era. Birthing in working class areas of Bow & Bethnal Green, Grime, as the name implies, wasn’t about VIP rooms & Champagne ice buckets. It was born out of dingy council flats down Roman Road where MC’s wore Lacoste caps whilst drinking cans of Stella & smoking high grade skunk. Intertwined with the whole designer brand revival of the early to mid noughties which came about courtesy of Mike Skinner & The Streets as well as cult classic films like Nick Love’s The Football Factory. Grime took the Casual look but made it its own with a more “urban” feel.
Above: OG Grime legends Dizzee Rascal (left) & Skepta (right) both wearing Stone Island jackets.
If you were watching Channel U back in 2003 it wasn’t uncommon to see a bit of Stoney alongside the likes of Y-3, Nike basketball vests & Air Max trainers on new & emerging Grime artists. Before the says of Balaclava clad drill artists it was strictly Sidewinder sets from DJ Slimzee, nutty bars from Dogzilla, instrumentals from Danny Weed & Stone Island jackets. The original Massimo Osti brand has continued to be a fan favourite with the UK’s urban music scene with artists like Dave repping’ the brand from day one and even featuring on Stone Island’s very own campaigns. As much as Stone Island may have changed aesthetically from the early noughties with new fabrics, silhouettes & garment innovation not to mention a much larger customer base, the compass logo’s connection to Grime in particular as a genre will always exist whether it’s spotted on a Westlife Wiley freestyle or mentioned by Scratchy Demus on a SBTV video featuring
Above: Collins from Top Boy (2013) wearing a Stone Island knitted beanie.
As much as Top Boy may have ripped off the Wire & probably influenced a young white lad from Whitstable called William to start dressing in all black, speaking “road” and terrorising the local neighbourhood watch, it did do a pretty good job when it came to Stone Island. In the newer, Drake influenced, seasons we are constantly hit with the Compass logo on screen thanks to mainly Kano’s character Sully. In the earlier seasons it was the character Collins who famously wore the Stone Island knit beanie. Although it is worth mentioning that when Top Boy first aired in 2011 it was by no means set in the OG grime era, it just highlighted the UK’s very own urban connection to the brand.
Above: OG Grime legend Kano wearing some classic early noughties Stone Island.
Stone Island’s connection to the Grime scene is really no different to say the Casual scene. It’s still all about the one-of-a-kind pieces, the garment engineering and the pride of wearing the compass logo. As brands like Gucci stamp a logo on a standard cotton t-shirt and charge £500, Stone Island will always be about the fabrics and the innovation. Whether you’re an OG Grime head, or someone who ran on the terraces back in the day, the appreciation is the simply the same.
Above: OG Grime legends DJ Target (left) & Danny Weed (right).
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