"21 Seconds" is a song by

UK garage 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 ...

group

So Solid Crew 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 (Ashley Walters), Lisa Ma ...

. 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.

Composition and production

The song uses fairly stripped back production, utilising a 2-step rhythm which was common in

at the time.

Lisa Maffia Lisa Maffia (born 16 June 1979) 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, ...

's young daughter, Chelsea, can be heard at the beginning of the track, saying "Ha, ha, ha, whatcha laughin at?" 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 G minor is a minor scale based on G, consisting of the pitches G, A, B, C, D, E, and F. Its key signature has two flats. Its relative major is B-flat major and its parallel major is G major. The G natural minor scale is: Changes n ...

, and each rapper has 12 bars of 4 beats (48 beats at 140BPM, when worked out to the nearest integer, rounds to 21 seconds). 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." Their label manager Shabs Jobanputra said "they literally took a calculator and divided the time by the number of MCs."

Music video

The music video for "21 Seconds" was directed by Max Giwa and Dania Pasquini and was released on 2001. It features members from

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.

Critical reception

In a 2002 review, Pete Paphides in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' said the track was "a brilliant idea" but that "not a single member of the collective uses their time to say anything remotely insightful." In September 2019, ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'' included the song in their "25 essential UK garage anthems" list. In a 2020 retrospective review of the single, ''

The Quietus ''The Quietus'' is a British online music and pop culture magazine founded by John Doran and Luke Turner. The site is an editorially independent publication led by Doran with a group of freelance journalists and critics. Content ''The Quietu ...

'' said the track "managed to capture the excitement of clubs and

pirate radio Pirate radio is a radio station that broadcasts without a valid license, whether an invalid license or no license at all. In some cases, radio stations are considered legal where the signal is transmitted, but illegal where the signals are rec ...

, with MCs frantically passing the mic as they try to outdo each other in lyrical prowess, creative aggression bubbling beneath the surface." The same year, ''The Guardian'' placed the song at number 48 on their list of "The 100 Greatest UK No 1 Singles".

Commercial performance

"21 Seconds" reached number one on the UK Singles Chart in August 2001, selling 118,135 copies in its opening week and becoming 2001's 19th best-selling single. Its total sales reached 423,000. The single also peaked at number 24 in Ireland.

Track listings

UK CD single # "21 Seconds" (original So Solid version) # "21 Seconds" (12-inch version) # "21 Seconds" (DJ Swiss & Dan Da Man remix vocal) # "21 Seconds" (video) UK 12-inch single :A1. "21 Seconds" (original So Solid version) :A2. "21 Seconds" (12-inch version) :B1. "21 Seconds" (DJ Swiss & Dan Da Man remix vocal) :B2. "21 Seconds" (DJ Swiss & Dan Da Man remix instrumental) UK cassette single # "21 Seconds" (original So Solid version) # "21 Seconds" (12-inch version) European CD1 # "21 Seconds" (Seven Gemini remix) # "21 Seconds" (radio edit) – 3:54 European CD2 # "21 Seconds" (Seven Gemini remix) # "21 Seconds" (Seven Gemini remix instrumental) # "21 Seconds" (radio edit) # "21 Seconds" (Seven Gemini remix video)

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

Other versions

Romeo reworked "21 Seconds" for car insurance firm

Confused.com Confused.com is a UK based financial services comparison platform launched in 2001 and specialising in comparison of insurance and financial services, including car insurance, home insurance, energy, van insurance and life insurance. Confused.com ...

in 2013. The same year, Preditah reworked the track. On 6 September 2019, So Solid Crew went to the Red Bull Music Studios, London, and remixed "21 Seconds" with

Toddla T Thomas Mackenzie Bell (born 22 February 1985), better known by the stage name of Toddla T, is an English DJ, record producer, remixer and songwriter from Sheffield, South Yorkshire. Biography Bell was raised in Sheffield where he attended Ki ...

. They were joined by

D Double E Darren Jason Dixon (born 19 January 1980), known professionally as D Double E, is a British grime MC, DJ and record producer from Forest Gate, East London. He performs both as a solo artist and as a member of the grime duo Newham Generals. ...

Ms Banks Thyra Kigho Deshaun Oji (born 14 April 1994), better known by her stage name Ms Banks, is a Nigerian-British rapper, singer and songwriter. Oji has released three mixtapes as Ms Banks. In 2014, she released her first mixtape titled ''Once Upon a ...

and

DJ Q Shollen Michael Quarshie (born 16 August 1985), known by his stage name DJ Q, is a DJ and record producer from Huddersfield, England. He forms part of the supergroup TQD alongside Flava D and Royal-T. Early life DJ Q’s musical journey star ...

as they added new verses.

References

{{Authority control 2001 songs 2001 singles So Solid Crew songs Relentless Records singles UK singles chart number-one singles