10 Tracks That Prove UK Hip-Hop Is Coming Of Age

There are lots of fantastic things about being part of music scene that exists on the margins. The sense of belonging to "one big family"; the chance to get up close, personal and probably smashed with your favourite artists; the overwhelming smugness you feel when your mate asks you what's playing on your stereo and it's some obscure 12" you ordered from Japan (yes, we're all dicks). That said, isolation is not always the best incubator for high art. UK hip-hop, probably the most maligned of the "urban" genres, provides us with a stark example.

With its lack of external criticism, some artists have been able to get away with all sorts of patently unacceptable stuff: skeletal musicianship, questionable politics, and an inexplicable over-reliance on cock jokes. Despite a roster of breakout artists grafting hard against the trend, this rock-bed of sub-par spitting seems to have kept the scene in a state of indefinite adolescence—at least, until now. In the last few years, UK hip-hop has undergone somewhat of a transformation. Those rappers who were responsible for reinvigorating the scene in the noughties have shed their pubescent acne, come down off their benders, and started questioning their culture.

Elsewhere, numerous young artists—raised on a diet of Odd Future-born nihilism and the glorious resurgence of grime—are dismantling the stubborn boundaries between urban genres, and redefining what it means to be a UK MC. Basically, it's all got a lot less embarrassing for everyone. If you like your bangers served with substance, here are ten tracks that demonstrate how far the scene has come of late.

With a whole heap of kids growing up listening to Tyler and co, it was only a matter of time before a tide of disenfranchised youths bought themselves copies of Abelton and started rapping about their crappy childhoods. But for all the navel-gazing college students now using SoundCloud as some sort of 21st century LiveJournal, there are artists like Luui making diarising an art form. After dropping the seductive, STWO-produced "With You" last year, Luui returns with "Behind The White Door", a track marked with a tendency to over-share that you could almost call a trademark. In a world where too many MCs are hiding behind their Instagram filters, this kind of lo-fi, don't-care jam is a total dream.

If the phrase "South London model cum rapper" makes you want to throw a brick at someone, we hear you. But despite being unfortunately photogenic, Crave Moore displays a duality rarely seen in hip-hop. While his lush, slow jam beats lull you into a false sense of Zen, that unhinged flow—occasionally overwrought, audible spittle—tells you in no uncertain terms that everything is not going to be alright. It's in this sweet spot between senseless and incensed that Crave created his own inimitable style.