An 18-year old rapper who was repeatedly stabbed two weeks ago while
working in Cyprus has emerged as a favourite on this year’s Mercury music
prize shortlist, which features an unprecedented number of black artists.
MC Dizzee Rascal – born Dylan Mills – grew up in Bow, east London, where
he was excluded from every subject at school until a sympathetic teacher
allowed him into the music room. His bleak lyrics and the aggressive sound
of his debut, Boy in Da Corner, have seen him hailed as the underground
dance music “discovery of a decade”.
In a tense atmosphere of rivalry between garage music DJs, crews and
promoters in Ayia Napa this month, Mills was pulled off a scooter and
stabbed in the chest, back and buttocks.
The Pounds sterling 20 000 Mercury prize, now in its 12th year, honours
the best album of the year by a British or Irish band. Described as the
Booker prize of the music world, its criteria is not commercial sales but
what judges yesterday defined as “and album which captures the essence of
the moment, the zeitgeist”. With lyrics like “I am a problem for Anthony
Blair”, Rascal is a popular contender.
In picking Ms Dynamite last year, the judging panel batted off the
accusations that it is stuffy, cerebral and too far from “the street”,
but the choice was seen by some as the “safe, presentable” bet.
Simon Frith, the head of the judges, yesterday rejected the age-old
complaint that the Mercury shortlist featured “token” jazz, folk,
classical and soul acts who do not stand a chance. “We are not tokenist,
we chose the albums that are strongest,” he said. “This year, for
example, there is no classical artist on the shortlist …I hope [a
classical artist] does win at some stage so people stop asking me this
question.”
The winner, chosen at the awards ceremony on September 9, is tough to
predict. Usually a key requirement for the top record is the ability to be
played repeatedly in the judges’ living room without wearing thin.
Frith admitted that albums like Rascal’s were “difficult” and did not
necessarily fit that profile. “If you had a dinner party and put Dizzee
Rascal’s album on, many would say ‘take it off immediately’. It’s very
harsh and angry.”
Predictably, the bookmakers William Hill opened betting with joint 4-1 odds
on Radiohead and Coldplay, who have both been nominated before. Close
behind at 6-1, was Rascal, the Dublin band the Thrills, and the Darkness, a
hyped, pelvic-thrusting, glam-rock outfit from Suffolk, south-east England.
Eight of the 12 albums on the shortlist are debuts while the most notable
absence was Blur.
Terri Walker, a 23-year-old R&B singer who was nominated for her debut
album, said: “There is so much black talent coming out now, you can’t
argue with it any more.
“Hopefully my music now will go out to a wider audience who don’t know
the type of music I make.”
Some critics warned that the increasing showbiz glitter surrounding the
Mercury could detract from its music.
Justin Hawkins, the Darkness’s singer, described his band’s nomination
as a “vindication”. He said: “We have flown in the face of everything
else in the industry and we still have a presence.”
Addendum: The Coldplay singer Chris Martin has been charged with malicious
damage after an altercation at Byron Bay, 800km north of Sydney, last
Sunday.
Nominees:
- Radiohead – Hail to the Thief
- Dizzee Rascal – Boy in Da Corner
- The Thrills – So Much for the City
- Soweto Kinch – Conversations with the Unseen
- Floetry – Floetic
- The Darkness – Permission to Land
- Coldplay – A Rush of Blood to the Head
- Martina Topley-Bird – Quixotic
- Eliza Carthy – Anglicana
- Athlete – Vehicles and Animals
- Terri Walker – Untitled
- Lemon Jelly – Lost Horizons