Blog: PopMatters

Catchy yet largely disposable, Tongue 'N Cheek embodies many of the pitfalls of radio-friendly hip-hop. Over the course of his career, Dizzee Rascal has rarely been afraid to stand out from the pack. From squeaky-voiced East London youth to hardscrabble Southern hip-hop fetishist, Rascal has tried on new personas the way that most emcees try on sneakers. And while he may have flirted with mainstream sounds on his last two albums, he's never made an earnest grab for pop stardom... until now. As its cartoonish cover suggests, Tongue N' Cheek finds Rascal bidding farewell to the underground [...]