Excellent effort from UK rap star.
Written off in some quarters as an inauthentic, ‘Bonkers’ sellout, Dizzee Rascal’s last album The Fifth was a commercial and critical misstep – so it’s back to grime basics on Raskit. “Brexit? Nah dunno about that. You mean Brixton?” goes the sample on opener ‘Focus’. No Corbyn shoutouts here as Dizzee sets himself apart from the upstarts. He’s in an awkward place – too old to be Stormzy, too young to be Wiley – but, as he says on the album standout, all he needs is an “ounce” of ‘Space’ to show just how good an MC he is.
He gets it too, courtesy of producer Dan Farber, who provides a sparse framework for Dizzee’s rapid-fire lyrical delivery. Borrowed nostalgia for early grime is dismissed on ‘Make It Last’ with a tale of witnessing a stabbing at a show – “Why’d you take my boy away, god help him please”. ‘What U Gonna Do?’, meanwhile, is a throwdown to all the young pretenders out there, with the rapper asking them what they’ll do when, “They won’t play your records/And you don’t get booked ’cause your buzz is all gone”.
It can be exhausting trying to keep up with Dizzee for a full album – but his lyrical bite remains as sharp as ever.
Out Now
Gracing an expanded version of his record-smashing fourth album Tongue 'n' Cheek, 'Dirtee Disco' is a spanking new track from the London lad, complete with a fuzzy disco shuffle. The boy Rascal's not quite up to the genius levels of Timba or Outkast just yet, but some smooth sampling shows he's not far off.
Read More The black-tie and posh frock do is taking place on April 16.
Read More He's also recorded a mash-up with Florence and the Machine
Read More
Dizzee Rascal opens up about his teen hoodlum years and explains why fame has its perks.
Read More Hot Press confirm the line-up for multimedia festival Some Days Never End due to be held in Kilmainham at the end of October and beginning of November
Read More Dizzee Rascal’s third album is an inspired affair, building on the basic sonic template of his acclaimed first two albums and adding new layers of audio trickery. Make no mistake about it – this is one mean sounding record.
Read More My initial reaction to catching Dizzee Rascal live in London’s Electric Ballroom in the heart of Camden was that it’d be funnily akin to hearing Cash on Nashville’s Grand Old Opry in the '50s. He’s an artist performing during his peak, in the environment that inspiried the music, surrounded by the very fans that put him where he is.
Read More Alter Ego, Mylo and Dizzee Rascal had almost as good a year as Annie Mac - who swapped a Queens University English Lit course for a high profile slot on BBC Radio One...
Read More Normally verging on the unlistenable, this single lurches in the other direction, being based on a sample from Captain Sensible’s ‘Happy Talk’.
Read More Having scored huge critical acclaim and won the Mercury Music Prize for his debut album Boy In Da Corner, Dizzee Rascal has pushed urban music another rung up the evolutionary ladder with his stunning new record, Showtime.
Read More This year's Trinity Ball is looking to be bigger and better than ever, with the likes of Buck 65, The Rapture, The Charlatans, Dizzee Rascal and Soulwax all among the artists announced so far
Read More The label which brought us The White Stripes, Electric Six and The Avalanches now treats us to this visionary marriage of melodramatic funk and Queen-like mock operatics.
Read More Dizzee Rascal has just left the stage and the feeling of disgust is palpable.
Read More Musically, it’s akin to taking a high-speed walk around the dodgy fringes of Notting Hill Carnival – gritty hip-hop and digital ragga get roughed up beside aggressive d’n’b basslines, psycho garage and Playstation FX.
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