Born Dilan Mills on October the 1st, 1985 in East London, Dizzee Rascal grew up in an East London council estate, as the son of a single mom, an immigrant from Ghana.
Dilan’s dad died when he was only 2..
Dilan owes a lot to one of his teachers who took his talent into consideration and who allowed him to skip classes and to spend time studying the music on school computers.
Dizzee Rascal originally comes from the UK Garage scene. What is Garage music? It is merely electronic dance music connected to house and disco.
Dizzee Rascal started emceeing at the age of 15.
How does Dizzee Rascal sound?
If you are used to listening to US rap (like me), you might be very surprised, because Dizzee’s musical background doesn’t resemble usual hip hop tracks. His instrumentals are mostly made of an electronic background. Dizzee Rascal’s speedy delivery will probably impress most of you. Dizzee spits with an offensive spirit and a lot of confidence.
Musical career of an uprising star
In 2002, Dizzee Rascal won an award for the best « newcomer MC ».
In 2003, he released his debut album Boy In Da Corner that was successful and reach the UK top 40.
On July 2003, Dizzee Rascal was stabbed while spending his holidays in Cyprus.
The stabbing is probably linked with a rival UK hip hop crew.
Dizzee Rascal is known for his incisive words and his criticism of English society. Dizzee Rascal doesn’t shy away from speaking his mind about Queen Elizabeth:
“Queen Elizabeth don’t know me so how can she control me, When I live street and she lives neat”.
His single « I Luv U » was very successful.
Dizzee also collaborated with Basement Jaxx on the track Lucky Star.
Another track, taken out of his Boy In Da Corner album, Just A Rascal, reached the top 30.
In September 2003, at the age of 19, Dizzee Rascal won the prestigious Mercury Prize.
Overwhelming success
In 2004, Dylan Mills won another award: the NME award for Innovation.
In September 2004, his second album entitled Showtime, came out. Dizzee’s first single, Stand Up Tall, reached the top 10 in no time. The second single, Dream was released in November 2004.
In 2004, Dizzee Rascal collaborated with Band Aid 20, a group of British musicians.
In March 2005, Dizzee released a double ‘a’ side single, Off 2 Work” / “Graftin’.
The same year Dizzee Rascal also worked on setting up his own label, Dirtee Stank.
Upcoming album
Dizzee Rascal has been kept busy working on a third album, Maths and English. The title Dizzee has chosen for his upcoming album symbolizes the technical part like beats (Maths) and English the rhymes known as the lyrical part of his album.
Hungry for more Dizzee Rascal? Check out the UK phenomenon here.