I called Roony Keefe one evening in September while he was on his side hustle, driving a black cab around London. We started to chat casually, with the muffled sound of rush hour in the background. When I asked about the first video below, a freestyle from the young star-in-making Ghetts on Risky Roadz 2, Keefe had to pull over. This clip, and his film work in general, requires his full attention. Keefe can't contain a proud smile when he recounts the day he filmed what is arguably grime's most legendary performance.

Keefe's journey has taken him from a self-taught cameraman selling DIY Risky Roadz DVDs out of east London's fabled Rhythm Division record store in 2004 to making the 0121: The Story Of Birmingham Grime film for Amazon Prime last year. The format evolves but the mission—insider documentaries of grime music and culture—remains the same. He has helped launch the careers of grime's biggest names, such as Wiley, Skepta, JME, Dizzee Rascal, Giggs and Kano, as well as making a star out of his grandmother, the 83-year-old behind the viral series Grime Gran. In parallel, Keefe himself transformed from the shy guy behind the camera to a production company entrepreneur and the face of Risky Roadz, appearing on screen in his latest work 0121.

Alongside fellow grime footage originators Practice Hours and Lord Of The Mics, Keefe was instrumental in visually characterising the genre's best artists and creating a medium to fully appreciate the incendiary showmanship of improvised cyphers or head-to-head clashes. The iconic Risky Roadz DVDs created a lasting, tangible aesthetic for a unique type of artistry which was, until that point, only to be heard live or on pirate radio tapes. The interviews and more personal, behind-the-scenes moments—unscripted, often funny and always fiercely authentic—platformed the artist's stories and inspired younger generations of MCs. Keefe's style, which began with "making use of what we had," has since developed with multiple high-production projects and wide-ranging TV, online and music video concepts: a tireless exploration of ways his beloved grime music can be presented to the world.

For the first video-based Snapshot feature, Keefe and I talked through five of his best-known works.

Ghetto Freestyle (Risky Roadz 2) (2005)

The first thing to say about this one is that it's an absolutely legendary freestyle. Levels! You've filmed plenty of memorable freestyles though. Why are we starting with this one in particular?

I suppose this one is just my favourite. It's a special clip. We went there just expecting a little freestyle and ended up with one of, if not the most remembered grime freestyle. It helped Ghetts—Ghetto at the time—to say, "You know what? I'm here, I'm on this and I'm coming for the crown." I remember coming away thinking that it was a moment in history. The energy, the lyricism, the beat, the flow, the hunger. It was a statement piece about everything grime represented. The video gave a visual to a very special time within that genre. To this day, I still know every single lyric.

What's your favourite lyric from it?

I always like the beginning. "What's happening? What's really good cuz? What's cracking?" It just set the mood perfectly.

Can you tell me a bit more about how you went about filming this?

We would play the beat from a car or a speaker quite low and then put the beat back in when it came to editing. We'd have to match it up, but sometimes the beat would phase out because of the frequencies. I was still learning about editing and audio mixing. I was totally self-taught, finding stuff out along the way.

I had met Ghetts when we filmed Risky Roadz 1; he just did a little freestyle and an interview with Nasty Crew. This one was for number two, so it was about levelling up, for us and for the MCs. On the DVD version, the sound is better than what's on YouTube. You get more of a feel for the bass because we laid the track underneath.

There's so much confidence in this freestyle. Was that usually the case in real life? The idea of you having to help make some nervous MCs get comfortable is an interesting one.

Ghetts has always been very confident in himself. I think he always knew he was going to do something special and I'm glad to see where he is now.

In general, I was kind of lucky because I had grown up with these MCs. It got to the point where, if I put a camera on, the camera was irrelevant because they know they can be themselves around me. We had built up that trust. It was like one big dysfunctional family.

Movement Vs Boy Better Know Freestyle Clash (2007)

I remember watching this one over and over again years ago.

This would be my second favourite freestyle I've filmed! I was just chilling in my house doing some editing on the Movement documentary and Ghetts rang me and said, "Meet us at Roman [Road, home to Rhythm Division]. Just come." I got there and The Movement and Boy Better Know were there. It was epic. The instrumental started—a massive tune, Danny Weed's "Activity"—and the vibe caught on. Again, we knew how legendary it was gonna be straight away.

I love that you see people walking by and watching, or watching from their window above.

That was an important thing. It would usually be kids from the area, hanging around and catching a good vibe. They wanted to hear what was being said. Every now and then, a little kid would jump in at the end and try to impress the olders. It's a way of passing on the torch. To see Skepta, Wretch, Wiley, Frisco and Ghetts all in one place is only gonna inspire others. In this video, all of them brought their A-game.

What made you want to make The Movement documentary rather than another Risky Roadz DVD?

I was just rolling with The Movement at the time. I was always with Ghetts, Scorch and Wretch. What they were doing, a collective album, was something new. It was a big transitional moment, where rap started to make an entrance into grime. We couldn't afford to just let this go unseen. Rap with an English accent started to take over. It was another UK voice. You have UK hip-hop, grime and drill. The three of them are interconnected.

What's your relationship to drill these days?

I'm a bit older now so I don't always know everyone, but I always know who's good. It's great to see. The scene is bringing out new talent, and while it may not be grime anymore, its roots are all in grime. There are a lot of similarities in that kids have power and want to make changes to their lives.

The video aspect of a release is also huge in drill.

Drill artists are using the technology of today to build on ideas created by myself, Ratty—who made Lord Of The Mics—and A-Plus from Practice Hours. The three of us created the aesthetic of what grime looks like, and now that's evolving with drill. If you look at the hood video I did for Terminator, it's so raggo. But, it helped create aesthetics which I still use now, on the Skepta videos for example. I'm glad to see that the visual aspect is so important, as a good visual can sell a tune.

Kano - New Banger (2015)

Moving on to your more recent music video work, what was the story with "New Banger"?

I think I shot four videos for Made In The Manor. This one was just great vibes. Kane wanted something handheld that feels like you're one of his friends at a party. It should feel like the person holding the camera might have had a few drinks, you know? The tune has so much energy, so we wanted to create that good night out, house party, family energy vibe.

Do you have to battle with the balance between well-produced polished videos and the nostalgic look of your early work?

Unless it's something that I feel really fits that early style, then I'm kind of against it. You have to move forward, reinvent, redo. A lot of my stuff now is produced to a high level. The Grime Gran stuff, for example, is TV quality. You can always give a nod to the old days when it seems right, but that style is kind of done. I'd rather create another aesthetic for something else. I've already done that for grime.

Were there any particular music videos or directors who influenced your style in the beginning?

To be honest, I just taught myself and grew my style through shooting. Obviously I grew up watching the greats like Hype Williams and Dave Meyers, but grime never had budgets like that so my style was born from making use of what we had.

Where do you see the future of music videos heading?

I can see music videos getting more immersive with talk of metaverses and VR tech, 3D and hologram technology improving constantly. This could play a huge part in both music and TV visuals, bringing you closer to the artists.

Skepta – Man (2016)

This one has 19 million views on YouTube!

It's crazy. I know it's been doing numbers, but I haven't checked for a while. Working with Skepta is always great. You always know it's gonna be a spontaneous shoot. For the party scene in this video, he called me mad late in the night and said, "We're going to Visions in Dalston." Then we did the car scene. He knows what he wants and boom, done. That's how Skep works.

Like with "New Banger," when I heard this tune, I was so happy he picked that one for me. That's Skepta's genius. The video is very UK, very London, and has a real fly-on-the-wall feel. It encapsulates everything grime is, was and can be. Good energy everywhere. 19 millions views don't lie.

That distinctively UK video aesthetic seems to have played a role in grime's traction abroad.

Absolutely. This video and "It Ain't Safe" were a big part of that. I already had a few big names from America following me, like Drake on Instagram, and Barack Obama on Twitter. But off the back of these videos, I got approached by David Meyers, for me the greatest video director there is. I also had a couple of the A$AP boys in my gran's house. I'm always grateful for Skep putting me onto these projects.

0121: The Story Of Birmingham Grime (2021)

Why was now, after 12 years, the right time to do another longform Risky Roadz production?

I felt like there was a story to tell. I never wanted to do a Risky Roadz just for the sake of doing it. I didn't want to exhaust the name.

Birmingham doesn't always get the spotlight it deserves. It has played a big part in the scene. When all the grime artists in London were making their albums and everything went a bit quiet, those guys in Birmingham were carrying the torch. There's so much talent there, you see it in the documentary. It's grime's second home.

Me and Toby [Robson] had the idea for the documentary in a pub. We shot it ourselves and pitched it around. Amazon came back saying they loved it, and now it's on Prime. The journey from selling Risky Roadz DVDs in record shops or at market stalls to being on Amazon Prime has been mad.

How does the satisfaction from selling DVDs at Rhythm Division to being on Amazon Prime compare?

Well, it's a buzz either way. But there's something special about kicking back on the sofa, loading up the telly and seeing the Risky logo on Prime. Big up the Amazon Music team who saw there being a place for this, the first grime documentary they've shown. Also, big up Alex and Black Lion Group.

I've had great feedback from people totally outside the grime scene. They didn't know there was more to it than the rapping. They didn't know about the channels, the artists, and how inspiring the whole thing is. It's easy for the media to always portray the bad side of things, so for so many people to see the positives in everything that we're doing is amazing.

And it goes further than Birmingham. On YouTube, you have shared freestyles from all over the world. How did that come about?

I first found something on Twitter and then began to delve deeper into who these people are. I wanted to show that grime has come from estates in London to Japan, Kazakhstan, Russia or South Africa. It was really moving to get these freestyles sent back and hear people bigging up Risky Roadz from all different countries. They knew my story, they knew about the Ghetto freestyle, they knew about The Movement DVD and they knew about Rhythm Division. You can't put that sort of stuff into words.

It's really interesting to hear how the sound changes even from the London accent to the Birmingham accent. Then it's a whole different thing when it's in another language.

Every dialect has its own sound, and every sound has its own flow. The way that every country attacks the beats is different, but there's always a shared hunger and "I've got something to say" vibe.

So what's next for you?

Risky Roadz is a production company now so I'm always pitching new ideas and looking for new talent on and off screen. At the moment, I'm casting a show for Channel 4 and the NHS called Reset and Rewind [previously Rap Therapy], an animated series with rappers and influencers discussing mental health, trying to show these kids they're not on their own. Then I'm doing the Grime Gran stuff to smash down any misconceptions that the media creates. I'm trying to bridge the gaps. My nan, an 83-year-old woman, interviews these rappers. You can't have anything but good feelings about that.

I also have my brother working with Arsenal [football club]. Seeing him and nan on our club's website and socials also makes me very proud. I thank God and my family for everything I have done and for every opportunity coming in the future.