Dizzee Rascal - Sirens (XL)
3/5
By: Chris O'Toole
Crossing over into the popular consciousness of the Great British public at the expense of his hip-hop roots took Dizzee Rascal to some pretty strange places. Having toured with the Red Hot Chilli Peppers and now to be found appearing on an Artic Monkeys' track, Dylan Mills has come a long way in a very short time. Too far, some might say.
As such Dizzee is here trying to grab back some of that East London street credibility that initially propelled him to fame with his new single 'Sirens'. A classic sounding hip-hop track, more NWA than 'Boy In Da Corner', 'Sirens' bounces along on its frenetic drum breaks, guitar slashes and well...police sirens. The narrative is straightforward, at least by Dizzee's standards, ostensibly about running away from the police...
Not too much in the way of innovation here; leftfield topics in a mainstream vernacular. Yet, there is one moment of interest towards the end when a new filter is added to the vocals to give the impression Dizzee is singing through a megaphone, which in turn makes the track sound like Rage Against the Machine. Interesting. 'Sirens' will maintain Dizzee's toward the top of the charts, but alas I feel do nothing to rebuild any genuine outsider credibility.
NB: Dizzee Rascal released his new album, 'Maths and English' at the start of this week, on the same date as his former mentor, Wiley. Having nurtured Dizzee Rascal as part of his Roll Deep Crew, Wiley separated from his protégée when his commercial success skyrocketed after Rascal won the Mercury Music Prize in 2003. And whilst Wiley still cannot match Rascal in terms of sales of media exposure, his new album, 'Playtime is Over' is well worth checking out. For more on this, see our lead article 'Forced in to Da Corner? Grime in '07' HERE.
Watch the video to 'Sirens' on Rockfeedback HERE.
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