Today we go through some of the most Iconic and influential YouTube Channels for UK Music & Urban Culture, both past and present.
The UK scene has made great strides since YouTube officially launched at the tail end of 2005. Since then we have seen the UK scene embrace different genres such as garage, grime, road rap, real rap, UK drill, Afrobeats, Afroswing and now UK underground. Many YouTube channels have been launched in the 20 years of YouTube; But today we’ll look at some of the best and Iconic channels from 2006 till now.
Today we’ll be reminiscing over some of the best and most iconic and influential YouTube channels for UK Music and Urban Culture.
UK Overstood
First off we’ll be talking about the legendary UK Overstood which features many artists from the London borough of Islington, most notably Mad Sam, Benny Banks, Joe Blacks and Squeeks! They had the streets of London buzzing for years as they featured artists such as K Koke, Silky & Pak-Man. At the time of writing they’ve amassed almost 38 million views since their first video in 2008. Although the traction they had has dropped they are still an iconic and nostalgic time for UK Music.
https://www.youtube.com/@ukoverstood/videos
Gblog
Another iconic YouTube channel is Gblog (Grime blog) which dropped their first video in August of 2009 and amassed a total of nearly 37 million videos. They have a plethora of legendary videos on their channel from both current and former artists. They’ve featured current artists such as Stardom, Remtrex, Potter Payper, Digga D and Young Smokes as well artists from back in the day like Zimbo, Sox, Depz, Mover and DVS which span various scenes such as Real rap, road rap, UK drill as well as Grime..
https://www.youtube.com/@grimeblog/videos
Quietpvck:
In terms of UK Drill, the YouTube channel Quietpvck was the pioneering YouTube channel hosting UK Drill music from the likes of #410 AM x Skengdo, Perm, Sneakbo and many more. They also used to make beats based on Chicago rappers LA’ Capone and Lil Durk. With only 139 videos in 11 years, they’ve managed to get over 22.5 million views.
https://www.youtube.com/@Quietpvck/videos
SBTV:
The third channel we’ll talk about SBTV is a which was created by the legendary Jamal Edwards who was based in Acton West London. He created the channel to record his friends as well as promote himself as a rapper (Smokey Bars was his rap name, later named the channel SBTV to represent his name). SBTV had a legendary run where they were the first to showcase household names such as Ed Sheeran, Wretch 32, Giggs, Krept & Konan and many more. Since the unfortunate passing of Jamal Edwards, the channel has seemed to slow down but they still post on the channel on occasion Rip to Jamal Edwards.
https://www.youtube.com/@sbtv/videos
P110:
The fourth channel we’ll be talking about is P110. They are a British music hub which showcases talent from all over the UK, though they seem to prioritise regions that don’t get national and international recognition the way London does, such as the midlands and the north of England which have been neglected and impoverished in recent decades. Since 2011 they’ve worked with artists such as Skepta, Mist, Meekz, Bugzy Malone, Potter Payper, Aystar, Jordan, Aitch, Tunde.
https://www.youtube.com/@P110Music/videos
GRM Daily:
The fifth channel we’ll be discussing is GRM Daily (Grime and rap music daily, but is often called just “GRM”). GRM is the leader in terms of UK Music and Urban culture. It was founded officially in 2009 two years after SBTV. They are the current behemoth in the space overtaking competition in many aspects. They’ve featured some of the UK’s biggest artists such as Central Cee, D-Block Europe, Tion Wayne, Russ Millions and many others. In total they have managed to attain almost 8 billion views at the time of writing.
https://www.youtube.com/@Grmdaily/videos
Link Up TV:
Although Link Up Tv isn’t at the pinnacle it once was, they were once a behemoth. They were originally founded in 2008, one year after SBTV. They are still going strong with their “Behind Barz” freestyle series which features young talent such as RB and DrizzGB as well as superstars such as Drake! Although they’re now transitioning to become more content focused instead of only music, they are still an integral part of UK Music & urban culture and have amassed 2.4 billion views.
https://www.youtube.com/@linkuptv/videos
Mixtape Madness:
The sixth channel we’ll talk about is Mixtape Madness. They are the second biggest UK Music and culture platform as of today! Mixtape Madness was formed in 2010 as a place where users could go and stream or download British mixtapes without having to go to American websites that lacked a focus on British music, such as Datpiff. They currently manage the biggest freestyle series in the UK such as Next Up, The Cold Room, Plugged in W/ Fumez and Mad About Bars. They’re currently sitting at 1.8 billion views.
https://www.youtube.com/@MixtapeMadnessOfficial/videos
Pengame UK:
Lastly we’ll be talking about Pengame UK. They were originally birthed on Link Up Tv and would stay there for 3 seasons. They eventually made the step to create their own YouTube channel which has now paid off! Pengame is primarily a battle rap platform which hosts 1v1 rap battles and 2v2 rap battles as well as tournaments where winners win a cash prize. Pengame also allows their artists to drop music on their platform! Some of the artists featured include Ren DMC, DrizzGB, Skamz, Passive & Kandi. Currently they sit on 108 million views already and counting! The first video on their channel was in 2020 and they’re still going strong. Judges that have featured are Rimzee, Snoochie Shy, M1onthebeat and many more.
