Day 0947 - Boy in da Corner

Dizzee Rascal "Boy in da Corner" (2003)

This was actually not quite what I was expecting.  I'd gotten used to his more radio-friendly releases like Bonkers, Bassline Junkie, or that song with Calvin Harris.  Dizzee's first release though is a trailblazer for the Grime genre, mixing hip-hop, jungle, drum and bass, dub in a way that often almost does away with melody in favour of rhythm and energy.

There's the broken beat and synth line of "Sittin' Here", the banging beat and dirty bass of "I Luv U" and the digital beat and occasional bleeps of "Live O".   "Brand New Day" has an almost childlike backing track but one that's slightly distorted to make it seem off-kilter.   That vibe matches some of the lyrics which show the mindset of growing up in the sometimes depressing, sometimes violent environment of the housing projects.

Coming up from this background Dizzee latched onto music as something that he was good at and could funnel his energies into, and was DJing and MCing from his early teens.   This, his debut album, was released when he was around 18 or 19 and managed to win the coveted Mercury Prize... so, obviously he was onto something.