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Street crime, bitches and politics are big themes in the world of the Bizzle. With the mean streets of London as his playground, the man who famously pioneered the exciting ‘grindie’ movement reels in indie darlings Babyshambles and Kate Nash into ‘Back To Bizznizz’ alongside contributions from Ghetto and Slinga R.I.P to get his point well and truly across in this self executive produced release.
It’s no secret that Lethal Bizzle isn’t down with the Parliament thing. Dedicating lines in ‘Babylons Burning The Ghetto’ to Tony Blair and David Cameron - who Bizzle famously hit back at earlier this year - there’s no holding back as the figures are branded liars, pricks and being "full of shit". He reminisces about being chased by police, as he delves into a past of high drama misdemeanours that add to his badge of honour as being from ‘the street’. But, it wouldn’t be a proper urban album if it didn’t brazenly challenge authority, would it?
Recent releases from Dizzy Rascal and Whiley may have gotten critics nodding their heads in approval, but its Bizzle that’s brought us a more listenable side of British rap. With most of fans of this lot being white kids, it was an obvious progression to introduce indie into the urban scene. Whilst Dizzee may have struck gold collaborating with fellow Mercury winners Arctic Monkeys, it’s Bizzle’s ‘Boy’ featuring Babyshambles’ ‘La Belle Et La Bete’ furious pounding beat and Pete Doherty’s haunting backing vocals that scores highest here.
Other than the inclusion of guitars and skinny white boys, ’Back To Bizznizz’ sees a diverse range of influences thrown into the mix. ’Bizzle Bizzle’ may be his signature track with Dizzee sounding rhymes, but the self confessed rudeboy dabbles with R’n’B (‘My Eyes’), frenetic beats that sometimes border on breakbeat, sometimes on drum n bass and even experiments with ‘90s garage with the So Solid Crew tinged ‘Mr’.
Ever the ladies man, Bizzle devotes a couple of tracks to his reputation with the women. Whilst ‘Look What You’ve Done’ featuring ‘flavour of the month’ Kate Nash talks up the tempestuous life of a player, ‘Selfridges Girl Not On MySpace’ sees Bizzle get all ga-ga over a love at first sight. As the album comes to an end with ‘Reflecting’, Bizzle projects himself as the bad boy done good, still hard to the core but using his music as his soap box to tell the rest of the world that his world is fiercely misunderstood. “We’re all gonna die!” He shouts. But then again... “Always got a masterplan. That’s the Bizzle. Who’s da hitman? Bizzle Bizzle!’" London is Bizzle’s stomping ground. Tread on it at your peril.
