Dizzee Rascal

Dizzee Rascal is easily the most acclaimed and influential artist associated with London’s grime scene, and one of the most successful British rappers of all time. His widely praised 2003 debut, Boy in da Corner, released when the innovative MC and producer was only 18, won the U.K.’s prestigious Mercury Prize and remains the definitive grime full-length. Since then, he’s catapulted to international stardom, working with artists such as Calvin Harris, Arctic Monkeys, and Shakira, and scoring four U.K. number one hits off his fourth album, 2009′s dance-oriented Tongue N' Cheek. Another chart-friendly release, 2013′s The Fifth, sported hit collaborations with will.i.am and Robbie Williams. He then returned to his earlier grime sound with subsequent albums Raskit (2017) and E3 AF (2020).
Born Dylan Mills, Dizzee Rascal grew up in a council estate in East London and was raised an only child by his mother. He didn’t fare well in school — he was booted from several of them, often for altercations with teachers. When he wasn’t in school, he got himself into more trouble by robbing pizza deliverers and stealing cars. One particular music class, however, proved to be a safe haven and helped push him in an alternate direction. With support from his instructor, he began making his own productions on a classroom computer. He made noisy, off-kilter tracks to back his own MCing, since he found that the average garage track was unsuitable for his style of delivery. Taking cues from a host of admired U.S. MCs, Mills began to develop his songwriting skills, which took on an increasingly introspective quality. He was no stranger to making boastful pronouncements, but he drew from his own life and various mind states in a way that few other MCs — regardless of background and nationality — had done before.
When Mills recorded the underground white-label single “I Luv U,” he had just started to make a name for himself in the U.K. garage scene as a member of Roll Deep Crew. He, his fellow crew members, and a cast of other groups and MCs were building on a more aggressive and abrasive offshoot of relatively slick, R&B-oriented garage that would come to be referred to as grime. “I Luv U” became one of grime’s key singles and paved the way for Mills’ first full-length album, which was routinely praised by critics upon initial release in July 2003. In what might have initially seemed like a press stunt to cynics, Mills was stabbed several times while visiting Ayia Napa, a resort in Cyprus, just before its street date. He made a safe recovery, picked up the 2003 Mercury Prize a couple months later, guested on Basement Jaxx’s Kish Kash, and saw his album receive a U.S. release in January 2004. He became more of an underground sensation stateside; Anglophiles with an equal love for dance music and hip-hop tended to embrace him, while others found themselves baffled by all of the hype.
In September 2004, Dizzee released his second album, Showtime, his first Top Ten hit in the U.K. He broadened his sound (and his guest list) with 2007′s Maths + English, featuring UGK, Alex Turner, and Lily Allen. Between the release of the two albums, he set up a fledgling label for younger talent called Dirtee Stank. In 2009, he returned with Tongue N' Cheek, which featured the U.K. number one singles “Bonkers” (with Armand Van Helden), “Dance wiv Me” (with Calvin Harris), “Holiday,” and “Dirtee Disco.” One year later, Dizzee Rascal won the Brit Award for Best British Male Artist, while a collaboration with Shakira for the single “Loca” saw him enter the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 for the first time. Jessie Ware, Robbie Williams, will.i.am, and others landed on 2013′s The Fifth, a more pop-infused album that featured the single “Superman.”
The next few years were relatively quiet for Mills until 2016, when his estranged friend and fellow rapper Wiley disclosed what happened all those years ago in Ayia Napa. Wiley attributed some of the blame for Mills’ stabbing to his own behavior, and unsurprisingly, Dizzee Rascal hit the headlines again. By the summer of 2017, the focus had turned back to Dizzee’s music rather than his backstory; he released the single “Space” and announced his first record in four years. His sixth studio album, Raskit, was released that same summer through Dirtee Stank Recordings and Island Records. In stark contrast to his previous pop-focused full-lengths, Raskit was a return to the hardcore sound of Boy in da Corner. The 2018 single “Money Right” saw Dizzee collaborating with Skepta. Its parent EP, Don't Gas Me, drew from jungle and bassline house. After featuring on Big Tobz’s 2020 cut “Smoke,” he collaborated with Smoke Boys on “Act Like You Know” and Chip on “L.L.L.L. (Love Life Live Large).” The latter two tracks appeared on Dizzee’s seventh album, E3 AF, a reference to the postal code of the East London district where he grew up. ~ Andy Kellman & Paul Simpson