Diesle D-Power

A veteran of the U.K. grime scene, D Power Diesle (fka Diesle D-Power, DJ Diesle) had a storied career within the genre, both as an artist and as part of underground radio station Deja Vu FM. After years of work as founding member of group D Power, the musician embarked on his solo career in the 2010s and 2020s, releasing a string of dynamic mixtapes and EPs. Initially recording under the alias DJ Diesle, D Power Diesle kicked off his musical career in the early 2000s, recording singles like "Wah" (2001) and "Salsa" (2004) alongside artists like Sharkie Major and Maxwell D. After forming the group D Power ­(Diesle, Jookie Mundo, Fumin, Top Kat, Stutta), Diesle issued the group's first mixtape, Power Moves, Vol. 1, in 2007. Honing their explosive group dynamic over the raw sonics of early grime, D Power found particular success with single "Let It Go," a lyrical barrage set at a breakneck pace. Emboldened by their success, the group issued Power Moves, Vol. 2 the following year, this time with a stable of features including Wiley, Flowdan, and Skepta, among others. This was followed by the group's last release under their initial lineup, The Power Mix CD, Vol. 1, which pulled together material from D Power and their collaborators. After finding early success under D Power, Diesle embarked on a solo venture in the 2010s, appearing regularly on essential radio shows like Lord of the Mics and Rinse FM. During this time, he dropped three mixtapes -- Progress, Progress 2 (2013), and Progress 3 (2014) -- as well as a plethora of collaborations with Footsie, Frisco, and Flowdan, among others. After working with D Double E on 2015 anthem "See No Evil," Diesle continued through the mid-2010s with a run of key singles, culminating in the Shelly EP in late 2017. Though the rapper released infrequently toward the end of the decade, he consolidated his release strategy in early 2020, dropping five singles including the Skepta-assisted "Sniper." Four of these landed on the rapper's eight-track EP Graphene, Vol. 1 (2020), a showcase of Diesle's authoritative flows and modernized grime sonics. ~ David Crone