For all I know, 2001 was a great year for Roots Manuva. The British rapper's album Run Come Save Me had introduced a heavy, claustrophobic, dub-inflected strain of hip-hop, going gold in the UK and earning Manuva a Mercury Music Prize nomination in the process. But I can't shake the image of Manuva staring at the "21 Seconds" video, shaking his head, muttering to himself, realizing that his time was over just as it was starting.

Since 2001, everything has changed. Grime has become Britain's homegrown hip-hop, and Manuva can't possibly hope to compete. As an MC, Manuva is more Tricky than Kano. He uses the empty spaces of his slow, layered tracks, laying his strong, commanding voice over the top of the beat rather than riding it. It's not that he's not a good rapper-- he is-- but if he was a contestant on Making the Band 2 and Diddy made him freestyle against Ness or Chopper, he'd stare at his shoes and mumble: "Um, toast, um, government conspiracies. Um. I like dub." D Double E would eat him for breakfast.