He may not have sold the venue out, but at last night's electrifying show, Dizzee Rascal did more than enough to confirm his status as London's number one rapper.

Showcasing material from his acclaimed third album, the young Londoner showed not only his unwavering technical tightness and showmanship but also the fact that his latest composition represent a natural progression from his previous work.

Accompanied on stage by a charismatic "hype man", someone to whip up the crowd while the main attraction was catching his breath, Dizzee Rascal's beats were ably provided by the excellent DJ Semtex, whose operation of the cross-fader with his mouth has for many years maintained his status as one of the capital's most in-demand hip hop DJs, making his lack of a right arm largely unimportant.

Opening with old favourite, Just A Rascal, Dizzee had the crowd on his side from the word go, his complex delivery precise as the grimey beats rolled gloriously behind him.

It was his live energy and mastery of those sophisticated poetic stanzas that characterised his show as he moved smoothly on to the party-rocking phenomenon that was Temptation, featuring a judiciously-chosen sample from the Arctic Monkeys.

Another treat from the new album was the sinister but brilliant Sirens, a track revealing the grim realities of street crime from the perspective of a feral mugger.

Stripped to the waist by now, the Rascal revealed that his body, like his music, has become leaner and stronger.

As he belted out his first hit, Fix Up, Look Sharp, the crowd sang not only with the chorus, but with any line he threw at them.

The frenzied atmosphere went up a notch when Semtex threw on the beat from Lean Back, a 2006 club classic from New York's Fat Joe.

Dizzee rapped over it with ease before moving on to the drum & bass of Da Feelin'.

Pussy 'Ole, a mean-spirited rant directed against former mentor, Wiley, may embody some of the most negative elements of rap, but with its bass-heavy re-interpretation of It Takes Two, that classic by Rob Base and DJ EZ Rock, it was impossible to deny the song's power.

He may not be perfect, but the king of London rap has never sounded better.