Friday 16 December 2011

Dot Rotten - Keep It On A Low


On December 5th the BBC announced the nominees for the BBC Sound of 2012, with the final shortlisted five being announced in early January. The Gizzle will be reviewing each of the fifteen longlisted nominees leading up to the final announcement.

Dot Rotten is fast becoming one of the UK's most notorious rappers.  His career began a few years ago under the pseudonym Young Dot.  After releasing a mixtape ('This Is The Beginning'), he changed his name to Dot Rotten and even released the album 'RIP Young Dot'.  He formed the OGz Crew and separately released six instrumental 'Rotten Riddims' albums that showcase his production talent, which has since seen him working with a number of grime artists, including Tinie Tempah and Wiley. More recent collaborations range from Ed Sheeran to Cher Lloyd and a feature on Teardrop, the Children in Need single. 

Rotten released the single Keep It On A Low earlier in the year.  Clearly he is an artist with experience under his belt, the production polished to a sparkling sheen.  But don't let the bright city lights and sharp suit fool you - Rotten can drop it like the best.  Though the chorus has a modern garage feel to it, the verse is derived very much from the grime scene with its grinding bass and heavy beats.  Meanwhile he raps of his love for his music and his rise to fame - his past was "grimy obvious" but now he's "rolled through the underground".

Polished grime may seem oxymoronic, but Rotten has managed to balance his past and his future - the underground with the commercial.  It's unlikely that he'll forget his roots though: as he says on Normal Human Being "remember that I'm Rotten and I'm from the hood". 

3/5

Listen: Keep It On A Low is available now from iTunes.

Watch: Rotten will be touring the UK in February.