Yesterday, Dizzee Rascal was invited on to Sway In The Morning to talk about UK music, and grime in particular. It starts with Sway giving listeners a brief rundown of Dizzee's career and his significance in the worlds of both hip-hop and grime. From there, the conversation quickly turns to the history of grime, with Dizzee giving a detailed rundown from the early jungle, drum & bass and UKG raves, through to pirate radio and right up to the present day. He talks about grime's relationship with soundsystem culture and his upbringing listening to said sounds, and also even grunge. In particular, he cites Three 6 Mafia and their stuttered hooks as being the main influence on "I Luv U".
For UK fans, a lot of this will be old news. But for US fans, who maybe aren't as familiar with More Fire Crew or the madness of under-18 raves, this is essential knowledge. It's testament to how complex grime's history is that even Dizzee has a little trouble laying it out chronologically and definitively—there are just too many strains and lineages that loop back on themselves. That was all well and fascinating but, early on, Sway asks who Wiley is, to which Dizzee responds: "Wiley's the godfather of grime... he's a legend!" He added: "We've had our ups and downs, but Wiley is someone who I looked up to in the game. He was my favourite MC as a kid. Him, D Double E, someone called Riddles... he's a legend."
And, best of all, the interview concludes with the Five Fingers Of Death at the 43:00 mark, where Dizzee dishes out an unbelievably fire freestyle over some classic rap beats before giving us some bonus bars over DJ Cable's "Justified" instrumental. Naturally, and unsurprisingly, Sway and the fam were blown away.
