Ten years ago this summer, an extraordinary new sound exploded out of London's council estates that would change music forever. While New Labour were flooding urban Britain with ASBOs and CCTV, teenagers like Dizzee looked up at the gleaming towers of Canary Wharf and contemplated their own poverty; telling stories of devastating bleakness and lyrical wit, backed by music that shone with the futurism of a brighter tomorrow.
All music is a product of its environment, and it's entirely possible that Boy in da Corner, Dizzee's Mercury prize-winning debut album, was made on a hand-me-down PC donated to Langdon Park School by Lehman Brothers.
Over 15,000 words, this is the story of that remarkable musical moment, seen through east London's unique history of opulence and inequality, violence and aspiration, and how a teenage genius with nothing to lose made the best British album of the 21st century.
Dan Hancox writes for The Guardian, Frieze, Salon, New Statesman, The Independent, New Inquiry, openDemocracy and others on music, protests, riots, politics and pop culture. His other books include Kettled Youth, Fight Back!, Utopia and the Valley of Tears, and The Village Against The World.
All music is a product of its environment, and it's entirely possible that Boy in da Corner, Dizzee's Mercury prize-winning debut album, was made on a hand-me-down PC donated to Langdon Park School by Lehman Brothers.
Over 15,000 words, this is the story of that remarkable musical moment, seen through east London's unique history of opulence and inequality, violence and aspiration, and how a teenage genius with nothing to lose made the best British album of the 21st century.
Dan Hancox writes for The Guardian, Frieze, Salon, New Statesman, The Independent, New Inquiry, openDemocracy and others on music, protests, riots, politics and pop culture. His other books include Kettled Youth, Fight Back!, Utopia and the Valley of Tears, and The Village Against The World.
