This new photobook tells the definitive history of grime

Long before DJ AG pulled up to King’s Cross, long before Skepta spat “That’s Not Me”, and long before SBTV’s first uploads – or even YouTube itself, for that matter – Rooney ‘RiskyRoadz’ Keefe, was documenting grime’s first baby steps on DVD in the early 2000s. A through-and-through east Londoner born in Bethnal Green, just a short walk away from grime’s birthplace in Bow, Keefe was present at both grime’s defining sets and the moments that foregrounded their emergence. It’s for these reasons that his new photobook, GRIME, released today under Pavillion Books, is not only a definitive history of the quintessential UK genre’s rise and reign, but also uniquely poised to situate it within its wider social context.

The idea to start a video company came while a teenage Keefe was working at iconic east London record shop Rhythm Division. “I recognised the voice of an MC that had just walked into the shop,” Keefe recalls in the book’s opening pages. “The store manager, Marc Cripps (known as Sparkie) knew everyone, so I asked him if the MC was Frisco. When he said yes, I was fascinated. It left me thinking, ‘If I wanted to know what Frisco looked like, surely everyone else would, too?” Keefe soon borrowed money from his grandma (who would later become renowned as ‘Grime Gran’) to buy his first camera, and the company name from his graffiti tag, RSKY, and RiskyRoadz was born.

In the years following, Keefe produced some of grime’s most iconic freestyles. There’s Ghetts’ (formerly known as Ghetto) 2005 freestyle outside his auntie’s house, there’s Griminal’s F**K Radio freestyle in 2008, and of course, there’s The Movement Documentary, which spawned perhaps the most iconic grime freestyle of all: Skepta and Wiley going back-to-back over Wiley’s “Bad ‘Em Up” instrumental in 2006. Later, after what GRIME terms the ‘quiet time’ from 2008 to 2014, Keefe was enlisted by Skepta to film the remix to “That’s Not Me”, widely regarded as the track that kickstarted grime’s first resurgence. In many ways, Keefe’s career and the history of grime are one and the same.

This career was not without its low points however. A particularly heartfelt moment arrives in GRIME’s final pages when Keefe – now a London cab driver – chronicles his struggles to keep RiskyRoadz afloat amid the changing media landscape. But it was the grime stars he grew up with that were there to support him. “When I was studying for The Knowledge, I had amassed some bills and was paying them off annoyingly slowly,” writes Keefe. “Whilst shooting ‘It Ain’t Safe’ for Skepta, he heard me on the phone telling my mum how I couldn’t wait to pay £5,000 off my credit card. When the video was finished I asked Skepta how much the total fee was, and he told me £5,000. I told him this was too much and he replied, ‘If you don’t take it, I won’t have you shoot anything for me ever again.”

Because the history of grime is so intertwined with Keefe’s personal life, then, his new book is also uniquely poised to contextualise the significance of the genre as a whole. In addition to chronicling the genre’s key moments, GRIME also contains sections discussing grime’s proximity to fashion (from New Era caps and Air Max trainers right through to Skepta’s Mains fashion line), it’s issues with censorship and harmful stereotypes (both imposed and internalised), and gentrification.

“Grime is the voice of the estates. It never mattered what colour or creed we were, we were all in the same situation from the same place and there's an understanding that we all helped each other and became family,” Keefe tells Dazed. “Gentrification is changing the face of the London we knew. Even the estates where you had the drive to do better and get out, now, people battle to stay in, and the characters who made up parts of London are now being pushed out. There are many factors that made grime what it is that aren’t particularly the same anymore.”

This brings Keefe up to the present, where, amid ageing talent and new genres taking its place, grime is no longer the rough-and-ready voice of the UK streets that it once was. “I think that grime has surpassed just being a genre,” says Keefe. “The back cover of my book features the below and I think it’s such a true depiction of what grime truly is and continues to be: ‘Grime is a way of life, a voice for the ambitions and dreams of inner-city youth. It’s a vessel for our creativity.’ Whatever comes next will always have grime in its DNA.”

Below, in honour of his new photobook, GRIME, released today, pioneering grime videographer Rooney ‘RiskyRoadz’ Keefe tells Dazed about his favourite image, the moments he regrets not being able to capture, and spitting a 16-bar of his own. 

Have you been wanting to publish something like this for a while? Why did now feel like the right time?

Rooney ‘RiskyRoadz’ Keefe: Having a book published has always been on my bucket list – it shows you’ve led a life people would like to know more about, and having one I suppose, lets you know you’ve done a few cool things worth acknowledging. The book came round shortly after my Exhibition at the Museum of London. A friend of mine, Big Has (Hasan Semay), had just had his first cookbook published and being a big fan of Grime mentioned it to the publisher, and the rest is history. I think it all comes together at the perfect moment, too. Grime feels reenergised at present, and this just helps solidify that.

Are there any pictures in here that stand out as particularly important to you?

Rooney ‘RiskyRoadz’ Keefe: There are so many of my images in the book all holding special meaning, but I would have to say for the purposes of this question, the one on page 14, because without Rhythm Division and without Sparkie, my journey into Grime may never have even started. It was here I used to buy my vinyl, got myself a Saturday job, and where I first met the majority of the artists. It was also where I first got the idea to pick up a camera when Frisco walked into Rhythm Division with one of his vinyls and I recognised his voice.

Given you were in with grime from the ground floor, are there any moments you regret not being able to capture that are now lost to history?

Rooney ‘RiskyRoadz’ Keefe: Good question! I captured a lot but I would say, I wish I’d captured more pirate radio. I used to go a lot and not always with my camera. And, why, another thing I would have filmed more of would have been B-roll. More B-roll of the estates, the buildings, Rhythm Division, as so much has now been lost to gentrification. I guess just to look back and say: ‘Wow, look at the difference’. I mean, at the time we never even knew what B-roll was. We were learning on the job and would film just what we needed when doing freestyles, sets and interviews, without thinking about the beauty of B-roll and establishing shots.

And more radio! There is one set I wish I had filmed though, and that was Jammer’s Birthday Bash, shot in DejaVu, by my mate Troy. That was one of my favourite sets – I still watch it to this day.

Having hung around so many MCs, did you ever try to spit a 16 yourself?

Rooney ‘RiskyRoadz’ Keefe: I have had input on many words and lines of songs over the years, when I’ve been in the studio, and you know what, I did actually do one for a laugh when the ‘Pen Game’ instrumental was circulating – you can find it on my Instagram. There’s a few clever bars in there as well. You can tell I’ve hung about with the best!

The Wiley and Skepta Movement freestyle has been remixed countless times over the years, most notably becoming a key part of the mellow grime movement a couple years ago. What are your thoughts on people appropriating your footage?

Rooney ‘RiskyRoadz’ Keefe: In these scenarios its cool, as it keeps it alive and it’s good to see it still having an impact now. It’s nice to hear what others feel it should sound like too! It’s mad because some of the more recent producers may only know that one part of the freestyle, not knowing the rest of it or its origins. So, for that reason, I’d love for people to tag me so newer producers candiscover RiskyRoadz too. You never know – they might learn something more if they do and I might find the next big producer!

In one section of the book, you mention that there is so much you haven’t done yet. What do you have planned for the future?

Rooney ‘RiskyRoadz’ Keefe: I love creating and coming up with ideas and concepts, and there are a few things on the bucket list that I still need to tick off – one being a Bafta! I have a comedy sitcom written that I’d like to make, plus a few film ideas including a horror. Also, a definitive grime documentary. I really enjoy cooking and have been working on a brilliant format for a cooking show – so watch this space!

GRIME, published by Pavilion Books, is out now.