Dizzee Rascal on Wiley & Roll Deep

What's good grime fans.

I've just seen that Dizzee was on Radio 1 today. His album is out shortly and Jo Whiley went to the Dirtee Stank HQ to chat and that.

I don't know how but, as is usually the case when Rascal's the topic, Wiley was lingering. I heard him on a track called Tupac Robot Club Rock by the Filthy Dukes. Nope, I've never heard of them either, but Wikipedia cites they're a 'synthopop' band. Granted, Wikipedia isn't the most trustworthy source but, then again, I'm in a rush.

Tupac Robot Club Rock


I could well be quite late on this, but still I thought the track was pretty decent. There wasn't time to properly gauge opinion though since Dizzee talked straight after (about 1h 10 mins) about Kate Moss, Kanye West, and a deluded girl asking whether he's single at the moment. Christopher Reeve apparently once said that 'once you choose hope, anything's possible' and - fair enough - he did go on to become Superman, but a pint of cold realism for the lady over there please.

A chap from Gloucester asked if Dizzee would ever make a grime album again:

'Grime to me in the first place was me just putting all the types of music I like together, and I'm still doing that.'

There's a few grime-heads out there holding onto Reevesian hope. But to all intents and purposes, that looks like a no.

Why did Dizzee leave Roll Deep?

'The fact that I'd already made an album and that everyone was dilly-dallying around...the fact that wherever Wiley got his album (was) because of me'.

Wiley did alright on Tupac Rock Club. And he's a grown man now, making his own way. People would call him bitter and childish.

I wouldn't mind a war-dub though.

Dizzee Rascal - Tongue N Cheek

Greetings grime fans.

I'm currently stifling the laughter and cringing embarrassment provided courtesy of England's moral pillar, the Daily Mail.

'One went to the most exclusive public school in the land, the other was expelled from four schools in as many years.

So common ground between the two 24-year-olds Prince Harry and Dizzee Rascal was always going to be hard to find.

Unfortunately, the prince's attempts to bridge the divide ended in toe-curling embarrassment - and the danger of being punched by the rap star.'


Don't talk to me about karate - might see in the party drinking champagne dressed as a Nazi

If the substandard, unoriginal and cliche opening wasn't enough, the paper's Middle England cohort have assumed some sort of crusade that, painfully for them, doesn't exist.

'Colleen' only received a mere 34 votes for her invaluable time with this witty gem:

Ha ha,guess what Dizzee,you wouldn't have dared,big talk,pathetic.



Steve Goodwin, the conscience of Leeds, seems to be flag-bearer in the readers' cyber-assault, chirping up with:

So Dizzee's immediate response to something he didn't like would have been violence. Well there's a surprise.

Thanks for your input, Steve.

Unfortunately I don't think any of these are tongue in cheek, but Dizzee's fourth album is. Due for release on September 21st, the good folks at Drowned in Sound have enjoyed a cursory listen already. Read their thoughts here.

Your tracklist looks like this:


1) Bonkers
2) Road Rage
3) Dance Wiv Me
4) Freaky Freaky
5) Can't Tek No More
6) Chillin' Wiv Da Man Dem
7) Dirtee Cash
8) Money Money Money
9) Leisure
10) Holiday


The bonus track is reported to be Bad Behaviour, with Tiësto. Dizzee is ever branching his wings but there seems to be some continiuity from 'Maths + English' - there's another collaboration with Shy FX on Can't Tek No More and more than a nod to Old Skool on Road Rage. And anything that pays homage to Adventures of Stevie V's Dirty Cash is a winner.

Dirty Cash


But still, for the first time in my life I'm a bit unsure about buying a Dizzee album. What are you lot doing?

Around Bow with Lee Brasco - Part 3

This is the third part of a little tour around E3 with Lee Brasco. You can catch the first instalment here and the second here.

But for now the talk of radio filters out, and we go through Lanfranc estate. Over one of the walls, looking towards Roman Road, we can just see the top of the sign.



The sun shines, and the tees in the window look so much better than on the internet thumbnails or Myspace albums where I usually see the designs. Hoodstars, SN1 and Boy Better Know are the main ones on show.

There's no customers, so we just have a look around. It's the sort of place that you step into and wish you were a DJ. It's not the biggest shop, but funky vinyl is stacked all along the back wall, behind the steel-topped counter with decks sitting on top. But it's on the oppposite wall where all of the grime CDs are, complemented by a smaller stack of road rap CDs on the right.

If you could only get five CDs from here right now, which ones would you get?

Brasco takes time to think.

LB: Race against Time, Trim's mixtape, Back 2 Da Lab 3, Down Volume 2 and Tinchy’s Star in the Hood. But if Tinchy’s album ain't there then Wretchrospective.







The guy out the back is sitting in the office.

LB: What's going on boss?

The man comes up to the front and stands behind the counter, giving us the low-down on the shop.

MrRD: Rhythm started about twelve years ago, and I’ve been here for about seven years.

How's Rhythm doing at the moment, given the recession and stuff?

MrRD: We haven't been doing too badly to tell you the truth, because-

Because Rhythm's a specialist shop?

MrRD: Yeah exactly. We're a specialist shop, so people will still spend their money here. Obviously we get in a lot of DJs and collectors as well as fans so, even if they're bruck-up, they'll still spend money on music because it's a hobby. And also, in these times, music is something that's fun and which gives entertainment.

I still think about his seven years. He must have remembered a few notable customers from back in the day. Dizzee?

His face lights up.

MrRD: Ah yeah, I remember Dizzee coming in here back in the day, course. He would make a tune at home on his computer, press it up round the corner and come straight down here, boxes and boxes of vinyl he would bring in to us. Around I Luv U times we would buy boxes and boxes off him, knowing that we would easily sell them all.

Dizzee was on the main stage at Glastonbury last week. His new song Holiday looks like another chart-topper.

MrRD: See some people might say that Dizzee has sold out, but there's a part of his music that's still E3.

What? Like in his delivery?

MrRD: I dunno but, to me, I just think he still brings a little bit of Bow E3 to the mainstream.

LB: Yeah man, Dizzee still reps for E3 - I'm not even gonna say he don't.

MrRD: Like I would say that grime was born in E3, and in that sense Rhythm is the lifeblood for the music here.

LB: When I came in here, I used to think that, one day, I wanna get on that wall.

Brasco almost says it as an aside, but it still shows that this isn't just a place to buy records. It's a shop with a history, and one of the cornerstones of a culture. I didn't quite realise Rhythm's significance only half an hour before.

LB: There was another shop that opened in Mile End called Allstar Records, but that closed as soon as it started.

MrRD: Yeah, I remember that. Rhythm was already more established, and they had nothing that we didn't already.



So are you - well maybe it's the wrong word - but like kinda 'proud' of Tinchy, Dizzee and Wiley, coming from here and now seeing them having such success?
MrRD: Yeah of course, definitely. I remember Tinchy coming in here.

He puts his forearm across his body, just above his waist.

MrRD: He must have come up to about here, you couldn't see him on the other side of the counter. I saw him and I was like 'what!? This guy can MC?'. But he was merking raves, 'tingz in boots' and all that, you know like the Eskimo Dance Top 100 reloads or whatever. Everyone in the crowd would just be going nuts.

Mr Rhythm Division fully explains by bussing gunfingers behind the counter. Brasco points at the Tinchy album on the rack.

LB: Tinchy is an original. Apart from Wiley, Tinch has probably been doing grime the longest out of all of the MCs you see on this wall - he helped pave the way.

But we change to current talk - what's the best grime-sellers in the shop at the moment?

Mr RD: Erm, a few things have been selling well. 'Microphone Champion' and 'Race against Time' have probably done the best.

But with all the June 1st hype, who has sold the most so far?

MrRD: They've both done well, but here probably Wiley.

LB: Well Wiley is from the bits, so that's kinda expected to see him sell the most here. We all support him fully.

MrRD: But the hype and publicity of releasing on the same day has worked, because what's been happening is that people having been coming in and buying both albums at the same time. Another thing is that the Skepta and Wiley albums have done a lot of units in a short space of time. Like for example what we would expect to sell in two or even three weeks, they did in just one week.

Brasco asks what has sold the most in the shop, ever. While the guy thinks, I pluck a guess at Eskimo.

MrRD: Yeah I actually think it was you know. The thing is that with vinyl, Wiley was just absolutely untouchable. A few years ago, if he had something just out the phone wouldn't stop ringing. For Eskimo, people were even driving down from Wales just so that they could get the tune.

Logan Sama's Earth 616 Maniac vinyl is there. I ask to have a look. It's green and it's Maniac and I just really want it, even without decks. How have they been doing?

MrRD: It's difficult because Logan's doing on his own what at the very least what three or four people should be doing. We only got them in last Monday but they are selling solidly. Not massive numbers, but just selling solidly.

I'm just about to ask the guy what his name is, but the phone rings again. He's picks up, and now seems a good time to leave. On the way out, near the funky vinyl, is Lee Brasco's Computer Girls, with Having a Bad Day on the B-Side.



LB: Make sure you go out and get that man, it's a good look.

We carry along down Roman Road. Brasco sees a tidy car sitting in traffic. The motor moves off but Brasco hurries, following the car down the road it just turned. We flag it down near Olga primary school.

LB: Oi, Mercs!

Mercston pops his head out of the window.

M: Ah Lee man, what's good fam? Alright - I'll pull over for a sec.

Catch the rest of the Roman sights and find out what Mercston's up to on Grime Forum tomorrow.


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Newham Generals - Generally Speaking Review

'It apparently took three years to make, but much of this debut album from Dizzee Rascal's proteges sounds as though it's been tossed off in the last three minutes.'

Everyone is entitled to their opinions, but the egalitarian might of that maxim is mightily challenged by the Guardian's Paul MacInnes. I'm just happy that the album is finally here and, even after the heavy delay and an inevitable anti-climax, 'Generally Speaking' is still a very good release.

Just Movin' is the perfect start. The beat is brilliantly bold, with an opening that tingles your ears before the big biss drop. Chrome's vocals provide a loose hook, but it doesn't deter from the energy of Footsie and DEE, and the quick pace of them going back to back on the mic that makes for an uncompromising start.

The composition of the album is one of it's great strengths. Head Get Mangled picks up the baton and races away further still, with the speed complemented by DEE's hazy delivery. A slower Footsie solo, Dat's Normal, is next, which is followed by DEE's Supadupe. The way the two are juggled throughout is masterful and, as a result, both the individual qualities of the MCs as well as their clout as a collective are emphasised. Features from G-Man and Dizzee on Violence, after a united and revolving DEE and Footsie at the start, rounds everything off.

Even with the newer dancey tracks, which includes one of the highlights in Mind Is A Gun, Monkstarr gives a glimse of the Generals's past with a fitting inclusion on the album. With a wealth of older material to choose from, Things I Do slots in well, and Chrome's wistful vocals contrast to the in-your-face Bell Dem Slags. Dat's Normal had great nostalgic value, and suits the album better than the more recent solo It's Foots.

While there are high-points, Douchebag and Heard You Been Smoking don't have any star-quality, but again the way the album has been put together doesn't allow them to compromise the general tone and flow. Both songs are very short and the album, even with the bonus tracks, does seem to be over too quickly.

Some more tracks would have been nice, but this is far from a 'tossed off' CD. Generally Speaking is one of the best grime releases ever.

"What Do You Know About Violence?"

No one minute clips, but the full thing. There's some odd sound effects here; presumably the Generals covering themselves with a piece of cardboard against the monsoon of internet piracy.

Newham Generals - Violence Video

I've been waiting for this album for far too long. It was really the only thing I cared about this year, along with R.I.P Young Dot and possibly Skepta's Microphone Champion. I thought I had become immune to the everlasting disappointment of dashed hopes, but this video suggests otherwise. Roll on '09.

The video is good, and I appreciate the polished yet amateurish, home-made feel to it, which contrasts nicely to an MC with little credentials pontificating in front of a camera, swarmed by half-hearted women and rented cars.

I could have sworn the original of this had Footsie's "I will overly war man" bars, but Dizzee Rascal and G-Man's features put such thoughts on the back-burner. For me, D Double E not appearing is a bit hard to take, and Dizzee could have at least wrote some new bars for his signings, yet this is a strong, first single. Head Get Mangled next?

If it was any other grime act I would have lost faith and not given two shits. Says a lot about the Newham Generals really.

Or is that just me?

Dizzee Rascal on Newsnight

I haven't seen Jeremy Paxman speechless before but, you know what, I think he actually was after his little chat to Dizzee Rascal. How he got onto the Barack Obama-aftermath debate is questionable, but the result was pretty hilarious.

Baroness Amos, the first black woman to have a seat in the Cabinet, and with a growing high-top that with love, care and nurturing could be as epic as Tempa T's, looked on in disbelief in the face of the Raskit whirlwind.

Dizzee Rascal talks about Obama, political parties, and Martian-man


The role of hip hop in Obama's victory is pushing the boat out a bit too far but, nevertheless, everything else he said seemed valid, and came with a complementary cheeky grin. Asked whether he believed in political parties, the literal reply in 'yeah, they exist, I believe in them' was a masterstroke.

One of the faceless Youtube masses doesn't think so, coming with

"Yeah they exsist"

LOL

You can see that education shining through.

Preaching about education and then spelling 'exist' incorrectly doesn't reflect well. Someone fling that guy a copy of Boy In Da Corner.

Nokia Meets London: 'Bell Dem Bell Dem'!

The Newham Generals can now enjoy many privileges since being signed to Dizzee Rascal's label Dirtee Stank, such as performing with the man himself, being given a platform to promote their music further, and obviously having e-larks with the kind people at Nokia footing the bill.

Tubbstar must have been asleep while the shenanigans were popping off, but D Double and Foots represent, as does some next guy who goes by the name of 'Father Wazir', who admittedly seems to be, generally speaking, a bit of a skengman still. Big up Desta, who satisfies Double's inevitable munchies after puffing the magical lemon with the mandem from E7.

This Cage character seems to be a little wacky, and looks a bit like the geezer from the Super Furry Animals, yet I think he talks sense in saying that Footsie has considerably upped the levels on mic. 'Generally Speaking' really can't come soon enough - roll on April, and some deeper hits from the bong.

You Do the Maths

I stumbled across a brief review of 'Maths and English' today, in a list of the fifty 'best' albums of 2007.

5 Maths and English - Dizzee Rascal

'While grime flourished on mixtape, its former standard-bearers tried slipping into the mainstream. Dizzee Rascal led the way, as usual, his third album waving goodbye to the jagged beats of Bow for a glossier embrace of hip hop conventions and Lily Allen collaborations. A triumph'.

Who are the 'standard-bearers'? It seems even the journalists, along with every other grime MC, can't refuse the temptation of a Wiley indirect. Wiley may not have 'blown', but he's never tried to be accepted by the mainstream through 'slipping' in. Will is still the face of the grime movement and has released an album this year that has been well-received while literally staying true to 'the beats of Bow' (and without Lily Allen).

The fact that grime beats are 'jagged' and a hip hop approach is 'glossier' could be seen as a euphemism for accusations of Dizzee 'selling out'. I certainly didn't see the album as grime when I first listened to it, and I still don't, but it is actually a very good album, proably better than I originally gave it credit for. 'Maths and English' has the unity that 'Showtime' didn't, and it is unfair to compare it to the frankly untouchable 'Boy In Da Corner'. 'Maths and English' isn't 'a triumph', certainly not for grime, but maybe it is for Dizzee personally as an artist, and maybe it is as the first widely accepted UK Hip Hop album.

But, then again, we all want another 'Hold Ya Mouf' or 'Stop Dat'. Yeah - a Dizzee Rascal mixtape in 2008 would be nice.