“Fix Up Look Sharp” by Dizzee Rascal

"Fix Up, Look Sharp" was the second single from Boy in da Corner, Dizzee Rascal's debut album, hitting the streets on XL Recordings on 18 August 2003 hot on the heels of "I Luv U". Dizzee wrote and produced it, with Cage handling additional production, engineering and the mix, and he built it on a heist: both the music and the vocals of "The Big Beat" by the American rocker Billy Squier, sampled and turned into something for a British MC to rhyme over.

Sparse, bruising and strangely catchy, it became the album's biggest seller, reaching 17 on the UK Singles Chart and going gold, and critics praised the production as something new. It remains one of the best-known uses of the Squier track, and in 2011 NME slotted it in at 25 when it counted down the 150 finest tracks of a 15-year span.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.