Has Dizzee Done a Wiley?

Wiley is quite the philanthropist, samaritan and all-round helper, don'tcha know? However, perhaps this has been his achilles heel. Wiley, who co-founded the genre that we know and used to love as grime, spent a lot of his time and efforts in helping the scene grow rather than focus on himself.

Wiley- the modern day Dr Banardo

As he said on Tim Westwood's show after deploying Chipmunk and Icekid to their now famous debut under the spotlight:

'Ya dun know the youth'

Wiley was and now to a lesser extent still is hell-bent on bringing through talent, such is his charitable and down-to-earth nature.

Dizzee Rascal has arguably been doing the same. We all know he crossed the musical-M25 otherwise known as 'going commercial' and he has been rather successful at it, particularly in this country. There's no doubting his dollars but recently he's been focussed on other people's projects, namely his label-mates the Newham Generals. The Dirtee Stank mixtape came out months ago which was largely a showcase of D Double E and Footsie's talents.

Dizzee Rascal - the modern day... Dizzee Rascal

We haven't heard much work solely from Rascal, fair enough he's been occupied.... but is he heading toward the same ill-fate of Wiley?

The next project Dizzee Rascal puts out could be pivotal. If you think grime/ hip hop fans are impatient or fickle, wait till you see the reaction of the commercial/mainstream missionaries if the East London 'boy in da corner' delivers something sub-standard after some time away.

They'll roast him like the aristocratic critics they are and there's no telling whether Dizzee will phoenix his way out of the tinderbox...

Watch this space

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