Vinyl Record

Dizzee Rascal - Raskit

Dizzee Rascal - Raskit on 2LP vinyl. A 2017 record available from Kilmorna Collection in Listowel, Ireland.

2LP · 2017

Available from Kilmorna Collection in Listowel.

Buyer notes: 2017 2LP, currently available from the Kilmorna Collection vinyl shelf. Pay for pickup in Listowel or ship within Ireland for EUR 5.50.

Raskit is Dizzee Rascal's 2017 reset record, a deliberate return to the sharper, more combative instincts that made him one of grime's defining voices. By the time it arrived, Dizzee's public story was already complicated: teenage Mercury Prize acclaim, Bow-born mythology, mainstream pop dominance, festival crowds, chart hooks and the pressure of being both an innovator and an entertainer. Raskit does not pretend that history never happened, but it does strip the conversation back toward bars, rhythm and identity. The title itself sounds like a reclamation of persona: mischievous, local, fast-moving and resistant to being polished into harmless nostalgia. The album's track list is dense, with Focus, Wot U Gonna Do?, Space, I Ain't Even Gonna Lie, Ghost, Business Man, Bop N' Keep It Dippin' and Man of the Hour all contributing to a mood of verbal attack and self-definition. Rather than chasing the biggest crossover chorus, Dizzee leans into clipped cadences, hard drum programming and a sense of pressure that suits his voice. The result is not simply a throwback to Boy in da Corner; too much life and fame has happened for that. Instead, Raskit feels like an artist cutting away some of the pop infrastructure in order to reassert the nerve underneath. What makes it compelling is the tension between veteran status and restless delivery. Dizzee sounds aware of expectation, suspicion and legacy, but he does not turn the record into a museum tour. The best moments carry the old snap of urgency while allowing a more experienced figure to look at business, loyalty, ambition and survival. Raskit matters most when heard as a re-grounding: not a denial of the hits, but a reminder of the MC who made those hits possible.

Raskit matters because it reconnected Dizzee Rascal's catalogue to grime's core values at a moment when his mainstream success could easily have defined him too narrowly. The album placed emphasis on rapping, pace and self-authored attitude rather than guest-heavy spectacle. For listeners who knew Dizzee only through his chart-facing singles, it served as a correction; for long-time fans, it was a sign that the older bite had not disappeared. It also documents the challenge of ageing inside a genre where youthful energy is often treated as proof of authenticity.

For collectors, Raskit is the later Dizzee album that belongs beside the early classics as a conversation rather than a duplicate. It will appeal most to listeners who want MC focus and grime-adjacent urgency, not a broad singles package. On a shelf, it marks the point where Dizzee looks back toward the underground language that formed him while speaking from the other side of fame. That makes it valuable for anyone tracing the full arc from East London breakthrough to established British rap figure.

Hard, clipped UK rap and grime-rooted production with fast verbal pressure, lean hooks and a veteran MC's combative self-possession.

Recommended for: Dizzee Rascal fans who want the post-pop reset album; Grime listeners interested in veteran MC craft; Collectors tracing British rap from early-2000s breakthrough to 2010s legacy work.

What year was Raskit released? Raskit was released in 2017. Is Raskit a pop crossover album? No. It is more focused on rapping, direct energy and grime-rooted toughness than on broad crossover choruses. Where does it sit in Dizzee Rascal's catalogue? It is a later reset album, reconnecting his public legacy to the MC skills and East London identity that shaped his early work.