Mr Bizzle

Lethal B's never got much credit beyond being a hype MC and making killer club bangers such as Oi and POW. However he deserves huge props for new LP Back To Bizznizz and breaking out of grime's self-contained bubble and reaching out to a new audience. Here's an interview profile that appeared in Metro newspaper yesterday. More interview excerpts that didn't make the story to follow, including the Bizzle waxing lyrical on his beef with Wiley.

Lethal Bizzle

It’s the middle of the afternoon in an empty, pitch-black club, and grime rapper Lethal Bizzle is wearing super-sized shades. Perhaps it’s to dull the blinding gloss of his yellow and sky blue Nike/BAPE limited edition trainers.

Bizzle looks every part the superfly rapper and for good reason: he’s established himself through two of this decade’s defining garage and grime anthems, 2002's Oi! with More Fire Crew and Pow! (Forward) in 2004. However, Bizzle’s sophomore album Back To Bizznizz is a radical departure for the 24-year-old East Londoner, enthusiastically splicing hip hop and grime with rock, punk and pop.

Back To Biznizz features guest turns from Babyshambles and rising indie starlet Kate Nash; Bizzle has also recorded with young hardcore heroes Gallows. His relentless gigging schedule (since Glastonbury, he’s been supporting singer/songwriter Jack Peñate and will join The Enemy and Gallows on their respective tours, as well as headlining his own), aims to bring together a broader fanbase.

He's steadily making his mark. ‘I did a date with The Enemy and thought people wouldn’t know who I am, but when my DJ walked out they were chanting "Bizzle, Bizzle",' he says relaxing on a sofa in the Scala, just ahead of his Peñate support slot. ‘We're doing a joint tour in October because it was so well received.’

If new British music is in exciting genre meltdown, then the crowd that Bizzle warms up for Peñate further demonstrates that crossover. It's a mix of androgynous late teens/early twentysomethings in skinny jeans and lank-haired indie kids, with a sprinkling of hoodie and high-top-trainer-wearing hip hop heads. The response to Bizzle’s support set is overwhelmingly positive as they sing back the words to Oi! and Pow!

Bizzle’s no longer surprised by that meltdown. ‘When I saw indie audiences recognised my lyrics, that made me realise they have been fans since way back,’ he explains. ‘But because I wasn’t in their faces, performing at venues where they’re comfortable, they weren’t really a part of it. Now I’m touring venues they know, with artists they’re into, and it’s building up rapidly.’

These performances, and the experimental new album, also showcase Bizzle's personal development. ‘I’ve done enough with pioneering grime; now I’m in a position to grow and revamp the music,’ he says. Some of the results are stunning, particularly the high impact and intensity of punk-grime combo Babylon’s Burning The Ghetto – an update of Southall punk quartet’s The Ruts’ Top Ten hit - and forthcoming Gallows single Staring At The Rudeboys (featuring Bizzle) that reworks another track by The Ruts. Both are breathless, spiky songs that reveal grime and punk to be kindred genres.

‘The energy of punk reminds me of grime, especially – the crowd reaction, the beats, the guitars and even the way punk singers sing is similar to how grime guys rap, really aggressive and energetic,’ explains Bizzle. ‘There’s the f**k you attitude, too - we’re creating it, we’re controlling it and it's not manufactured - that’s why the collaborations work.’

Bizzle is a trailblazer for a brave new world of young British music, where artists sticking to single genres and tribes seem increasingly irrelevant. ‘It makes sense for me to explore something British, like rock and punk that people can relate to and support. So it’s only right that I hooked up with different artists - it might be a different sound, but it’s all the same movement.’

Bizzle is notorious for causing dancefloor mayhem (Pow! was banned at Notting Hill Carnival). He’s done it again with the bouncy summer vibe of new single Bizzle Bizzle and dancehall banger Mr. But the crucial undertones beneath this album's surface are bitter political commentary and cutting social observation.

The cover of Bizzle Bizzle portrays a gleeful Tony Blair shooting the MC in the back; elsewhere our former leader is described as a ‘prick’ and David Cameron a ‘f**kin arse’. Bizzle is obviously angry and frustrated with the establishment. Is this new voice down to Cameron’s attack on Bizzle for violent lyrics in a national newspaper last summer?

‘On this album I really grew, both musically and lyrically: before, I was just making music but after the Cameron thing I realised I had a voice and people pay attention, so I really wanted to say something on this album,’ he explains. ‘I wanted to talk about the realness in my life, what goes on in the streets, and say to the kids: "I’m from where you are on the estates, I got up to no good but have come up through hard work", and give them some belief.

‘Cameron went to Manchester and that kid [who gave Cameron the gun finger] was telling him to "f**k off" – young people can’t relate to politicians but we need to listen to them and find out why kids are carrying knives and guns,’ he says, visibly fired-up. ‘There’s a problem with knives and guns that needs to be solved and there are so many young people that can relate to rappers. So use us.’

Back To Bizznizz is out on July 23.