Dizzee Rascal - 'Showtime' (XL) Released 06/09/04

Last year’s Mercury Prize winner returns with a sophomore album which is smart, hard, and undoubtedly more than just a touch autobiographical.

Opening track 'Showtime' sees Dizzee reintroduce himself in distinctive sarf London tones, rhyming through a high-speed account of his life and times before breaking into 'Stand Up Tall,' a computer-generated slice of hyperactive rap which stands out as the obvious choice for the first single.

From the junglist 'Everywhere' to the Bollywood-esque 'Learn' this is an album of conflicting genres, reaching a high point with the reggae-influenced 'Get By,' the first Dizzee track to feature female vocals and which has future chart success stamped all over it. And, in a break from the dizzying pace, everything slows down a bit with 'Imagine,'a stand-out example of Dizzee in reflective mode which verges on the melodic and offers lyrics such as, “you been living in the grime, don’t you wanna climb?” to the street hopefuls dreaming of fame.

All in all it’s an interesting mix – everything from dirty beats and cocksure rhymes ('Respect Me') to the fairground-feel 'Dream' which sounds like a bootleg Mary Poppins singalong when it rips off the chorus of 'Happy Talk' (“if you don’t have a dream, how you gonna have a dream come true?”). Stranger still is the self-parodying 'Face' which puts image under the microscope and takes a well-aimed swipe at the media hype surrounding Dizzee’s 2003 debut; “switch the channel man, I’d rather see a better video on Base like Jay-Z.”

As a follow-up to 2003’s outstanding debut 'Boy In Da Corner' it’s a fine effort, and not in the least disappointing for someone whose career began with such inexorable hype. In fact, 'Showtime' only serves to raise the bar, presenting fans with a smarter, slicker and more progressive follow-up of hypnotic beats and a prevalent positivity which looks set to ensure the boy from Bow every inch the same chart success.