The last track on Dexplicits latest release is boldly called “I am legendary”. And certainly he is a legend. POW (Forward Riddim) with Lethal Bizzle reached No.11 in the UK National Charts 2004, which is quite possibly the biggest success a pure grime track has ever had. It defined a grime sound that is still used, and it is still great, a anthem of the scene:
For that he won a MOBO, and the 2005 UMA award for Best Underground producer. However, this was back then. Since then, things haven’t been going quite as well for Dexplicit, although making a lot of remixes for well known artist such as M.I.A, Prodigy and Dem Franchize Boyz. Apparently he’s been making Bassline, but this i know little about. Last thing i heard of him was on Lethal Bizzle’s latest album, “Go hard” were he didn’t really impress. With Digital Kineses i hoped the freedom to explore his own music vision would result in better work, that he either would push forward and find a new sound, or take a step back to former heights. Sadly though he hasn’t. The new Dexplicit sound seems awkwardly stuck between genres. Between dubstep wobbles and RnB, between club heavy bass music and american hiphop, between ragga and grime. On occasion it works, like on dubsteppy “Alien” and “Brown Sugar” feat ragga styled mc Stush (who does like her high pitched shrieks a bit too much though). But on most tracks the sound clash, the bass and the wobbles take far too much place and the features sound out of place. It rarely becomes great dance music, it rarely becomes good rnb or grime. It is painfully lost somewhere in between. On the next to last track “Priorities” featuring Random Impulse he gets the sound right, it’s a good track and a sad indicator of how good this cd could have been. It’s sad to see a legend fall, but hopefully dexplicit will get back on the horse and return to former glory, my fingers are crossed.
Caked with dirt 