| "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.
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"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.
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Marvin Dawkins, better known by his stage name Romeo, Nigel, or MC Romeo, is a British rapper and MC.
"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.
"Movin' Too Fast" is a song by UK garage duo Artful Dodger, released on 26 July 1999. The song features Romina Johnson and was included on the duo's debut studio album, It's All About the Stragglers (2000). "Movin' Too Fast" was originally recorded by Johnson as a solo artist and appears on her 1998 debut album, Simply Passion, produced by Rolando Bacci Hardage. The Artful Dodger remix version of the track was first distributed as a white label vinyl release. After it was picked up by DJs, it was licensed to Locked On for mainstream distribution.
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".
"Do You Really Like It?" is a song by UK garage music group DJ Pied Piper and the Masters of Ceremonies. The single topped the UK Singles Chart in June 2001. It has sold over 600,000 copies in the United Kingdom according to the British Phonographic Industry.
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 jungle, 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.
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"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".
