Stand Up Tall: Dizzee Rascal and the Birth of Grime

by Dan Hancox

Ten years ago this summer, an extraordinary new sound exploded out of London's council estates that would change music forever. While New Labour were flooding urban Britain with ASBOs and CCTV, teenagers like Dizzee looked up at the gleaming towers of Canary Wharf and contemplated their own poverty; telling stories of devastating bleakness and lyrical wit, backed by music that shone with the futurism of a brighter tomorrow.

All music is a product of its environment, and it's entirely possible that Boy in da Corner, Dizzee's Mercury prize-winning debut album, was made on a hand-me-down PC donated to Langdon Park School by Lehman Brothers.

Over 15,000 words, this is the story of that remarkable musical moment, seen through east London's unique history of opulence and inequality, violence and aspiration, and how a teenage genius with nothing to lose made the best British album of the 21st century.

Dan Hancox writes for The Guardian, Frieze, Salon, New Statesman, The Independent, New Inquiry and others on music, protests, riots, politics and pop culture. His other books include Kettled Youth, Fight Back!, Utopia and the Valley of Tears, and The Village Against The World.

47 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 30, 2013

About the author

Dan Hancox is a freelance journalist

Reviews

[Mx]

A decade after release, "Boy In The Corner" still sounds like an error. A conflicted mess of chaotic noise, yelps and a rush that very few contemporary albums can compare to. It stands as a testimony to the unique climate of the burgeoning 'grime' scene, then itself still the undefined, mongrel child of UK Garage.

Grime, much like the architect of "Boy In The Corner", Dizzee Rascal, has changed over this decade plus worth of time. However, this time capsule has the frenzy of the other it's battery, as blogger & journalist Dan Hancox discusses the early career of Dizzee.

It is altogether a mix of ambition, fan-worship and enthusiasm, splashing out into the careers of other MCs, the world around them, and paints a grandiose picture of why these records mattered so much then, and still affect it's listeners and fans. You will not find a careful analysis of the development of this frenetic debut a la the 33 1/3 series, nor is this the rigid biography of Dylan Mills, now arguably the UK's biggest MC and their most profound urban popstar.

Yet fans will find new information they may have never known. Those unfamiliar will find a portrait of a new sound being born, the likes of which may never be challenged. And like the music this book is so captivated by, it is brief, abrupt, and unquestionably passionate.

[Marceline]

My rap knowledge starts and ends with the Beastie Boys. Nevertheless without any knowledge of what Grime is, I greatly appreciated this book which transports you to East London under the oppressive lights of Canary Wharf. Highly recommended for anyone who has worked in Canary Wharf or taken the 277 Bus wondering what Bow is all about. Less a history of music and more a slice of urban history. A quick read! The author acknowledges that he only had one short telephone interview with Dizzie Rascal. I am curious as to whether the later will ever comment on this piece straight on.