Swiss isn’t the guy you remember from So Solid. Honestly he’s not, he’s a background figure. He spits a bar every now and then, but more than anything he feels like ‘part of the crew’ than a stand out figure. They say it’s always the quiet ones, and this is a story that reeks of the utterance ‘the meek shall inherit the earth’, for now, in the year 2010 Swiss that stands as testimony to So Solids ‘legitimate legacy’ more so than any other. It’s not the beauty and business acumen of Lisa Maffia (although the point could be argued), it’s neither of the girlies favourites; Romeo or Harvey, and it’s not Mega. The only other name that enters the fray to make this ting ‘photo finish’ is Asher D’, and he is out done on (almost) one factor alone. He didn’t make ‘Cry’.
There is a difference between glamorising a lifestyle and trying to find glamour in a lifestyle that is inherently disturbing and hard. Grime is the sound of my generation, and it’s easy to mistake intentions or twist the words that leave people’s mouths but the truth of the matter is you are listening to people who are or have been navigating struggling. We are the ugly side of burgeoning capitalism, the hungry of a vastly successful city. It is the common consensus that we are in this position because we are lazy. So by and large, we grind. In the space of all these needs we have that must be met, emotion (or at least its more vulnerable nuances) falls by the wayside. Our music mirrors this fact fully, for it has taken a notable amount of time for any emotion the mainstream could really empathise with to permeate this genre. This is why the song ‘Cry’ whilst although not being Grime, is part of the true aficionado’s citizenship test. Obviously as points go it’s debateable, but I would put it to you (as I can, for frankly it is my blog) that should this city become its’ own republic tomorrow, ‘Cry’ would be in sharp contention for the role of ‘national anthem’.
Everybody remembers the track word for word, bar for bar (well, at least a majority large enough for me to make this statement) but it’s not lyrics alone that sets this track so far apart from others. The tracks namesake is pulled along by Swiss’s vocal tone which sounds teary eyed to put it simply. His delivery is hurried, blurted almost like a man pleading to get his (side of the) story across. He begins with the line “I swear it was like the time when...” which is appropriately conversation for what follows. Over the space of 4 minutes Swiss takes the listener on a journey which is both cathartic and painful at the same time, the language of violence, the nature of jealousy, familial relations and the normality of other criminal activities are all touched upon, with poignancy and clarity. He achieves a duality on all the aforementioned subjects that shows not only mature understanding of causality, but also an inability to fully yield to the pressures put upon him. He talks of darker things such as addiction and the common distrust we have of a society which has and still does economically profit off of the socio-political destabilisation of Africans and African Diaspora. Whilst bringing issues to light and challenging himself, as well as the listener to take ownership of problems and the solutions bound to them. The song calls for action, because it never renders the listener or artist powerless, it empowers instead. It was easy to write a piece like this about the song, but my language is haughty overbearing. I don’t even think there are metaphors or other such literary devices in the lyrics for the song, it doesn’t need them, it would make something so nigh on perfect clumsy (in a similar fashion to the commercial cuts chorus). It’s four minutes of straight magma, and it won’t be forgotten by any die hard anytime soon. Neither will Swiss, or So Solid for that matter!
Too put a long article simply. That’s Comrade Swiss to you... show some manners.
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