- Artist: Dizzee Rascal
- Title: Maths + English
- Label: Definitive Jux
- Release Date: Apr 29, 08
click to download CD cover- Track Listing:
Dizzee Rascal, veteran of Roll Deep crew and winner of the prestigious Mercury Prize in 2003 for his "Boy In Da Corner" album has created what could easily be considered the definitive grime recording with "Maths + English" (also nominated for a 2007 Mercury Prize in the U.K).
Definitive Jux will release Dizzee Rascal's "Maths + English" on April 29, showing the proper respect to a recording that offers a brutally honest portrayal of UK city life. The album will be released in stores for the first time in America as well as digitally. See full tracklisting below with new songs and remixes to be included on the stateside release. Whether Dizzee is going at it with American gangsta rap legends Bun B and Pimp C on " Where's Da G's" or paying his dues by collaborating with UK drum and bass legend Shy FX, there is a palatable sense of desperation and simmering violence throughout "Maths + English" on tracks like "World Outside" and "Paranoid". The assault of metal guitars on the just what the fuck have I done rant "Sirens" is offset by the smartass backchat of Lily Allen on "Wanna Be" proving that the more musical ground that Dizzee covers on "Maths + English" the end result is a perfect vehicle for one man's voice and vision.
As if to confirm that sometimes you have to travel a long way to get really close to home, Wiz' controversial video for "Sirens" (in which Dizzee - the fur trim on his parka marking him out as a true urban fox - is hunted through concrete walkways by redcoats on horseback) was filmed on a Romanian council estate. "They've got estates over there that look just like ours," Dizzee explains, "except there are still bullet holes in the buildings and that's in the nice part. You could say the same thing about "Maths & English." It's easily Dizzee's most upfront and accessible record to date - "Sirens" is a UK half-brother to Jay Z's "99 Problems" and full on party tracks like "Flex" and "Bubbles" have turned up the heat on UK dancefloors the more melancholic Mercury Prize-winning debut "Boy In Da Corner" might have cleared.
While American influences were vital to the evolution of "Maths+English" the album never compromises its distinctively British identity. Numbers. Words. Dizzee Rascal has presented a complete work of art, which is the definition of education.
Where once he growled his rhymes through gritted teeth or abortively gulped them down altogether, now the beats let him breathe. -Blender
An eclectic, break-dance-worthy Slick Rick reincarnation. -Entertainment Weekly
Dizzee's despairing wail, focused anger, and cutting sonics places him on the front lines in the battle against a stultifying Britain, just as Pete Townshend, Johnny Rotten, and Morrissey have been in the past. -Pitchfork
This is almost certainly the most important album to emerge from the black British underground - Sunday Telegraph UK
His strongest most ambitious and mature record to date. Essential. - Observer Music Monthly