Yahoo! Music Review

Released on 04/06/07
Label: XL Recordings

What happened to grime? In 2004 you couldn't move on the Roman Road in east London for A&R men swarming Rhythm Division Records with their chequebooks. Meanwhile, a legion of pallid computer commentators analysed every Rinse FM show, looking for evidence of the 'rave continuum'. We all willed our truly homegrown Brit hip-hop, so different from that other watered-down facsimile of the US golden age, to break it big. But could we ever really have expected the average Grime career to yield more fireworks than that of the standard Brit indie band?

Now the bloggers are marginalising grime as they chase dubstep down the dark hole that swallowed drum'n'bass. But it's a credit to the development tenacity of Dizzee's label XL, that they haven't abandoned him. Both his Mercury Prize-winning debut and its excellent follow-up, "Showtime", did little to bridge the gulf between grime's visceral street impact and its absolute failure to present a palatable commercial face. Although his chart bids were always more quick-witted and loveable than most, Dizzee was still at his best when knee-deep in paranoia and spitting bile over some clanking, industrial two-step.

With the key releases from "Maths + English" he's finally found that elusive balance between accessibility and credibility that everyone else has given up on. First single, "Sirens", mines unlikely gold from a fusion of grime and new stadium metal. "Pussyole" too, manages to blend that old Rob Base & DJ E Z Rock break into a Belgian hardcore riff for pop perfection and "Temptation" just about gets away with including a vocal from the Arctic Monkeys' Alex Turner.

On the other album highlights - "Hard Back (Industry)", "Paranoid" and "Bubbles" - its uncompromising business as usual and "Where's Da Gs" featuring UKG's Bun B and Pimp C proves that Houston hip hop is probably a better fit in Bow than the traditional east coast template. Elsewhere, though, there are the anticipated missteps.

Lilly Allen hook-up "Wanna Be" grates and "Suck My Dick" should really have been left on the cutting room floor. The purists will lament the shift in focus - it is certainly Dizzee's least consistent record to date - but nonetheless this feels like it could be an important release for grime, beginning to hint at a route out into a wider world of appreciation. It'd be a shame if it now falls on deaf ears.

    by James Poletti