When Dylan Mills – better known as Dizzee Rascal – won the Legacy Award at the recent Rated Awards, it was hard to believe that he’s achieved as much as he has in the last two decades and is still only 36-years-old. As Posty stated during the award presentation, Dizzee Rascal is a trailblazer in every sense of the word, one of the founding fathers of the grime scene and one of the key figures in helping to bridge the gap between the underground and the mainstream audience.
His Mercury Prize-winning debut album Boy In Da Corner was released in 2003 and is widely regarded not only as his magnum opus but also an undisputed grime classic. He has rubbed shoulders with legends – supporting Jay Z on tour and chopping it up with Snoop Dogg – while simultaneously paving the way for a whole generation of MC’s in the UK through his musical journey. Raskit is one of the most influential figures in UK rap and his story is far from over.
His seventh studio album, E3 AF sees the East Londoner back with a renewed energy and as hungry as he was when he first broke through. The title has a double meaning, not only meaning “E3 as fuck” (referring to his origins in Bow, London, which is what I originally took it as), but also “E3 African”, proudly expressing his Nigerian and Ghanaian heritage. It also marks the first Dizzee album in a decade that’s been completely written, recorded and produced in the UK. Speaking about the album he said, “I wanted to make something raw and interesting again. Not overthinking or trying to make anything mainstream. Just solid, interesting, hard shit that doesn’t sound like anything else today.” And he certainly manages that.
Listening to how he speaks about his ambition behind the new album and my first thoughts when listening to it aligned, making it exciting to see how it will be received by the masses. Everything you want from a Dizzee Rascal album can be found in E3 AF capturing the best parts of his 20-year catalogue in one place in a fresh and creative way. But for those seeking to find out more about the UK legend and the music that inspired the man, his Bakers Dozen is a perfect place to start.
Dizzee Rascal’s E3 AF is out on 30th October 2020. Please click the picture of Dizzee below to begin reading his Baker’s Dozen selection
