DIZZEE RASCAL Tongue N' Cheek (Sealed 2009 Japanese 16-track promotional sample CD for review ahead of release, including the singles Dance Wiv Me, Bonkers & Holiday, plus five exclusive bonus tracks, with picture/lyric booklet, promo stickere d back insert & obi-strip, sealed from new in custom stickered shrink AVCD-38078). Category Music; Song Dance Wiv Me; Artist Dizzee Rascal; Album Tongue N' Cheek; Licensed to YouTube by SME (on behalf of Liberator Music); BMI - Broadcast Music Inc., EMI Music Publishing, Sony.
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Opening with one of the most annoying/brilliant/biggest tracks of the summer, ‘Bonkers’, Tongue N Cheek signals another shift for Dizzee Rascal away from the sublime and towards the ridiculous. Or to put it in more realistic terms, a shift away from the Mercury Prize List and towards the Radio1 Playlist. (Although after this years farce perhaps that should be the other way around.)They say ‘write what you know’, which is undoubtedly what Dizzee Rascal has been doing for his entire career. From his debut Boy In Da Corner – tales of stabbings, bust-ups, and a general call to arms, which was followed by the rather lacklustre Showtime .Third album Maths + English was Dizzee back with a bang and a return to the raw aggression of his debut, but with guest appearances – Lilly Allen and Alex Turner that asserted his now prominent and mainstream status in the music industry.And Tongue N Cheek seems to seek to cement that status further, not least because gormless pop muppet Calvin Harris has got his greasy mitts all over it. Gone are the gritty, rough around the edges lyrics, and they’re replaced with musings such as “And I couldn’t give a shit about a junction/ Couldn’t care less about a red light’s function†In a tone he once used to talk about mugging people and gang wars, he’s now moaning about slow-moving traffic.'Freaky Freaky' is one of Dizzee’s (luckily) rare attempts at writing about sex, and unfortunately comes off sounding just a wee bit sexist and rather uncomfortable. Not least for the girls involved. The best thing to get through it is concentrate on the beat and not the lyrics. Which is highly appropriate considering the subject matter, really.'Dirtee Cash' is no doubt already pencilled in as a future single, with the infamous background ‘woo! Yeah!’ reminiscent of those on 'Fix Up, Look Sharp', and a 90s boyband synth bassline.Tongue N Cheek has still got the beats, but lyrically, it’s severely lacking – there are some genuinely cringe-worthy moments.' Bad Behaviour'and 'Dirtee Cash' are definite highlights, but two tracks does not a good album make.You could call it a change in direction, a reinvention, or you could call it selling out. Once one of the leading artists in the grime scene, Dizzee Rascal is now a fully-fledged ‘pop star’. He’s even designed his own pair of Nike’s to promote the album. Granted, you can’t blame the guy for being successful, but you can blame him for pandering to it. This is certainly not the sound he started out with. Here’s hoping that perhaps Dizzee’s tongue is firmly in cheek on this album, but as Jeremy Paxman said – it’s ‘Mr Rascal’ now.Dizzee Rascal on MySpace
The rapper changed the face of British music before he went pop. His influence is stamped on the charts, but hes not impressed by the current crop of stars or #grime4corbynOn the roof of Googles offices in Kings Cross, is excitedly taking in the London panorama.
Look, theres Stratford, he says, picking outAnish Kapoors Orbit sculpture before spinning around with puppyish excitement. Canary Wharf Alexandra Palace Wait, wheres Wembley at?Fifteen years ago, Dizzee only really knew a tiny part of this city his hometown of Bow, the place where he, with a little help from a school computer and a handful of peers, helped sculpt the sound of grime and changed the face ofBritish music for ever. He was just 18 when his debut, was released, a record that for once justified a music journalism cliche: it sounded pretty much like nothing else that had gone before it, a spray of ricocheting beats and lo-fi computerised bleeps that underpinned his lyrical gift for sharing the thoughts of an edgy, paranoid, smart, frustrated, vulnerable kid from a council estate.
It was the sound of the future, of critical acclaim and awards. And then Dizzee went pop. By 2008, hehad and embraced EDM; his fourth album, scored a string of No 1 singles.
The boy from Bow, born 32 years ago as Dylan Mills, had conquered the city, and then the world. But hadnt done so without his share of criticism: those saying he had sold out, abandoned his roots and headed too far down the pop mainstream. His follow-up to Tongue N Cheek didnt help matters: 2013s saw him teaming up with the likes of Jessie J and Robbie Williams. It felt like his firstproper misstep.A few people thought that, its cool, he acknowledges.
Hood pulled tight, he deals with questions like a boxer sparring in the ring: the answers come at pace and with the same forceful delivery that mark out his records. Im proud of those songs, proud that people play them at their weddings or that their two-year-olds dance to them. But youre restricted when youre making housey, electro poppy beats, and some people dont necessarily take you seriously as a rapper.And so now on Dizzees sixth album, Raskit, and not for the first time in his career, there is a radical change of direction. I made a decision that Im not going to chase pop hits, he says. I wanted to go back to being as honest with myself as possible, not worrying about radio or that kind of shit. Watch the video for Dance Wiv MeCertainly, theres nothing here like. In their place Dizzee delves into the fears he once had as a young rapper performing in the wrong postcode, frets about the precarious nature of fame (Wot ugonna do, when it all goes sideways?
Gotta work weekend shifts at Mac Ds, and you cant partyon a Friday) and even tackles the housing bubble that is ripping up communities in the capital. On Everything Must Go, he goes as far as to sample such hip-hop luminaries asMargaret Thatcher and Boris Johnson, who turns up to promise us that London will never become ghettoised like Paris.I guess a lot of what is happening now started with Thatcher, he says, showing me the book he is currently reading, by Anna Minton.
But it wasnt about having a dig, it was about illustrating the story.Has gentrification had a negative impact onhim personally?Im from east London, he says, as if the answer is obvious, but then adds: I dont feel like I have the right to say. Youd have to ask people who still live there in Bow. Its all good going back, but then I can leave. Its all good if you have a choice.
Dizzee currently lives in Kent he is done with the mortgage, as he points out on Business Man but he also spent a period living in Miami that, funnily enough, fired up an interest in politics hed never had back home. When we talk about the ghetto here, we have some harsh social conditions, he says.
But over there, youve got third-world conditions there are places in Miami that are no different to Jamaica orHaiti.Of course, Dizzees music has always beenpolitical, even if that wasnt his main intention. Partly this was a matter of visibility along with artists such as MIA, Dizzee represented afresh, multicultural vision of British music and partly it was through hisjournalistic approach to documenting therealities of estate life: on, Dizzee famously threatened to remove youfrom your car, before boasting: Im aproblem for Anthony Blair.And Ive had it quoted back at me for ever, he says, shaking his head. Its not like Id sat down and knew all his manifesto.
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I was just trying to be a bit cheeky. Dizzee used to say he had no time for politicians, and in that respect not much has changed: I dont go outof my way to try and be around them, hesays, You have to look at their intentions or why they want you around.What about Jeremy Corbyn? Doesnt he agree with fellow MCs JME and Stormzy that the MP for North Islington really is different to the others?I feel like maybe people feel the same about him as they did with Tony Blair, he shrugs. Although I was in the barbers and the barber was telling me about a problem he had, getting his kid into a school or something. He rang his local MP and Jeremy Corbyn sorted it all out for him. So thats what Ive heard, firsthand. But as for and all that, I dont know about it.
What are their reasons for supporting him?I mention Corbyns anti-war voting record, his history of standing up to racism, his desire to help out poorer communities.See, I didnt know any of that, says Dizzee.Was Tony Blair like that? So Corbyn is more like Bernie Sanders or whatever, isnt he?Read more.
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