Dizzee Rascal’s new LP E3 AF has stormed to the top spot in the latest Official Record Store Chart Top 40. The album also heads up this week’s Official Hip Hop & R&B Albums Chart, seeing off M Huncho and Nafe Smallz’ DNA and Extinction Level Event 2: The Wrath of God, the latest release from veteran rapper (and occasional actor) Busta Rhymes.
Dizzee took to Instagram to thank his fans for the chart success, as well as highlighting his personal connection to the independent record shops behind the chart – which is produced in collaboration between the Official Charts Company and Record Store Day. In a post to his 373,000 followers, he said “Big up everyone who bought (and streamed) my new album #E3AF. A massive shout out to all the independent record shops around the country. I started off on tapes, dubplates and White labels nearly 20 years ago so this is a nice touch!”
Congrats to @DizzeeRascal who has the biggest selling album in independent record shops this week with E3 AF – Check out the full Official Record Store Chart Top 40 here: https://t.co/6Q1wzvj0eD pic.twitter.com/BXoNw6Ltdd
— Official Charts (@officialcharts) November 7, 2020
E3 AF is the Bow-raised rapper’s seventh studio album, and his first since 2017’s critically-acclaimed Raskit. Dummy magazine quote Dizzee as having described the record in the loftiest-possible terms, with a statement from the grime pioneer reading: “I’ve spent the last 3 years losing and finding myself in music and I’ve made something flawless. I made this album for YOU! I want you to play it at home, in your car or wherever you want but I want you to listen to it all the way through and you better have some BASS!! The link-ups are mad and I didn’t come to play! You’re welcome.”
The newly MBE-laden Dizzee Rascal has always been fond of a collaboration – his previous musical partners include Robbie Williams, Sean Kingston, Jessie J, Armand Van Helden, will.i.am and Calvin Harris, to name just a few – and the new record incorporates cameos from 11 different artists. As you might expect from an album that references a London postcode in its title, the majority of these featured acts come from Dizzee’s neck of the woods in the east and north corners of the capital: Kano (East Ham); Ghetts (Plaistow); D Double E; Steel Banglez (both Forest Gate); Frisco (Tottenham); and Chip (Crouch End).
Chip, who recently engaged in a feud with Stormzy, joined forces with Dizzee for on the album’s lead single, L.L.L.L. (Love Life Live Large). The fiery track – with a title that playfully skewers the modern market for motivational quotes – epitomises the E3 AF‘s mission statement to be “a purposeful statement of intent.”
Last month saw the release of the third single from the album, Body Loose, which hearkens back to the dance-house feel of 2009’s platinum certified Tongue n’ Cheek. The track samples Architechs’ 2000 garage hit Body Grove in a timely tribute to the voice behind the original song – Ashley Akabah (AKA City), who died this year at the age of 49.
