I was reading a UK Hip-Hop magazine a friend lent me a few years back. A writer following Kano on his first U.S. tour (pre-London Town when Kano could still get the attention of the Mike Skinners and Diplos of the world) described the young Grime MC as potentially being the British Jay-Z, a rapper capable of toeing the line between commercial success and the hardcore credibility vicariously craved by the fans. Turns out he didn't need to look any further than one of the originators of the genre. Dizzee Rascal has experienced his share of highs and lows, the disappointing and almost criminal reception to Showtime being one of the lowest. Maths+English put his name back out there and opened a few American ears but Tongue 'N' Cheek is his real gamble for superstardom.
If Boy In Da Corner was his groundbreaking Reasonable Doubt and Maths+English showed us a flash of a more commercial Dizzee, this is surely his Hard Knock Life. Packed with big name dance producers, Mills struck gold three times before the album's release with the incredibly catchy Dance Wiv Me, Bonkers and now Holiday. A lesser man would have risked sounding like a guest on his own songs with collaborators like Armand Van Helden and Calvin Harris but Dizzee owns these songs with his cheeky vocals. They hardly demonstrate his lyrical abilities but it hardly matters when 30'000 casual music fans start singing along, word for word, at his performances. While he could be accused of dumbing down his lyrics to double his dollars, the rest of Tongue 'N' Cheek shows Dizzee in fine form, either gutturally screaming at slower drivers in Road Rage or complaining about the price of travel in London on the Reggae-tinged Can't Tek No More. The U.S. influence isn't absent either thanks to the G-Funk throwback of Chillin' Wiv Man Dem. At 11 songs the album hardly drags even if Money Money is a bit out of place after a song about young people spending cash they don't have. There's nothing as blatantly awful or tasteless as Suk My Dick either, thankfully.
It's a great compliment to Dizzee that he transitions so easily from the most willfully uncommercial Hip-Hop sub-genre in the UK to the dance mainstream. What makes Tongue 'N' Cheek so good it that it hasn't diluted Dizzee's wit or personality. And if the comparison to Jay-Z's career trajectory are accurate we hopefully haven't seen the last of the hardcore Grime MC that won the Mercury prize either. And to think, this is being released on an independent record label.
Note - If you're keen for a few snippets of what's next for Dizzee/Dirtee Stank, order this from HMV for the Foot N Mouth bonus disc.
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