[15] Dizzee Rascal and Armand van Helden, ‘Bonkers’

It’s a riot, isn’t it? ‘Bonkers’ is exactly what you’d expect from a van Helden/Dizzee face-off, hammering your knapper with drones and judders while the Rascal does his slightly panicky yelp over the top, and it works because it’s utterly without side. It’s a shameless tilt at the No.1 spot. But it’s only that because Dizzee has worked himself into a position where he understands the tweaks that need to be made for full-on success – and they are just tweaks. Sonically, he’s always been a cartoon Public Enemy – blaring, intrusive noise, sharp lyrics, no let-up – but when he keeps it concise, gives it a hammy title and adjusts his flow into a chorus, Bob’s yer uncle. Sell-out? You bet.

And that much is obvious from Junior’s reaction. She can sing along with an alarming amount of this puppy-dog bouncer, and finds it absolutely side-splitting. You see, when you get to the bottom of it, it’s all big fun.

BONKERS:

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