As a statement of intent, Shystie’s 2003 no holds barred white label reply to “I Luv U”, Dizzee Rascal’s less than PC depiction of girlfriends as blood sucking pains in the neck, was a stroke of genius. By throwing its garage clatter straight back at him with couplets just as barbed and scathing as his own, the 21 year-old Hackney MC left little doubt that she was every inch his equal and a ready made heroine for a crumbling genre desperately in need of heroes.
Understandably then, the UK Garage faithful have been eagerly awaiting “Diamond In The Dirt”. Its arrival should have them both thanking their lucky stars and wondering what the hell’s going on.
On the one hand her debut is the fulfilment of “I Luv U”’s promise. The frenetic rhymes of “One Wish”, fired-off over desolate R&B tension, define a razor sharp intellect struggling to come to terms with life’s injustices. “Gutter” and “Step Bac” rattle council estate windows with pirate radio sub-bass, while ramped-up party anthem “Get Loose” completes the vision of full throttle bra-burner asserting that there’s more to women in rap than hanging off the arms of wannabe gangstas.
On the other hand, “Make It Easy” and “Somedayz” have her fluttering her eye-lashes and vulnerable to polished R&B smooches. That she delivers slow grooving affection with as much style as her hard-bitten outbursts is undeniable. Indeed, “Unfinished Business”’s mid-tempo thug-love is just as likely to give Ashanti something to think about as “Woman’s World”’s rapid fire ball-busting is to make Dizzee Rascal run to his mother. But believing that it would come from the same ferocious mouth, is something that the grass roots will struggle to swallow.
For everyone else, such inconsistencies are more a mild irritation. They undoubtedly undermine “Diamond In The Dirt”’s credentials as a believable account of life for a young woman in the Hackney ‘ghetto’. But they’re not enough to rob it of its entertainment value. And if not the cultural statement it might have been, Shystie’s barrage of acerbic wit and furious boy bashing is certainly quality entertainment.
