DIZZEE RASCAL
The SiS Interview by Eavvon O'Neal
Photos by Dean Chalkley

What do you really know of grime? Its popularity came and went with a gentle woosh from a sub-woofer, pounding out the next subgenre trend, leaving those UK upstarts alone in their purchased on margin trainers. Every month there is a quick shout out given by Martin Clark through Pitchfork's "This Month in Grime/Dub Step" column, but that shout out is often more like a British "Word Up" fanzine, providing press to up and comers and updates to the precocious music fan & beat thirsty googler, sort of like a hip-hop Page Six.

Add to this the fact that the most popular Stateside representative gets cranky on stage and is becoming known for her short sets (tisk-tisk Lady Sovereign). Thankfully, there is one emcee who has seen favor on both sides of the muddied waters, yet has taken his time to boil. Dizzee Rascal now on his third album, Maths & English, has stepped to the big stage, and may be grime's only lifeline.

Dizzee Rascal (AKA Dylan Mills) is more like an exchange student (not a pejorative) in the fact that he has learned of hip-hop from a far off, distant land, and has now come to experience it first hand. Not saying that he wasn't immersed in an urban culture similar to that which birthed hip-hop, but more like how our English is a little different from "English." All the building blocks are there, the "I grew up off of Project Pat, Three 6 Mafia, Ludacris, Busta Rhymes, Tupac, Snoop Dogg, Bone-Thugs-N-Harmony," Dizzie states.

Yet it’s the subtle differences in his story that demands attention, which he tells to anyone he can get at. "America is the home of hip-hop, and I feel good that it’s taken my first album to do it. I’ve built my own thing first. It wasn’t any ‘Hey I’m doing an album help out.’ People have heard of me so now it’s a respect thing." Respect that was hard won, and will prove to be an ongoing fight to keep.

Since grime is a part of a worldwide whole, its attention is currently minimal. The names that circulate through the media with its tag are similarly minuscule and have yet to break. Dizzee, with ambitions to big up his passion, is taking the steps to align his skills with the proper channels and feed off of anything that brings him light, thus his deal with Definitive Jux. The label has taken the responsibility of distributing English in the states, along with his own brand of lyricism. "I don’t really know much about Definitive Jux, I’m learning as we speak, and I'm a fast learner. I understand what their place is in American hip-hop, there is not a better place for me right now. It’s better than being at a Def Jam or something like that or whatever else. I was on an indie label on my first album, and my music is bound to appeal to the right audience here."

Thing is, the audience never really changes. It's the intensity that determines an artist’s set time and relevancy and Dizzee has that more or less figured out. "[Grime,] it’s just a branch of hip-hop just like fuckin' Miami bass or crunk. It all comes from the same thing: same way of life, street life, blood, blah blah, whatever, its only difference is the pirate radio as way to get our sound heard." These simple ideas, mostly because of the nature of the music's culture, are getting tossed in the UK not due to lack of wanting, but lack of foundation. This isn't like the punk revolution, where the roots of the sounds came from clean kids wanting to be dirty and marketing this to cleaner kids with bigger wads. These sounds come from rude boys who can't get their shit together, and therefore get lost in the one-up-manship of violence. "It’s a bit topsy-turvy now, it’s in a place where the generation of kids has issues outside of music, so it gets in the way, and they ain't thinking too much outside of the box,” claims Rascal. He continues on his diatribe, saying that music is “all really aggressive, but not in the right respect of aggression toward each other, so the structure can’t work when everyone is trying to fucking kill each other. Because as much as the support I had, we still all depend on each other, because it’s all a scene, if no one gets on, and it’s all just beefs then it cant get on. You have to hit on the underground level before (BBC) Radio 1 picks you up.”

Keep in mind that this is coming from a dude who has completely alienated himself from his original Roll Deep Crew, and has gone so far as to diss, excellently, mentor Wiley with the fan favorite "Pussyole (Oldskool)." Now working with a few other acquaintances from his heyday, Dizzee is starting to build up his scene in a way that helps breakout artists perpetuate their sound. "I worked with the Newham Generals and D Double E. He’s someone I came up with, and someone I bumped into every now and then on pirate radio." Dirtee Stank, Dizzee's new record label, is now home to D Double E.

Moreso, his new label mates at Definitive Jux add more to his potential well of collaborations, which means more exposure and more growth. "I’ve hung out with El-P. We did the whole business talk thing and we’ve done the whole go out and get drunk thing as well,” Dizzie claims. “We click, so seeing as how the whole industry situation is, this is the best situation I can be in right now. So I’m happy."

It’s clear that organic growth takes time, and movements sometimes take longer, but still Dizzee seems to be faring rather well. Still too early for a retrospective on how grime was truly birthed then its inevitable plateau, being providedwith the opportunity to see its growth in real time gives our generation little more insight into how music gets stratified. Hell, it could very well be insignificant in months, but as of now, at least it’s getting its due attention.