You get the feeling that Dizzee Rascal's postman would have got a solo deal had he whistled a verse on "Boy In Da Corner". The Mercury-winning album has already proved a catalyst to artists like Wiley and Shystie – a growing list to which you now add Taz. The 23-year old co-produced "Just A Rascal" with Dizzee, and now raises the bar with an impressive debut of his own.
He's already been dubbed the UK's answer to Kanye West, which is a slight misnomer, but "Analyse This" certainly throws down the sonic gauntlet. An impressive production suggests the sound of grime is becoming ever more impossible to pin down. Certainly, if Wiley is cold and Dizzee frantic, then Taz is simply eclectic - he claims to love anything from Beenie Man to Babysham and Lionel Ritchie to Ozzy Osbourne.
The dancehall influence is obvious – even without guest verses from the likes of Kardinal Official and Skorpian – but there are also dollops of pop ("Cowboy Film") and soul ("Imagine This" featuring Terri Walker). The synth and drum machine melancholy of "Fast Talk" is even reminiscent of New Order. If it all goes tits up then a career composing soundtracks is a definite possibility.
Yet, the biggest influence remains hip hop and perhaps it's best to judge "Analyse This" simply as a great UK hip hop album – nearer to Roots Manuva or Ty, or even London Posse's "Gangster Chronicle" (a record that sounds more contemporary and significant with each passing year). Taz's sound is less cluttered than his peers while his intelligent autobiographical rhymes are paranoid, funny, aggressive and wise. There are some clichés (any track titled "Only God Can Judge Me" can only summon images of Big Brother's Victor, even if it does give Brit A&R's a deserved lashing for their subservience to US trends) but mostly this is a compelling diary.
While other genres get more escapist so UK urban gets more real – and that's 'real' as in relating to a life you might recognise, not an MTV Cribs version of 'real'. The DIY ethic – whether that’s dissing gangsta wannabes, struggling to find your own voice or referencing Kit Kats – is central to it's appeal. And it takes a bigger anti-US stance than George Galloway. Check the bleating sheep samples on "Flow Pro" and the put down, "you watch too many films, you're in a different world, Scarface, you're imitating, you wanna be Al Pacino."
Whether such parochialisms and anti-blingness will hamper Taz's chances internationally remains to be seen – although Dizzee seems to be winning plaudits in the US – but this is as good a UK urban album as you'll hear in 2004.
