Dizzee Rascal- Maths and English

crackerjack

Well-known member
Isn't that a slightly patronizing attitude to take? I haven't got anything against him for having one arm - it's great that he's a DJ despite the likely limitations and stigma he's suffered through having one arm. I am also aware he has a great reputation as a radio DJ.

I suppose the point I was trying to get at was what his link with Dizzee is. I know they did those mix CDs together, but these days he's pretty much the only regular part of Dizzee's act. Is he like a manager or mentor because it doesn't seem like he's musically involved.

I thought you were criticising him for a lack of deck wizardry, but I've re-read it now and you weren't, so my apologies. Semtex was an early champion of Dizzee (and tried signing him to Def Jam UK, iirc) and they've been close for a while.

Your last comment is near the mark, I think. Dizzee's manager is very serious about keeping him away from the kind of amateurism that's hindered many a grime career. Semtex has always struck me as being serious about the business, so Cage probably regards him as a good influence to have around.
 

gumdrops

Well-known member
anyone watching the docu on ch4? its much better than the wiley one. i dont care what anyone says, hes still a genius IMO. just a shame the beats on the soundtrack to this docu seem better than anything on the new album lol. and no it might not be grime but he still does what hes doing on this one better than virtually all other grime mcs (who all make hip hop on their mix cds too). like tox said, hes just a genius rapper....

some basic highlights -
dizzee on a drum kit imitating d doubles signature phrases and moooaah moooah sound lol
sort of shyly/quietly saying 'hang tight wiley'
him answering someone at oxford who didnt know what sweet as a nut meant (really)
dizzee giving props to mc creed and vice versa
on a similar tip - him saying at the end he did grime cos it was diff and that he likes extreme music (doesnt explain the new album but oh well)
all the interview footage was good IMO and interesting

shame it had to have zane lowe on it instead of some others there could have been (would have been great to hear from slimzee or geeneus or someone but i think we knew that wasnt gonna be happening)
 
Last edited:

tox

Factory Girl
quality documentary wasn't it gumdrops? beat the hell out of the bob marley one on the otherside in the slot before.

dizzee really is very wise. it was good to see a musician humble enough to talk about the importance of learning, and relationships in making music. he seems to have extreme musical talent coupled with a good knowledge of how to get on in life...
 

hucks

Your Message Here
some basic highlights -

him answering someone at oxford who didnt know what sweet as a nut meant (really)

Yeah, that was brilliant, "You're clever, you're clever"...

He was really honest and thoughtful in his interviews, which made for a good watch. Less good, tho, was how into it he looked when the bass player out of Red Hot Chilli Peppers was doing his freestyle bass slapping nonsense. And that awful rock-rap version of one of his old tunes (can't remember which one now).
 

viktorvaughn

Well-known member
The beat for the Gen's 'Pepper' sounded awesome. They played loads of new ones including two called 'Wet Pussy' and 'Bell Dem Slags'.
 

gumdrops

Well-known member
i watched a bit of the bob marley one but that was SHOCKINGLY bad. looked like something i used to make in 6th form media studies class...
 

crackerjack

Well-known member
i watched a bit of the bob marley one but that was SHOCKINGLY bad. looked like something i used to make in 6th form media studies class...

Wasn't it! Just loads of news footage, shown with no conext (other than being in the year 1977) and invisible talking heads saying how much they liked Marley. Shame, because when they had Blackwell, LKJ - people who were there and had something to say - it waas fleetingly interesting.
 

elgato

I just dont know
i disagree, i thought the bob marley documentary was excellent. i enjoyed seeing such an abstract approach to documentary, it was very conceptual, and in that sense perhaps 'limited', but i found it really refreshing to see that approach, a rejection of the need for cohesion and argument

what was so bad about it in your views?
 

crackerjack

Well-known member
i disagree, i thought the bob marley documentary was excellent. i enjoyed seeing such an abstract approach to documentary, it was very conceptual, and in that sense perhaps 'limited', but i found it really refreshing to see that approach, a rejection of the need for cohesion and argument

what was so bad about it in your views?

I think I've alrerady answered that above. Reading Lloyd Bradley's piece on it last week told me far more, and sparked far more enthusiasm, than anything i saw yesterday.
 

elgato

I just dont know
you outlined a number of criticisms, but they are surely secondary to certain fundamental ideas about what is a good or bad documentary, what should be aspired to. that i suppose is what i was asking about, as the implication seems to be that the spectrum of experience that comes as a result of an artist's music is not of interest, but rather it must be about the artist themselves, accounted for by people proximate to them. to me it seemed to be about the album, the year, and the people, not so much the man himself, and i think that is a perfectly valid choice. i didnt think it was perfect, by any means, but i enjoyed how novel the approach was a great deal

is the Lloyd Bradley piece available anywhere?
 

crackerjack

Well-known member
you outlined a number of criticisms, but they are surely secondary to certain fundamental ideas about what is a good or bad documentary, what should be aspired to. that i suppose is what i was asking about, as the implication seems to be that the spectrum of experience that comes as a result of an artist's music is not of interest, but rather it must be about the artist themselves, accounted for by people proximate to them. to me it seemed to be about the album, the year, and the people, not so much the man himself, and i think that is a perfectly valid choice. i didnt think it was perfect, by any means, but i enjoyed how novel the approach was a great deal

is the Lloyd Bradley piece available anywhere?

I just found the continuous use of talking heads very unengaging - perhaps because you didn't see them, perhaps they just didn't have anything of great interest to say. I agree the structure was innovative - but then I'm a sucker for a well made documentary done the traditional way!

The Bradley piece was in last Friday's Independent - I actually bought the paper for it, but I think they piut most of their content online these days.
 

martin

----
I thought the Bob Marley doc last night was great - I liked the fact there was no narrative, and although it was slagged for being 'uncritical', the archive footage was absorbing, sometimes spooky. In fact, I think it would have been much worse if they'd had people popping up on the screen and doing the typical punk docu trick ("Social breakdown, rubbish on the streets, this had to happen, it was a classic protest album", etc) - the music and the footage kind of jarred and mixed throughout. Also, it made Marley seem a bit remote from proceedings, like a ghost in the background - nah, suprisingly, I really enjoyed it.
 

gumdrops

Well-known member
we should play 6 degrees of dizzee/bob

bob marley -> jammer (who sings bob marley at shows and on youtube) -- murkleman remix with dizzee --->dizzee
 

gumdrops

Well-known member
im not sure how the 6 degrees of kevin bacon game really works as ive never played it but we can also do it like this -

dizzee ---> has a label dirtee stank>>>footsie is signed to dirtee stank>>>footsies dad used to be a soundman in jamaica>>>>bob marley used to be a lot of lawn dances in jamaica

;)
 
Top