Eski Grime

Eski grime, or eskibeat, is the cold, minimalist first wave of grime produced in East London in the early 2000s, defined by *Wiley*'s "Eskimo" instrumentals: icy square-wave synth stabs, sliding bass, sparse drums and tempos near 140 BPM. Named from Wiley's Eskiboy alias and his run of white-label instrumentals circulated through pirate radio, the style stripped UK garage to a skeletal chassis for rapid-fire MC verses. *Dizzee Rascal*, *Roll Deep* and *Ruff Sqwad* carried the sound from pirate stations such as Deja 92.3 to the charts, founding grime's production grammar.