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.
The ‘grime’ scene is really Alan Knott (cockney slang for hot) in London at the moment, or so we’re led to believe, and Dizzee must certainly be considered grime king. Or, if not king, then at least the artist that brought it so far into the mainstream that it had to be given its own stupid genre.
His debut album, 2003’s Boy In Da Corner, won that year's coveted Mercury Music Prize, and he’s been heralded for pushing the boundaries of garage and hip hop like no one before or since.
His current LP, Showtime, has gone gold in the UK and Dizzee now seems a long way from his days of pirate radio with the Roll Deep Crew.
So I thought this London crowd would welcome back their prodigal son with open arms and noisy appreciation. But as the brilliantly stark, tough, low-end driven music begins, and his lazy cockney-drenched toasting starts I notice that the crowd are very sombre, sort of uninterested, and remain so throughout.
Tunes like 'I Luv You', 'Jus’ a Rascal' and 'Girls' explode with intensity, as their minimal, but very tough, percussive hits punch through quick horn and synth stabs that are tied together with his voice. Perhaps the crowd’s reaction reiterates the paradigm of the music; hard but minimal, confident but uncaring, talented but lazy, and very, very cool. Dizzee’s energy was the same; he was enthusiastic, energetic and gave it a lot, but still retained his oh-so-laid back approach and stayed in total control. Strange atmosphere, fantastic gig.