RASKIT 2017

At first I thought he was doing a totally rote triplet flow trap rip and the second verse just got increasingly unhinged.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8O0Spn2eaSk

This album's going to be great. There aren't many MCs around at this level

I don't think he's even doing grime anymore, it's too fast and the beats are more like rap beats. So I don't know what it is

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3ubVpnGL-E

It's like this but with beats that were made to fit around his flow

love the new one. the synths and horns feel very grime-y to me, and it's only like 4 bpm faster than standard grime tempo.

Really? I thought it was about 150 :s

my favorite tap tempo tool says 144 :)

Hahaha wow how did this record end up so good? Like he's just furiously determined in his absolute refusal to sit down and accept the washed-up status that was about to be bestowed upon him. I love how the first half will have all the earnest thinkpiece writers pontificating about grime and googling ancient internecine beefs and then he just whacks out the g-funk and the Pac references as if to underline quite how far past it all he's going.

Love the artwork as well, the same rancid yellow, the literal boy in the corner.

Yeah this is excellent

At least until you get to 'She Knows What She Wants'.

Btw I've been wondering why Maths & English isn't available for streaming or download...guess it's because Def Jux released it in the U.S.?

This is brilliant! I'd given up on the guy for years

Yep, this is terrific. His best work since BIDC without a doubt. I read his Guardian interview last week (like the middle class grime fan that I am) and he said that he didn't want to just make another grime album, he wanted to move beyond all that. You've got to say mission accomplished but I wish he'd made something like this years ago. Too busy with pop music I guess

I can't listen to this without comparing and contrasting with Godfather and Gang Signs And Prayer. Godfather was basically an album that was made to celebrate the whole scene with veteran MCs on almost every track and producers who have been established for a while. GSAP was more like Raskit in that Stormzy's trying to grow out of the whole grime scene, he could have quite easily made a straight up grime album but it seems like he's doing what Dizzee did years ago and using the grime scene as a launchpad for something bigger (I really hope he doesn't come out with the type of garbage that Dizzee made after Maths and English though). Wiley's trying to single-handedly lift the grime scene out of the underground and doing a damn fine job of it

So good to see three really strong albums coming out of the grime scene in one year

The level of MCing in grime right now is just as good as it's ever been (even though Raskit isn't really grime)

aoty so far imo

mixed feelings on this. dizzee sounds incredible. technically hes fantastic. nothing to argue with there. but these beats arent... boring, but theyre not exactly teeming with personality. theres nothing wrong with them per se, but they sound 3rd rate. theres also something weirdly cocooned about the album. its more like roots manuva, individual british rap from a one off maverick, than anything remotely connected to road rap/grime. like it exists purely in relation to dizzee, than anything outside of him. i guess thats not a bad thing, its expected really after this long, but it makes the album sound ultimately inconsequential, for all its technical excellence. i dont wanna be one of these 'why isnt he making grime anymore?' people but i do find it dissapointing that he is STILL trying to discard that part of his history/music.

https://twitter.com/DizzeeRascal/status/914456723523588096

You were locked in a room and beaten half to death for fucking with your DJs 14 year old sister. They made Tinchy watch he was crying. https://t.co/37WuelAINF

— Dizzee Rascal (@DizzeeRascal) October 1, 2017

Strong stuff for a Sunday.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNrbL4o3Wyk

Don't Gas Me EP out now. It's a lot of fun, plenty of hardcore and bassline vibes