Dance… Yeah, on paper things sounds a bit iffy to say the least. First, If you read the production credits you’ll find the name Tiësto, the Dutch Euro trance master and I can’t think of anyone that screams more “Ibiza Uncensored” (the worlds greatest trash TV-show ever), just the very thought of that track makes my skin crawl. Second, the album is only 11 tracks long, clocks in at a total of 41 minutes. Third, the upcoming single is a cover of The Adventures Of Stevie V’s ‘Dirty Cash (Money Talks)’…

So, how does “Tongue N’ Cheek”, Dizzee’s first own album release on his own independent label Dirtee Stank, sound then? Well… as said, 11 tracks are one, two, three too few. By numbers the album feels a bit thin, kinda like low-fat gravy and I want thick cream in my sauce! But listening to it, it’s not that bad at all actually, it’s… Dizzee Rascal.

Honestly, I don’t care what genre Dizzee fits in nowadays. I don’t care if hardcore grime heads thinks he sold out back in 2007 with his previous album “Maths + English”. I can even go that far and say that I’m sort of glad that Dizzee left grime, don’t get me wrong I pick “Boy In The Corner” over “Tongue N’ Cheek” any day, but grime as it is today, with artists like Chipmunk making big moves, is just one sad story.

Hands down, Dizzee makes great music. For me Dizzee always sounds like Dizzee, there’s no one like him. Whether it’s making cheesy disco with Calvin Harris in ‘Holiday’ or pop with the BPA and David Byrne in ‘Toe Jam’. Genre really doesn’t matter when it comes to mr. Rascal.

“Tongue N’ Cheek” is the perfect example that Dizzee can rap over any beat, over anything, it shows his talent as a rapper as he has the ability to make everything his own. Take that second track, ‘Road Rage’, produced by Aaron LaCrate (I’m so glad for this team up once again, that b-more/dubstep-thing Aaron LaCrate & Ripley did on ‘Live Large N’ In Charge’ was mad) for example. It’s one big b-more slash grime slash mayhem. Correlates well with that incident when Dizzee road raged and approached another motorist with an baseball bat last December.

I love the cute pass to booty bass and DJ Funk in ‘Freaky Freaky’ as well. Laughed my ass off hearing the lyrics where Dizzee lays out his recent sexual history with his banana like showing a holiday photo album for grandma on a regular Sunday dinner.

‘Money Money’, produced by Dizzee himself in collaboration with Cage, is one of my fave tracks of the album. probably because it’s the one track that is closest to his old grimy self but it’s also fun, bouncy, interesting and just a huge mental bragging hype of money, girls and cash.

So, what don’t I like about the album? ‘Can’t Tek No More’, produced by Shy FX is so damn annoying! It’s Shy FX’ and the sample of Aswad’s ‘Warrior Charge’ fault. Ska/reggae is one genre I never liked, those brass band instruments like trumpet or saxophone (sax = the worst instrument ever, can you spell to anything that just oozes more cheesy 90′s sex on pearl pink stain sheets?!) makes my head hurt. They stress me out (when Lisa Simspson plays on her sax I press mute). Dizzee is on fire, sure and it’s one of the tracks of the album that stands out the most, but them ska vibes ruins it for me. Probably not a track Shy FX should keep on his CV.

Let’s move on to brighter things, I thought I would hate ‘Chillin’ Wiv Da Man Dem’ from that snippet featured in the AM90 video but hearing the full track (produced by Cage) Dizzee on r’n'b actually make sense, how strange it may sound.

I don’t know where I stand with ‘Leisure’ just yet. The production from Cage and Footsie sounds like something from a Super Mario Nintendo-game, typical cloud/sky-track on time collecting golden coins while Lakitu throwing evil Spinies at you, which makes it stunning, but still, I don’t know. My guess is that it will grow on me?

Then at last, at track number 11 we find that dreaded Tiësto production on ‘Bad Behaviour’. I’m not gonna tear it to pieces, the fact is I’ll dance to it if I clean or if I’m drunk but that’s pretty much it. It falls in the ‘Bonkers’-category, definitely Ibiza-material, even if it’s better than ‘Bonkers’, way better.

So to sum up: quality tracks like ‘Money Money’ and ‘Road Rage’ are well mixed with them cheezy disco-ish #1 hit-ones such as ‘Holiday’ and ‘Dance Wiv’ Me’. Makes the album like a good juicy cake; it got different levels, a different taste in every bite but yet, held together as a whole.

It’s not French chocolate cake but it’s not dry super market cake with a base out of sponge cake either, it’s somewhere in between. If I would grade it on a scale of 1-5 (with 5 being the greatest) I’d give “Tongue N’ Cheek” a 3 and an half or maybe maybe a weak 4. With 2-3 tracks more such as them b-sides from the huge singles ‘Holiday’ & ‘Bonkers’ and some more interesting guest features aside from the production side it would have been a solid strong 4.

ps. Promo ad-s like this is reason enough why you should buy it:

Buy album over at 7Digital, Amazon or via iTunes.

	Dizzee Rascal – ‘Money Money’ YSI | zShare
	Dizzee Rascal – ‘Dirtee Cash’ (BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge Tour) YSI | zShare