Album: Boy In Da Corner
Artist: Dizzee Rascal
Born: Bow, East London
Released: July 2003
Genre: Grime
Listening to this record again recently, I couldn't help feeling a little sadness at Dizzee Rascal's musical trajectory, from pioneering 16-year old grime MC to harmless national treasure and generator of naff pop songs (Holiday or Bonkers come to mind). Being lured in by money and fame is understandable, especially for someone who grew up on the tough estates of East London, but it's a pity how quickly Dizzee lost his edge. When he came onto the scene, he put an end to a lot of the awful garage music that was all the rage (especially among my friends in south London) and reinvented British hip hop. There was something more dense and substantial about grime compared to garage, its harder sonics and smarter verse at odds with the more soulful, inane lyrics of garage (I'm thinking of Do You Really Like It? and 21 Seconds). Right from the start of the album, Dizzee (aka Dylan Mills) paints a picture of urban alienation, with Sittin' Here a revealing panorama of council estate life, as he compares the reality of his life now ("It's the same old story, ninja bikes, gun fights and scary nights") with a more innocent childhood. Stop Dat is darker still -- the beats created in Logic not on a Playstation, as is sometimes claimed -- as Dizzee adopts the bragging persona he needs to survive in this environment ("Bad boy forever like Sean Puffy Combs / inside, outside running all zones / set trends, get girls like Tom Jones"). His lyrical dexterity attains whole new levels on I Luv U, perhaps the greatest grime song ever and one of the best tracks of the decade.
I Luv U was the album's first single, and was a surprise Top 40 hit in the UK, the closest grime ever came to the mainstream. Its success is all the more surprising given how harsh a depiction it is of teenage pregnancy, as Dizzee spars with female rapper Shystie about a breakdown in communication. He also displays his vast knowledge of slang (especially for giving head), as he bemoans how a pregnant teenager has wasted her education, “That girl's from school, that girl's from college / that girl gives brains, that girl gives knowledge”. Brand New Day is another highlight on the record, and sees Dizzee in a more positive mood, as he talks about growing up and the difficulties of avoiding falling into various traps (drink, drugs, violence and teenage pregnancy). 2 Far features his former partner in grime, Wiley, whose verse only serves to show how he's an inferior lyricist to Dizzee. Fix Up, Look Sharp is another standout track, featuring excellent use of a rock sample (Billy Squier's The Big Beat), which would in turn be used to good effect by Dans Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip. Other highlights are Round We Go (Ain't No Love), its sinister loop a musical representation of the difficulties in breaking the cycle of inner city despair, Wot U On? and Do It! (in which Dizzee is at his most conscious and confessional). Boy In Da Corner was deservedly lavished with critical acclaim, and Dizzee followed it up quickly with the brilliant Showtime, but it's been diminishing returns ever since. This remains his defining statement.
Listening to this record again recently, I couldn't help feeling a little sadness at Dizzee Rascal's musical trajectory, from pioneering 16-year old grime MC to harmless national treasure and generator of naff pop songs (Holiday or Bonkers come to mind). Being lured in by money and fame is understandable, especially for someone who grew up on the tough estates of East London, but it's a pity how quickly Dizzee lost his edge. When he came onto the scene, he put an end to a lot of the awful garage music that was all the rage (especially among my friends in south London) and reinvented British hip hop. There was something more dense and substantial about grime compared to garage, its harder sonics and smarter verse at odds with the more soulful, inane lyrics of garage (I'm thinking of Do You Really Like It? and 21 Seconds). Right from the start of the album, Dizzee (aka Dylan Mills) paints a picture of urban alienation, with Sittin' Here a revealing panorama of council estate life, as he compares the reality of his life now ("It's the same old story, ninja bikes, gun fights and scary nights") with a more innocent childhood. Stop Dat is darker still -- the beats created in Logic not on a Playstation, as is sometimes claimed -- as Dizzee adopts the bragging persona he needs to survive in this environment ("Bad boy forever like Sean Puffy Combs / inside, outside running all zones / set trends, get girls like Tom Jones"). His lyrical dexterity attains whole new levels on I Luv U, perhaps the greatest grime song ever and one of the best tracks of the decade.
I Luv U was the album's first single, and was a surprise Top 40 hit in the UK, the closest grime ever came to the mainstream. Its success is all the more surprising given how harsh a depiction it is of teenage pregnancy, as Dizzee spars with female rapper Shystie about a breakdown in communication. He also displays his vast knowledge of slang (especially for giving head), as he bemoans how a pregnant teenager has wasted her education, “That girl's from school, that girl's from college / that girl gives brains, that girl gives knowledge”. Brand New Day is another highlight on the record, and sees Dizzee in a more positive mood, as he talks about growing up and the difficulties of avoiding falling into various traps (drink, drugs, violence and teenage pregnancy). 2 Far features his former partner in grime, Wiley, whose verse only serves to show how he's an inferior lyricist to Dizzee. Fix Up, Look Sharp is another standout track, featuring excellent use of a rock sample (Billy Squier's The Big Beat), which would in turn be used to good effect by Dans Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip. Other highlights are Round We Go (Ain't No Love), its sinister loop a musical representation of the difficulties in breaking the cycle of inner city despair, Wot U On? and Do It! (in which Dizzee is at his most conscious and confessional). Boy In Da Corner was deservedly lavished with critical acclaim, and Dizzee followed it up quickly with the brilliant Showtime, but it's been diminishing returns ever since. This remains his defining statement.
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