[@DizzeeRascal] Is Back With ‘Raskit’.

One of the pioneers of Grime music is back with his 6th studio album, ‘Raskit’… and it is a madness.

Dizzee Rascal has made a serious comeback with this album… Far from the pop tunes and club bangers that he had on the albums, ‘The Fifth’ and ‘Tongue n’ Cheek’ (don’t get me wrong they were cool albums), Dizzee has really shown why he is one of the pioneers of the Grime scene with ‘Raskit’. It’s 57 minutes of old school Captain Roscoe in his finest form and you need to hear it.

Bunch of fashion MCs, think they’re too cute.

‘The Other Side’ is a critique of the new Grime scene with Dizzee saying that he hasn’t “got a problem with the newer gen” but he can still “ruin them”. (I wonder who that’s directed at…). He’s a bit more obvious when it comes to dissing Mega Man and Wiley however, making for some very amusing listening lol. The production on ‘Make It Last’ is too wavy and the lyrics are even better. Dizzee talks about the old school days when he was growing up in London, citing well known spots such as “Brickie”, “Pecknam” and “Stratford Rex”. For me I get where he’s coming from with both of these tracks. He’s reminiscing on the days of Channel U and Nokias; the proper old school Grime scene, before “Grime artists” collabed with pop, girl groups and wore skinny jeans. I suppose it’s a question of whether fans that were there when a new music culture began, really want to see it change into something that they’re not familiar with. Is that fear of progression? Maybe… But in a generation where we want to wear vintage Moschino, and take pictures with bottles of Alize, and wear gold teeth, it could be that we’re really and truly missing the old Grime days.

I’m not a fancy fella, so I tell her wagwan.

“She Knows What She Wants” is a likkle cute, Summer time song; one for the girls. It’s a proper vibe and has a lot of Dizzee’s cheeky charm. The same goes for “Bop N Keep It Dippin”; it’s a very chilled song with some very dope production, and more of the signature Dizzee story telling that his fans love so much. In it, he pays homage to MC Pied Piper, So Solid Crew and Heartless Crew, once again reminiscing on the early Grime/Garage days. “Man Of The Hour” sounds like one of these tunes you’d listen to whilst driving a stolen car in GTA: San Andreas. There’s a bit of spoken word at the end, talking about the youth of today being the future, and how important they are. It’s a very, very dope track.

The world’s more complex than being first name on the guest list.

“Everything Must Go” features speeches from politicians, with one in particular talking about how “many young people are being denied the opportunity to live in the area where they were raised”. Gentrification and families being forced to move out of areas that they’ve raised children in, because of increasing rent prices, is unfortunately becoming more frequent. Dizzee also critiques this “champagne lifestyle” that the younger generation seems so enthralled with. He mentions “bottle poppers and socialites” that are “gassed up and over-hyped”, something that social media has played a very big role in.

Power, money and big clout is what it’s about.

For me this album was needed. The Grime scene has lost the character that made it so appealing; it was raw. It was about growing up in the streets, and trying to make something of yourself, not about how many pairs of Balenciagas you had. The younger generation do have a lot of power. They are the future. And Dizzee is using his platform and his voice to tell them that there is more to life than guest list and sparklers. Whilst there are some powerful messages in this album, it is still a vibe and features the funny Dizzee Rascal story telling that makes his music so entertaining. Captain Roscoe is back, and hopefully he’s here to stay.