Kersal Massive
The Kersal Massive is a three-person rap group from Kersal, Greater Manchester, England known for their demo, released as a viral video on YouTube. The three, who call themselves "C-Mac", "Little Kev" and "Ginger Joe", originally produced the video for a competition run by 679 Recordings. However, the video soon spread to YouTube, where it has become popular and divisive for its class humour, including amateur camerawork, unusual juxtapositions of content, frequent swearing, and for its depiction of the chav youth subculture.
The video has also been subject of well in excess of 100 remixes, covers and parodies, mixing the song with those of multiple different bands, including Kraftwerk, The Cure, Dr. Dre and Slayer. The proliferation of derivative songs and has led some commentators to suggest that the Kersal Massive represents a sea-change in music production, particularly with respect to user generated content.
Video
The original video was filmed in a shed or garage on a cameraphone, and lasts only 44 seconds. The song is sung entirely a-cappella, chiefly by C-Mac and Kev. After a brief spoken introduction by MC Mack, Kev opens with the song's best known line "Got on the bus with my day saver / Smoked a reefer in the corner". Mack takes over from the third line, claiming he "roll with them back seat hos" in his stolen twin-turbo V6 Renault Clio and mugs people outside HSBC. The song then breaks down into a rant against nearby Levenshulme, claiming "Levenshulme can go [...] that [...]", prompting Ginger Joe to say his only line in the song: "yeah, man", and ends with C-Mac and Kev giving V-signs to the camera saying "[...], peace".
Reaction
The video prompted a huge number of remakes and mixes of various types; as of December 2006, there were almost 100 videos parodying the original. These range from remixes, such as "Kersal Massive vs. The Cure" and "Kersal Massive vs. Slayer", to cover versions, to parodies, such as "The Persil Massive" and "Kersal Massive vs. Star Wars". Commonly parodied elements include the opening lines, Kev's high pitched voice and Ginger Joe's seemingly superfluous line. The sheer number of remixes had led some to comment on the changing technology and its effect on the music industry, while others have called Kersal Massive part of "The New punk DIY aesthetic".
Other journalists have discussed the lyrics of the song and the appearance and actions of the crew; Ben Marshall blogging for The Guardian described the members as "each a poster boy for Asbos, short sharp shocks and (if you feel as strongly as one viewer did) sterilisation", going on to say "[they] tell us that they'know how to rap'. Which they plainly don't." Marshall also pointed out that around two-thirds of comments of the video were hostile; some even made death threats against the group, while most of the rest of the positive comments expressed bewilderment. Tech Digest joked that "it dumps on everything The Streets have ever done. Ever", while The Skinny equally sarcastically described it as "an extraordinary insight into the wealth of untapped talent in Britain's youth today".