Here’s something we don’t think anyone saw coming: legendary grime outfit Meridian Crew have reunited for a new tune called “Man In Meridian”.
Meridian Crew were hugely influential in the early 2000s, helping to put North London on the grime map and spawning two more massively successful crews in BBK and Bloodline—and that’s to say nothing of the individual success of all of their members. So to get Bossman Birdie, Jme, Big H, Prez T and Paper Pabs back in the studio together for the first time in over a decade is quite a moment.
“Man In Meridian” pays homage to a legendary freestyle they recorded back in the day when Bossman Birdie was released from prison. The story goes that one of the first things Bossman did when he got home was to go on pirate radio with Meridian and record the “Man In Meridian” freestyle.
To celebrate the moment and throwback to early 2000s grime, the five spittters reassembled to immortalise the track on wax and put together a video that mixes archive footage with scenes of young kids recreating their grime heroes’ bars.
“‘Man In Meridian’ is one of the most important grime tracks to come out of the genre to date,” says Bossman Birdie. “It’s the essence of the culture and the first time you get to hear 90% of Meridian together swinging it out on the same record. With everyone locked into their own solo endeavours, it was a madness getting the verses over the line. But we all wanted to give the fans something sick for the support over the years. This is the start of some much-needed fire to come from this legendary collective.”
Hit play on the visuals at the top and be sure to add “Man In Meridian” to your playlists.
