Dizzee Rascal - Boy In Da Corner
Track Listings
- Sittin’ Here
- Stop Dat
- I Luv U
- Brand New Day
- 2 Far (Feat. Wiley)
- Fix Up, Look Sharp
- Cut ‘Em Off
- Hold Ya Mouf (feat. God’s Gift)
- Round We Go (Ain’t No Love)
- Jus’ A Rascal
- Wot U On?
- Jezebel
- Seems 2 Be
- Live O
- Do It
This comes from 18 year old MC Dizzee Rascal aka Dylan Mills from South London, before his nomination for the prestigous Mercury Music Prize, he was completely unknown outside of the underground UK Garage MC where he formed part of the Roll Deep Crew.
The album is fresh, unique and it is real. The songs are easy on the ear but if you listen more closely, the lyrics are witty and a smart commentary on various aspects of modern life and you get a strong sense of anger and rage in this album. His style is completely unique and a world away from the 'bling bling' commercial hip hop of overated US stars like 50 Cent and Jay Z. Dizzee's style should appeal to almost anyone that might happen to hear it. This debut album is a perfect introduction to Dizzee's musical flavours.
His word play and beats all compliment each other. The sound is so electric, switching from Oriental riffs that Bjork would be proud of ('Brand New Day') to Marlena Shaw style soul ('Fix Up, Look Sharp'). It’s also industrial in its sound as Dizzee shows that music is transcendent.
The production is very minimalistic with a heavy bassline throughout, this is due to his background as a grimey MC with the Roll Deep Crew. His flow is also unique due to his strong South London accent and he never attempts to adopt a phoney American accent or slang in order to appeal to the market. It's perhaps wrong to call this a hip-hop album. The wonderful fusion of garage and hip-hop is served up with gritty urban reality.
The album does lack the assertiveness to make you want to play it over and over again. This should nonetheless do little to tarnish the album as an important and impressive body of work from a regular 19 year old street dreamer.
I'd go ****.
Written by Tom Dawkings
Dizzee Rascal's Discography:
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