DIZZEE RASCAL

'Dylan Mills', known professionally as 'Dizzee Rascal' (born 1985 in Bow, East London)^[1], is a Mercury Prize-winning English MC/rapper and producer. His (largely self-composed) music is a blend of garage MCing, conventional rap, grime and ragga, with extremely eclectic samples and more exotic styles.

Contents

Biography

Boy In Da Corner

Showtime

Maths and English

Dirtee Stank

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

External links

Biography

Dizzee Rascal grew up in the East End of London in south Bow in a council estate. As a teenager, he was detained for stealing cars and robbing a pizza deliveryman, and expelled from four high schools. A sympathetic music teacher introduced him to music production on a school computer. He began MCing on pirate radio and at raves at fifteen, but since his mainstream success he has distanced himself from the fledgling scene. He used to be a member of the Roll Deep crew, until a conflict with former friend Wiley.
His music is an eclectic mixture of garage and hip-hop beats with an extremely broad palette of influences, ranging from metal guitars to found sounds, drill and bass synth lines, eclectic samples and even Japanese court music. His vocal performance is also distinctive, he uses a fast style of rapping which blends elements from garage MCing, conventional rap, grime and ragga.
In 2004, Dizzee Rascal made an international endorsement deal with urban brand Eckō and designed his own shoe with Nike in 2005.
Dizzee worked with cross genre artist Beck on a remix of the song Hell Yes.
Dizzee has also provided guest vocals on an Arctic Monkeys track, the B-Side to their single Brianstorm named 'Temptation Greets You Like Your Naughty Friend'. Dizzee's version of the same song is featured as "Temptation" on his album Maths and English.
His acting debut came in a cameo appearance in London-based black gangster film Rollin' With The Nines (2006) where he played a drug dealer.

Boy In Da Corner

Dizzee Rascal on the cover of his 2003 album ''Boy in Da Corner''

After winning a Sidewinder award for 'best newcomer MC' in 2002, his album ''Boy in Da Corner'' was released to universal critical acclaim in August 2003, entering the UK top 40 at #40. The album later reached #23. The album was preceded in June 2003 by the top 30 hit single ''I Luv U'', a tale of accidental teenage pregnancy. In the same year the rapper was stabbed five times in Ayia Napa. Many tabloids suggested that this event was connected to an apparent feud between Dizzee and UK Top 40-topping garage act So Solid Crew. Dizzee has been described as "''the vital unvarnished voice of modern-day inner-city London''" , and social commentary is usually present in most of his tracks. Despite the often serious content of his music, there are frequently humorous elements to be found.
Following the success of the ''I Luv U'' single and the album, the second single from ''Boy in Da Corner'' was ''Fix Up, Look Sharp''. The single, released in August 2003, gave Dizzee his first UK top 20 single and also became the biggest hit from his debut album. In September, Dizzee was awarded the prestigious Mercury Prize for the best album of 2003. He was the youngest person (at 19) to do so and the second rapper (after Ms. Dynamite the previous year). The album was also chosen as the #1 album of the year by Planet Sound.
Later in the year he collaborated with the Basement Jaxx on their third album, ''Kish Kash'' on the track ''Lucky Star''. The track, which was released as a single in November 2003 and gave Dizzee his third top 30 hit. 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 movie Kidulthood, released in 2006.
''Jezebel'' was never released from the album ''Boy in Da Corner'', but was well received and was exposed to well reviews and popularity on the underground scene. The song told the tale of a young London girl, who through years of going to parties, getting drunk, doing drugs and having sex earned herself the title Jezebel, translated as a slut, slag, whore etc. The fictional girl in the story was a teenage mother to two little girls, who would no doubt grow up to be just like their mother. Dizzee wrote the song as an account of his real life and the types of people that surrounded him.
He made his U.S. concert debut on February 7, 2004 at Volume in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn.

Showtime

Dizzee Rascal on the cover of his 2004 album ''Showtime''

In 2004, Dizzee Rascal won The NME award for Innovation. His second album, Showtime, came out in September of the same year, eclipsing the peak of his debut album by entering the UK album chart at #8. The first single from the album, released two weeks earlier in August 2004, was titled ''Stand Up Tall''. This track gave Dizzee his highest charting single to date, managing to enter the UK top 10. This song was written and produced by Jasal.
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'', originally from the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, ''South Pacific''. The ''Dream'' music video consisted of a mock 1950s style children's marionette show depicting scenes corresponding to the lyrics about Mills' East London 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?'' He did not sing in the song; rather, he rapped two lines of it ("''Spare a thought this yuletide for the deprived, if the table was turned would you survive?''" and "''You ain't gotta feel guilt just selfless, give a little help to the helpless''"). Dizzee Rascal was the first person to add to the song since the original was released.
In March 2005, the Double A-side single ''Off 2 Work'' / ''Graftin'' was released. ''Graftin' was the third and final single from the ''Showtime'' album, whilst "Off 2 Work" was a new track that did not appear on either of his albums. The accompanying music video featured Rascal in various ordinary workplace situations (as a policeman, a fast food vendor, a businessman, etc.) and ''PM Dizzee Rascal'' announcing his engagement to Cherie Blair. This was Dizzee's lowest charting single and smallest hit to date, peaking outside the UK top 40 at #44.
Since, he has been busy setting up his own record label 'Dirtee Stank' and signing MC acts from across the country, most notably the 'Newham Generals' from the Grime Scene.

Maths and English

Dizzee Rascal on the cover of his 2007 album ''Maths + English''

Dizzee's third album ''Maths and English'' was released on June 4, 2007. He stated in an interview before the album's release that "Maths" refers to producing and "English" to writing lyrics.^[2] The first single off this album, ''Sirens'', was released on May 21.
''Maths and English'' was one of the 12 nominees for the 2007 Mercury Prize, which went to The Klaxons' album ''Myths of the Near Future''.^[3]

Dirtee Stank

Dizzee Rascal has created his own record label, called “Dirtee Stank” (He is not signed to it, however). Dizzee Rascal's explanation of the name: "''The name came from one of the first lyrics I had: "going on dirty/going on stank...So I thought ‘yeah fuck it, Dirtee Stank.’''""^[4] Dizzee has stated "I had Dirtee Stank before I had my record deal". The first white label release of 'I Luv U' was made on Dirtee Stank, released when he was 16 . Although both of his albums and their subsequent singles have been released under XL Recordings. It was not until 2005 that Dizzee Rascal ‘revived’ the label and made his first signings, Klass A,^[5] and Newham Generals. Dizzee has stated the ethos of the company is “The label is about bridging the gap between indies, 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: “gulliest thing I could think of".
The label was formed and is owned by Dizzee Rascal, and is co-run by Dizzee's manager, Cage. According to Cage, Dirtee Stank exists to promote gifted artists with "social problems" that might scare off other labels. "People who, through the conditions they live in, might not be stable." The label should also help artists overcome hurdles such as access to studios that "take something from a raw demo to something people will get excited about on the street".
The Newham Generals' mixtape "Welcome to Newham" and their debut album ''Generally Speaking'' were supposed to have been release in 2006 on Dirtee Stank.
As of September 12th 2006 a notice on Dizzee's official site reports on the availability of Newham Generals' mixtape ''Best of Newham Generals Vol. 1'' both in stores and online. The mixtape apparently features "''20 classic shower NG tracks and 20 mins enhanced CD feat videos, interviews, live footage and da Raskit''".

Discography

Albums

★ 2003: ''Boy in Da Corner'' (#23 UK)Platinum

★ 2004: ''Showtime'' (#8 UK)Platinum

★ 2007: ''Maths and English'' (#7 UK)

Singles

Year	Title	Chart positions		Album
		UK Singles Chart	UK Indie Singles Chart
2003	''I Luv U''	29	-	''Boy in Da Corner''
	''Fix Up, Look Sharp''	17	-	''Boy in Da Corner''
	''Lucky Star (Basement Jaxx featuring Dizzee Rascal)	23	-	''Kish Kash''
	''Jus' a Rascal''	30	-	''Boy in Da Corner''
	''Do They Know It's Christmas?'' ''(as part of Band Aid 20)''	1	-	—
2004	''Stand Up Tall''	10	-	''Showtime''
	''Dream''	14	-	''Showtime''
	''Off 2 Work / Graftin'''	44	-	''Showtime''
2007	''Sirens''	20	-	''Maths and English''
	''Pussy'ole (Old Skool)''	19	1	''Maths and English''

Notes
a. Downloads only

References

1. Matthew McKinnon: ''Grime Wave''. CBC.ca May 5 2005
2. http://www.leftlion.co.uk/articles.cfm/id/1001
3. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=ak1CuHOGlhqs&refer=home
4. http://www.myspace.com/dirteestankrecordings Accessed September 7, 2007
5. Dizzee Rascal seeks new urban artists

External links

; Official sites

★ Official Website

★ XL Recordings — Official Record Company Web Page