Boy in Da Corner

Young, angry, articulate, and frighteningly talented, 18-year old Dizzee Rascal is the voice of a new generation. Alongside Wiley and his fellow Roll Deep Entourage members, East London's Dizzee was propelled to underground fame. His record is Spin's #12 Album Of The Year, it went gold in the UK, and it won the prestigious Mercury Prize in 2003. This domestic release contains one bonus track plus the first two videos.

Dizzee Rascal is the latest Brit to try to land on America's rap shores after countless predecessors have failed. Rascal boasts a frenetic verbal presence--the Cockney equivalent to Busta Rhymes--and his first single, "Fix Up, Look Sharp," is as good as you could want: old-school drum breaks meet futuristic flows with a memorable, holler-if-you-hear-me hook. What Rascal has going against him is the fact that he sounds, well, British, and American audiences seem to like their flows homegrown, not imported. Moreover, with pulsing, electro bumps dominating most of the album, the sound is closer to Tricky's than Trick Daddy's. That said, Boy in Da Corner offers boundless energy and Rascal's enthusiasm is palpable. "Jus' a Rascal" is crunked out enough to make Lil Jon proud while "Live O" moves smoothly and steadily with a submarine's deadly grace. Though Rascal won't knock 50 Cent off the charts anytime soon, his debut loudly proclaims that rap's geopolitics may be shifting. --Oliver Wang