| "21 Seconds" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by So Solid Crew | ||||
| from the album They Don't Know | ||||
| Released | 6 August 2001 | |||
| Genre | 2-step garage | |||
| Length |
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| Label | Relentless | |||
| Songwriter(s) |
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| Producer(s) | Synth | |||
| So Solid Crew singles chronology | ||||
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| Music video | ||||
| "21 Seconds" on YouTube | ||||
"21 Seconds" is a song by UK garage group So Solid Crew. Released as the second single from their 2001 debut album They Don't Know , it was the first of five consecutive top-20 hit singles for the group.
The song uses fairly stripped back production, utilising a 2-step rhythm which was common in UK garage at the time. Lisa Maffia's young daughter, Chelsea, can be heard at the beginning of the track, saying "Ha, ha, ha, whatcha laughin at?" [2]
The song title alludes to the approximate 21 seconds that each of the band members is given to perform their rap. 21 seconds is arrived at as the song's tempo is approximately 140BPM, has a key of G minor, and each rapper has 12 bars of 4 beats (48 beats at 140BPM, when worked out to the nearest integer, rounds to 21 seconds). [2] Megaman said the crew created the track after their label told them to make a track lasting three and a half minutes. He said "so we worked out that with at least 10 or 11 members, that's eight bars each – 21 seconds. It was a simple calculation." [3] Their label manager Shabs Jobanputra said "they literally took a calculator and divided the time by the number of MCs." [4]
The music video for "21 Seconds" was directed by Max Giwa and Dania Pasquini and was released on 2001. It features members from So Solid Crew performing during the storm in front of fences full of people dancing. It heavily uses special effects such as the storm, clouds, helicopters, lightning, tornado, etc.
The music video received the award for British Video of the Year at the 2002 Brit Awards. [5]
In a 2002 review, Pete Paphides in The Guardian said the track was "a brilliant idea" but that "not a single member of the collective uses their time to say anything remotely insightful." [6] In September 2019, NME included the song in their "25 essential UK garage anthems" list. [7] In a 2020 retrospective review of the single, The Quietus said the track "managed to capture the excitement of clubs and pirate radio, with MCs frantically passing the mic as they try to outdo each other in lyrical prowess, creative aggression bubbling beneath the surface." [8] The same year, The Guardian placed the song at number 48 on their list of "The 100 Greatest UK No 1 Singles". [9]
"21 Seconds" reached number one on the UK Singles Chart in August 2001, selling 118,135 copies in its opening week [10] and becoming 2001's 19th best-selling single. Its total sales reached 423,000. The single also peaked at number 24 in Ireland.
UK CD single [11]
UK 12-inch single [12]
| UK cassette single [13]
European CD1 [14]
European CD2 [15]
|
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
|
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom (BPI) [24] | Platinum | 600,000‡ |
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. | ||
| Region | Date | Format(s) | Label(s) | Ref(s). |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 6 August 2001 |
| Relentless | [25] [26] |
| Australia | 22 October 2001 | CD | [27] |
Romeo reworked "21 Seconds" for car insurance firm Confused.com in 2013. [28] The same year, Preditah reworked the track. [29] On 6 September 2019, So Solid Crew went to the Red Bull Music Studios, London, and remixed "21 Seconds" with Toddla T. [30] They were joined by D Double E, Ms Banks and DJ Q as they added new verses.
Oxide & Neutrino are an English DJ and MC garage duo from London, consisting of Alex Rivers (Oxide), and Mark Osei-tutu (Neutrino).
Lisa Maffia is a British singer-songwriter, musician, rapper, actress, fashion designer, model and presenter, who originally came to the public's attention as the main female member of So Solid Crew. Whilst in So Solid Crew, the singer notched up five top 20 hits, including a platinum-selling single "21 Seconds" and a platinum selling album They Don't Know. As a solo artist, she has released two top 10 singles and an award-winning album including the platinum selling single "All Over". Her most recent release to date, was 2017’s "Wah Gwarn". Maffia is mixed race, born to a half-Italian mother and a Jamaican father.
"Fell in Love with a Girl" is a song by the American rock band the White Stripes, written and produced by Jack White for the band's third studio album, White Blood Cells (2001). Released as the album's second single in February 2002, it peaked at number 21 on both the US Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart and the UK Singles Chart. It was also the band's first single to reach the U.S. Alternative Songs chart, peaking at number 12.
"Baby Cakes" is the only single released by British garage trio 3 of a Kind. It debuted atop the UK Singles Chart on 15 August 2004, becoming the band's only chart hit. Mixmag included "Baby Cakes" on their "40 of the best UK garage tracks released from 1995 to 2005" list. The music video shows the band in a cake shop and contains several double-entendres. A follow-up song, "Wink One Eye" was recorded but was never released.
"Get Up!" is a song by Beverley Knight, taken from her third studio album, Who I Am. The track was released on 15 October 2001. It was showcased with a performance at the 2001 MOBO Awards.
"Gotta Get Thru This" is the debut single of New Zealand-British singer Daniel Bedingfield. The song was released in November 2001 as the lead single from his debut studio album of the same name (2002). The track, along with some others, was recorded in Bedingfield's bedroom with his PC and a microphone, using the music software Reason.
Marvin Dawkins, better known by his stage name Romeo, Nigel, or MC Romeo, is a British rapper and MC.
"Bound 4 da Reload (Casualty)" is the debut single by British duo Oxide & Neutrino, members of the So Solid Crew. The track features a sample from the theme tune to the BBC medical drama Casualty, composed by Ken Freeman. The duo had not initially gone the correct route to clear the rights to use the Casualty theme, instead calling a BBC receptionist to tell them they were sampling it. When they signed with EastWest Records, the company cleared the sample. The song was first released in 1999 on white label, simply titled "Casualty".
"Free" is the second single from British singer-songwriter Estelle's debut album, The 18th Day (2004). The song features a rap from So Solid Crew's Megaman. It preceded the album's release by two weeks. In "Free", Estelle raps and sings about living life in a positive way, spreading love, being oneself, and working hard to achieve the most one can in life.
"All Over" is the debut solo single of So Solid Crew member Lisa Maffia, released as the lead single from her first solo album, First Lady (2003), on 21 April 2003. In the United Kingdom, the song spent 12 weeks on the UK Singles Chart, peaking at number two. It was the 85th-best-selling single of 2003 in the UK. Worldwide, "All Over" reached number 23 in New Zealand and peaked inside the top 50 in Australia and the Netherlands.
They Don't Know is the debut album by UK garage outfit So Solid Crew, released on 19 November 2001. The album features the singles "Oh No ", "They Don't Know", "Haters", "Ride wid Us" and the UK singles chart-topper "21 Seconds".
Execute is the debut album of So Solid Crew members Oxide & Neutrino, released on 28 May 2001. It features the Casualty sampling number 1 single "Bound 4 da Reload (Casualty)" and the Prodigy cover "No Good 4 Me". The song "Devil's Nightmare" was also featured on the Lara Croft: Tomb Raider soundtrack.
So Solid Crew are a British UK garage and hip hop collective originating from Battersea, London, which achieved wide success in the early 2000s. The group consisted of many members, the most notable being Asher D, Lisa Maffia, Harvey and Romeo. So Solid have been credited for being pioneers in the UK music scene. By turning UK garage from a dancey-genre to one that was darker and more MC-oriented, and gaining mainstream success, they inspired London youth to experiment with their own darker sounds, leading to what would become known as grime music.
"You're No Good for Me" is a house song by American singer Kelly Charles that was released as a single on Next Plateau Records in 1987. The song's hook "You're no good for me, I don't need nobody / Don't need no one that's no good for me" has been sampled numerous times by artists such as Ally Brooke, Hithouse, Oxide & Neutrino, Plan B and the Prodigy who had a hit single in 1994 with "No Good ".
"Flowers" is the debut single by UK garage duo Sweet Female Attitude, released on 3 April 2000. The song uses the same chord sequence as Erik Satie's Trois Gymnopédies, and the actual piece can be heard in the version by The House & Garage Orchestra, from the 2018 album Garage Classics.
UK garage, abbreviated as UKG, is a genre of electronic dance music which originated in England in the early to mid-1990s. The genre was most clearly inspired by garage house and jungle production methods, but also incorporates elements from dance-pop and R&B. It is defined by percussive, shuffled rhythms with syncopated hi-hats, cymbals, and snares, and may include either 4/4 house kick patterns or more irregular "2-step" rhythms. Garage tracks also commonly feature 'chopped up' and time-stretched or pitch-shifted vocal samples complementing the underlying rhythmic structure at a tempo usually around 130 BPM.
"It's All Gravy" is a song by English rapper Romeo featuring vocals from American singer Christina Milian. Written by Romeo, StarGate, and Roger Russell, the track samples the keyboard riff from "Real Love", a 1992 song by R&B singer Mary J. Blige, so Audio Two, Mark Morales, and Mark C. Rooney are also credited as writers. In the song, Romeo sings about how he became famous while Milian provides the chorus vocals and ad libs.
"No Good 4 Me" is a song by UK garage duo Oxide & Neutrino, released as the second single from the debut album Execute. The song features other members of the So Solid Crew; Megaman, Romeo and Lisa Maffia. It reached the top 10 on the UK Singles Chart, peaking at number 6. It was the second of six non-consecutive top 20 hit singles for the duo.
"They Don't Know" is a song by UK garage group So Solid Crew. It is the title track of their 2001 debut album and was released as the third single from the album on 5 November 2001. The song peaked at No. 3 on the UK Singles Chart, giving the group their second of five consecutive top-five hits.
"Girls Like Us" is a song by UK garage duo B-15 Project featuring Crissy D and Lady G on vocals. Based on Crissy D and Lady G's song "Girls Like Us" from the dancehall compilation album Oracabessa One (1998), the song was a top-10 hit in the UK, peaking at number seven on the UK Singles Chart. It also reached number one on the UK Dance Singles Chart and number 22 in the Netherlands. Mixmag included "Girls Like Us" in their list of "40 of the best UK garage tracks released from 1995 to 2005", while Gemtracks included the song in their list of the "top UK garage songs between 1995–2005".
