MERCURY Music Prize nominee Dizzee Rascal is an angry man. At 18 and with a heavily-marked school expulsion card behind him, Dizzee has certainly seen the London streets.
He blends this experience with his ire to produce a raw, rough and fully in-your-face sound. The music is seriously stripped down, Dizzee keeping beats and production to a minimum. If you like a juicy hip-hop rouse to nod along to, there are few here. The message is what dominates. "I'm a problem for Anthony Blair," being one pleasingly political line in Hold Ya Mouth, a track that includes the sound of a gun being cocked. Dizzee's album highlights elements of Britain that the politicians would prefer were left under the carpet. This is a hard-core debut. There's plenty more going on out there for the follow-up.
Updated: 11:10 Thursday, July 31, 2003
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