2015: Grime spree

If 2014 saw grime knocking at the door, 2015 was the year it bust door off the hinges, kicked off its Reebok Classics and got comfy on the sofa. Not since the halcyon days of Dizzee Rascal's 2003 Mercury Prize win has grime commanded so much airplay and media attention. Skepta became the unofficial head of the scene, his Boy Better Know crew managing seemingly impossible feats – one minute Skepta was on stage with indie band Slaves, covering his anthem 'Shutdown' in a punk style to hordes of baying rockers, the next Boy Better Know were headlining The Warehouse Project to the mass adulation of Northern bass-heads. The biggest coup came when the videos of Skeppy's American shows hit the internet – old-skool grime-heads were pleasantly baffled by scenes of New York cool kids going nuts as BBK's DJ Maximum dropped eski beats written over a decade ago. Toronto pop-rapper Drake was so smitten by his new found 'London mandem' he went so far to get a Boy Better Know tattoo on his arm.

But grime's strength in 2015 was down to depth. Pioneers delivered, with mid-noughties micmen such as D Double E, Wiley, Lethal Bizzle and Riko dropping tunes that were rinsed as much by open minded garage and bass-heads as they were grime kids. Crucially, a new generation broke through, while for once the scene took hold outside of London. Manchester MC Bugzy Malone generated major street heat after a particularly virulent beef with Chipmunk. Realistically, it did nothing but help both their careers. Meanwhile, back in the Capital, South London shone. Stormzy's killer 'Shut Up' – a freestyle over XTC's classic 'Functions On The Low' beat – crashed into the UK top 40. Lewisham crew The Square offered a more raucous take on the sound. Inspired by foundational grime's saw-toothed bass and whipcracking percussion, they made a hard drive's worth of new rhythms. At the start of the year Novelist was the most famous member of the crew; by September he had quit to go solo. It's a measure of how strong the scene is that this didn't mean game over for the Square, and members Dee Cee, Elf Kid, Faultsz, Blakie and Grandmixxer have all since put out big singles.

Indeed, Grandmixxer crossed over into another aspect of the scene: the instrumental grime sound, guesting at Boxed, a monthly night dedicated to some of the most experimental dancefloor sounds in the UK. While Boxed residents Slackk, Oil Gang, Mr Mitch and Logos weren't averse to flinging down the occasional vocal banger, they made a name as producers by pushing the instrumental envelope as far as they could. Mumdance in particular morphed grime into a minimal dystopia; as much a home-grown version of techno as a rap sub-genre.

Amazingly, all this hype happened without any LPs from the big players. Full-lengths from Skepta, Stormzy and Novelist are due in 2016; this time around, grime's here to stay.