Dizzy Rascal - Live - Prince of Wales 22/07/04

Dizzy Rascal is one of the many MCs to come out of the UK at the moment and the voice behind one of the most catchy choruses of this year. Noted for his quick lyrics and wit I was a little unsure about what to expect as this was to be the first time I had ever caught an english MC doing Hip Hop rather than at a Jungle or Drum and Bass night supporting a DJ.

When I walked into the Prince I had expected it to be rammed and found that there were less people than the kind of sardine types of crowds I have been part of at the venue. But there were still more than enough up for it crew jostling for position waiting for Dizzy to make his appearance, his DJ was warming up the crowd with some excellent tunes and his somewhat hybrid Cockney New Yorker style accent, but we will leave that one there! This style of music for me was very different in that the Hip Hop instrumentals that were being dropped sounded like pitched down two step beats. They sounded great! Just right for the crowd to start feeling in the right mood for the show.

When Dizzy came on, the crowd exploded it seemed to me that a lot of people had been waiting to catch a glimpse of this guy. Now the best Hip Hop introduction at a live gig that I have seen to date. Dizzy opened with a two and a half minute acapella and I dropped my jaw. Delivered with speed, clarity and that rude boy cockney accent that I haven't heard in quite awhile in music sense that is. The crowd was in his hands from that point on and I was primed for a good gig.

Another song went through accompanied by another one of those fine and heavy bass lines everyone was getting down just nice. Now as a guy, I had little problem with this at the start but as it took longer and longer to get back into the music it started to become a little stupid. Dizzy and his DJ were overwhelmed by how good looking the girls in Melbourne are and decided to find out who the best looking girls in the club were by having a little dance off! Happy with state of play he preceded to ask for three girls to come on the stage with him and groove their way to the title of best looking. The only thing being that around about 12 girls who all looked as smashed as I was at Anthony Pappa climbed upon the stage and the break between tunes turned into a Survivor like eviction thing which as I said was fine for the guys, but I saw a few girls give their boys some very dirty looks!

I think the boys on stage might have realised that this was taking a little too much time up and they quickly made sure that the girl in the Ghost Busters top won the day! Anyway with the vibe kind of gone the only back was It's Dizzy Rascal, he's such a Rascal! I am currently going through hypnosis at the moment to try and stop myself from singing it all the time. The crowd lapped it up and after the next song it all finished!

Don't get me wrong this was a good gig, but when you only get a few songs and a beauty contest for $40 you might start to feel a little exploited. After the gig finished the DJ who I hasten to add had one arm (monumental thing!) played the same instrumentals as he had in the set and it seemed to be all over. As a special treat, the encore of one of Dizzy's new tracks was played to us from a CD!-

Maybe his next album will the be the live set! In conclusion, Dizzy Rascal is one hell of a talented guy and I enjoyed the gig and I think as him and his DJ grow a little more they will go from strength to strength. Tags

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• rascal