Dirty Dike - Sloshpot EP (2013)

These days are to me the Golden Age of UK hip hop, especially everything coming out of High Focus Records. Dirty Dike was and is always my favorite. He doesn't give a shit about anything, he has this edgy, crude and dark humor, plus an awesome raw flow that would murder anyone on a freestyle. In his precedent records, he was playing with his two sides that can clearly be heard on his songs. The fun side, represented by hits like ''Hi! I'm James'', ''Ten Dike Commandments'', or ''Pork Pie'' (with its now famous punchline during a break ''YEAH YEAH SHUT IT SLAG''), talking about parties, raving, drugs, graffitis, mates, dissing people for free, bragging and showing off, fucking shit up, and the other one where he makes us dive into his more personal, dark aspect of his life. And I think on this EP, the second one is way more present. There is a gloomy atmosphere throughout the entire record (Mr Boss' production plays a lot too), especiallly on the first song, ''Consequences'', that couldn't be more representative of that dark side. Brutally honest and depressive. Talking about his prison stretch. Right from the start. ''I was scared of release, every sin barely redeemed / It never seemed fair, I just stare and perceive / And you expect me to care and believe / From a chair when you speak, you don't care when I leave, fuck off! / Now how the fuck can I prepare to be free / When my hair's clean shaved and I'm there on the streets...''. Taking out of his chest every word he had in mind during all these days behind bars, taking a step back to find a proper analysis of how he ended up in this situation. His girlfriend left him, but what is it compared to losing your mind in the slammer? Just a story of a poor white kid from Cambridge growing up in a council house with his mother while his dad was in jail. Broke, pissed off, he went from minor offenses to more serious criminal activities, and when the streets are calling you and the beef goes right to your pocket, how could you say no? ''It's just a consequence of what I do / Man I'm a rapper slash criminal, what are you? / Do you work a 9 to 5 in a flock of truths / Or are you walking down the line of forgotten youths?''. Powerfull sad song, with a killer instrumental and a sample at the end from the genius ''I hate you for putting me in here'' speech by Tim Roth in Made In Britain. The next ones are a bit more positive, showing he's still this wanker ready to fuck with everybody. Dirty punchlines, no respect for anything, a filthy motherfucker.''Plenty More Piss In The Toilet'' is amazing, with this kind of banjo guitar and whistling samples, just amazing, love it. One of my favorite song. He's fucking every love song in the ass with this spit in the face of rappers trying to act sensitive. Sick with bitches and ''slags'' like this english bastard says, that spend so much time wasting his life acting like cunts while he just wants sex and partying with friends, throwing straight to your face ''I played the sex scene, worked a circuit of slags, burstin' my nads, I'd squirt in every dirty kebab'', and repeatiting in the closing refrain ''leave that chick, progress with your live, if you need that bitch you're a desperate guy''. This one is an old song from 2010, that he only released on this record, but still, Dirty Dike has enough words to break you in half and make you laugh like a bastard. Sloshpot in the end is an excellent EP, that you should listen to, buy and copy to your friends as well as his other records. Dirty Dike is the boss of the UK scene and even if rappers like Fliptrix are awesome, he's way above them and these few songs are burying deep all the other lame european guys in the rap game. ''Celebrate life, and use it. Saved by the music, stay sane, the cage ain't right for you kid...''

High Focus. 2013. UK