UK Rapper Dizzee Rascal's first three CDs garnered him critical acclaim, his debut even snagged the prestigious Mercury music prize, but this hardly translated into commercial success. What's a boy to do? Grab a hold of trendy Dance music producers and create dance-floor anthems with catchy hooks that's what, and presto, did it pay off big time!
Three singles; the buzzing Armand Van Helden produced "Bonkers", and the Calvin Harris produced Techno pair of "Dance wiv me" and "Holiday" topped the UK charts, and the album has hit #3.
For the most part, the songs are catchy and fun, with his clever wordplay restricted to Girls, bling and partying. Other standouts are the funky "Dirtee cash" (which heavily samples the Adventures of Stevie V hit "Dirty cash" and itself made the top 10), "Bad behaviour" (produced by Dutch producer Tiesto), and the slowed down pair of "Freaky freaky" and "Chillin wiv da man dem". The Reggae-ish "Can't tek no more" samples Aswad's "Warrior change" and features anti-war social concious lyrics.
A very good effort, and I can't wait to see in what direction he branches from here on.
According to Wikipedia, Dizzee stated that with this album he has left "his grime roots behind, in favour of more mainstream pop". I find the music to be very heavily influenced by Bee Gees style "white" disco which is not something I look for from a hip hop artist. His rapping is as good as ever but I find the backing music less palatable. I thought that Maths and English was the perfect balance between hip hop and electronica but this record has taken it too far.
Dizzee rascal's 4th album entitled Tongue n cheek is yet another solid effort from london's finest emcee. This album has excellent production and solid lyrics.Tongue n cheek is a very enjoyable album to listen to.
