Artist research - Dizzee Rascal

Dizzee Rascal was born as Dylan Kwabena Mills on 1 October 1985. He is a British rapper, songwriter and record producer of Nigerian and Ghanaian descent. His music is a blend of garage, hip hop, grime, ragga, pop and electronic music, with extremely eclectic samples and more exotic styles.

Dizzee was born in Bow, east London. His father died when he was young, and he was raised for most of his life in a single-parent family by his mother, Priscilla, who did the best she could for her rebellious son.

He attended a number of schools in East London, excluded from four secondary schools in four years - it was a teacher who first called him "Rascal". In early interviews he mentioned what his rebellion as a child included as he described himself fighting with teachers, stealing cars and robbing pizza delivery men. In the fifth school, Langdon Park in Poplar, he was excluded from most classes except music. He also used to attend YATI (Young Actors Theatre Islington). He began making music on the school's computer, encouraged by a music teacher and during the summer holidays attended a music workshop organised by Tower Hamlets Summer University of which he is now a patron.

Experimenting with his decks and styles, he became an amateur DJ, making occasional appearances on a local pirate radio station. Aged 16, he self-produced his first single, "I Luv U". In 2002, he jointly formed the Roll Deep Crew, a 13-piece garage collective, with former school friends. Signed by the XL record label, he signed an additional solo deal. After winning a Sidewinder Award for Best Newcomer MC in 2002, in June 2003 the re-recorded and re-produced by Jacob Freitt single I Luv U was released, becoming a Top 30 hit single.

Boy in da corner
Dizzee's first solo album, Boy in da Corner, was released in August 2003, entering the UK Top 40 at #40. The album peaked at #23. In the same week the album was released, while performing with Roll Deep Crew, the rapper was stabbed six times in Ayia Napa. Many newspapers suggested that this event was connected to an apparent feud between Dizzee and So Solid Crew, and him pinching Lisa Maffia's bottom. After Dizzee was hospitalised, So Solid Crew member "Megaman" was questioned about the incident, but was immediately released by Cypriot police. Following the success of single "I Luv U" and the album, the second single from Boy in da Corner was "Fix Up, Look Sharp". The single gave Dizzee his first UK Top 20 single and also became the biggest hit from his debut album. In September, Dizzee was awarded the Mercury Prize for the best album of 2003. Along with being picked as the #1 album of the year by Planet Sound, Boy in da Corner was also chosen as one of the top 50 albums of the year by Rolling Stone magazine. The third and final single, taken from his debut album, was "Jus' a Rascal", which became his fourth top 30 success. The song was also featured in the film "Kidulthood", released in 2006.



Showtime
His second album, Showtime, was released in September 2004, jumping ahead of his debut album by entering the UK Albums Chart at #8. The first single from the album, was titled Stand Up Tall; it was written and produced by dubstep DJ Youngsta and entered the UK Top 10. The second single "Dream", another top 20 hit, was released in November 2004. It sampled and used the chorus of Captain Sensible's song "Happy Talk". The "Dream" music video consisted of a mock 1950s style children's marionette show depicting scenes corresponding to the lyrics about Dizzee's youth; street culture, crime, single teenage mothers, pirate radio and garage clubs. Later in 2004, Dizzee Rascal was part of Band Aid 20, a group of British musicians who re-recorded "Do They Know It's Christmas?" but rather than singing his two lines, he rapped them. In 2004, Dizzee Rascal made an international endorsement deal with urban brand Eckō and designed his own shoe with Nike in 2005.

Maths + English
Dizzee's third album, Maths + English, was released on 4 June 2007. He stated in an interview before the album's release that "Maths" refers to producing, in terms of beats, deals and money and "English" to writing lyrics. The first single off this album, Sirens, was released on 21 May. In 2008, Dizzee Rascal recorded a song for suicide charity CALM; the song "Dean" was about a friend of his who took his own life. In December of that year, he was arrested following an alleged incident involving a baseball bat in Southeast London. He was released on bail to return to a police station later in December.

Tongue N' Cheek
Dizzee Rascal released his 4th album, Tongue N' Cheek, on 21 September 2009. It included his 4 number-one hits "Dance Wiv Me", "Holiday", "Bonkers" and "Dirtee Disco". Its release was announced on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, where Dizzee Rascal revealed some details about the album, including track information and production. Dizzee also confirmed in an interview on Radio One, that he would be leaving his grime roots behind, in favour of more mainstream pop. On the 16th February at the Brit Awards, Dizzee Rascal won the award for Best British Male.

He later performed a mash-up entitled "You Got the Dirtee Love" with Florence and the Machine. This collaboration was released as a charity single the following day and peaked at number 2 in the UK charts. On the 31st May 2010 Dizzee re-released the album Tongue N' Cheek with a few new tracks on which was released on 24 May 2010. It went straight to Number 1 on the UK singles chart and as a result gave Dizzee the record for the most number one singles on an album by solo male artist.

Dirtee Stank
Dizzee Rascal has created his own record label, called Dirtee Stank. It was not until 2005 that Dizzee Rascal really started with the label and made his first signings, Klass A and Newham Generals. The label's MySpace page states that the ethos of the company is "about bridging the gap between indie, majors and the street. Stank is the way forwards". The label's logo is a picture of flies circling faeces. When asked why this logo was chosen, Dizzee stated that it was the "streetest thing I could think of"

This is the performance of "You've got the dirtee love" at the BRIT awards by Dizzee Rascal and Florence and the machine: