Fireside Chat

Dizzee Rascal

Dirtee Stank, London

Fix up, look sharp as this is Dizzee Rascal, or Mister Rascal if you please, as he continues to define his very own genre. His very first album, Boy in da Corner, took him straight to the British Top 40 and, quite surprisingly for a British grime/hip hop artist, also into Rolling Stone's year end list. Ever since he hasn't found a rulebook he didn't promptly rewrite, - he released a record on Def Jux in the USA while continuing his meteoric pop rise in the UK, he was the first to add any lines to the British charity classic 'Do They Know It's Christmas Time' since it was first released and finally went totally Bonkers with his fourth album Tongue N' Cheek which includes three number one hits and collaborations with folks like old cohort Shy FX and unlikely new fan Armand Van Helden. This album shows him the closest to mainstream pop he's gotten so far, but on him this doesn't look like selling out. It's more like he doesn't have to prove how street he is, so that he can release an easy going record for people to have fun to (even in hard times, and there's plenty of those these days...) without losing respect. As the man himself says: Wherever he plays, people go bonkers. But that's enough from us, tune in to a Fireside Chat and listen for yourself.