Dizzee Rascal: Run the Road : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Fans of U.K. rapper Dizzee Rascal's singular take on hip-hop now have a whole compilation of similar sounds. Run the Road is a snapshot of London's "grime" scene, which melds U.S. hip-hop with elements of dancehall reggae and remnants of Brit dance styles such as two-step and drum-and-bass. Songs like "Mic Fight" simmer with cockney aggression. "We can take it outside/Or we can do it live on the mike," raps Kano. "We can kill 'em with knives/Or we can just kill 'em with style." The standout comes from five-foot-one cutie Lady Sovereign, whose "Cha Ching" uses a simple beefy bass line to support her supercatchy chorus: "I've got fifty things to say/In a cheeky kind of way."