Dizzee Rascal

After a three-year delay, the kinetic East London grime MC Dizzee Rascal defies expectations with Maths + English, delivering a pop-influenced, vaguely mainstream album, drawing almost as much from various American rap styles as he does from the deep and gnarled scene from which he emerged five years ago. Maths + English, available since last summer in the U.K. but only now getting a full Stateside release with some exclusive tracks, is a surprisingly melodic album, with fuller and more rounded beats than the tinny, lo-fi sounds that defined Dizzee Rascal’s debut album Boy in Da Corner or its 2004 follow-up Showtime.

The heavy, unrelenting rock foundation of "Sirens" marks a significant step away from Dizzee Rascal's original minimalist grime roots, and a track like "Suk My Dick"–a decidedly to-the-point title–is bouncier, quicker and more playful than anything he's done in the past. The synths and drills of grime take a backseat on "Where Da G's," which features Houston crew UGK in a hugely successful transatlantic collaboration, and American sounds work their way into "Bubbles," a song whose weird production nods towards Timbaland. Brit it-girl Lily Allen shows up on the tune "Wanna Be," though it's mostly a throwaway track with a pseudo-ska lilt and little substance. Listeners who make it to "U Can't Tell Me Nuffin"–the thirteenth of an excessive 16 songs–will find shadows of Dizzee Rascal's past, in the oppressive beats, paranoia and unhinged boasting.

For someone who almost single-handedly introduced grime to an international audience, Dizzee Rascal's taking a brave step turning away from the genre's signifiers; his layered talents as a rapper, arranger and producer, however, keep him from stumbling.

—"Chris Hassiotis"
04.29.08

Until Definitive Jux got involved, physical copies of Dizzee Rascal's third album were not distributed in the U.S. The Definitive Jux version of Maths and English followed roughly ten months after the original U.K. release on XL -- baffling since the album is more likely to appeal to the average U.S. hip-hop fan than either 2003's Boy in da Corner or 2004's Showtime, not only due to an appearance from Texas underground giants UGK on "Where's da G's." Another obstacle is that, due to sample clearance issues in the U.S., one of the album's most hip-hop tracks, "Pussyole (Old Skool)" -- with its use of the well-known break from Lyn Collins' "Think (About It)" -- had to be left off Definitive Jux copies. Even without it, the album is even more of a grime disconnect than Showtime, often more rooted in Southern bounce than anything else. Only "U Can't Tell Me Nuffin'" resembles the Dizzee of old from a production standpoint, its perturbed bass thrums and synth-string stuns, chirps, and sound-shards served up in a circular gait; it's buried near the end of the album. At the other end of the sequence, however, is "Sirens," a tense narrative over a chaotic production that throws neck-snapping percussion, head-banging guitars, and sound effects into a whirlwind of manic energy worthy of early agitated Cypress Hill. That track, as well as the others mentioned above, stand out most, with only a couple others rivaling them. While Dizzee can still drop a bewildering rhyme while being an MC of greater skill than before, his developments are not strictly for the better, as heard on "Hard Back (Industry)" (where he dishes out tired wisdom about the recording industry), the pointlessly and relentlessly crude "Suk My Dik" (i.e., "I do not care about haters, but here are some rhymes about how much I dislike them and what they can do"), and the Lily Allen feature "Wanna Be" (a lighthearted, amusing track with no replay value). It's Dizzee at his least unique and least riveting, both sonically and lyrically, thus far. [The version released on Definitive Jux in the U.S. removes "Pussyole (Old Skool)" from the original tracklist while adding "Driving with Nowhere to Go," "G.H.E.T.T.O.," and the El-P remix of "Where's Da G's."] ~ Andy Kellman, All Music Guide