Dizzee Rascal Goes Electric!

I remember back in 2003 when an 18 year old Dylan Kwabena Mills aka Dizzee Rascal took the Mercury Prize with his debut album Boy in da corner. I remember thinking props to him, doing so well at such a young age. What stuck me about Dizzee’s music was the eclectic mix of grime, hip hop, ragga and electronic which created an amazing mesh and unique sound. After his success Dizzee released two more albums, Showtime and Maths + English which did very well in the charts and received critical acclaim.  I particularly remember one track from Showtime called Happy Talk which was a funky version of the 80s hit by Captain Sensible. Apart from that I never really took a lot of notice of Dizzee – until November 2008 when he appeared on Newsnight to discuss Barack Obama’s presidential election victory. My reaction was KMT, what a chief! How can he behave like such an inarticulate twat after we have just witnessed the historical election of one of the most powerful orators in the world. Dizzee earned himself a big black mark in my book. However over the last year he was truly redeemed himself; he has cleaned up his act and is now repping himself properly. His interview on the Jonathon Ross Show earlier this year complete with a cream swish suit showed how far he has come. Then there is his music; his current album Tongue N’ Cheek has totally smashed it  - with No 1 hits like Dance Wiv Me, Bonkers and Holiday. On Wednesday he took his career to new heights when he performed at the BBC Electric Proms with a live band. He dazzled the crowd at the Roundhouse for a full hour while he performed hit after hit. I watched a few clips and it was really mesmorising and I cannot wait to check out the full set on BBC iPlayer tonight. A patron for Tower Hamlets Summers University and also with his own record company, Dirtee Stank, Dizzee Rascal is really a true role model. I guess you can say he is pretty much untouchable.

Check out a clip from the Electric Proms. I love the bit at the end when he makes fun of himself by saying "Dizzee Rascal for Prime Minister yeah."