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British rapper (born 1984)

Dylan Kwabena Mills (born 18 September 1984), known professionally as Dizzee Rascal, is a British rapper and MC. He is often credited as a pioneer of British hip hop and grime music and was ranked by Complex as one of the greatest British rappers of all time. His work has also incorporated elements of UK garage, bassline and R&B. Dizzee Rascal signed with XL Recordings in 2002 and released his debut album Boy in da Corner in 2003. It earned him the 2003 Mercury Prize, and has since been considered a grime classic. Follow up albums Showtime, Maths + English, and Tongue n' Cheek were critically praised and certified platinum, with Tongue n' Cheek going platinum for sales exceeding 300,000 units in the United Kingdom. He has achieved 5 UK number one singles, "Dance wiv Me", "Bonkers", "Holiday", "Dirtee Disco" and "Shout".

Dylan Kwabena Mills was born on 18 September 1984 in Bow, London. His Nigerian father died when Dizzee was young, and he was raised in Bow, in a single parent family, by his Ghanaian mother Priscilla, about whom he says, "I had issues as a kid. I was violent and disruptive. The way my mum helped was by finding me a different school every time I got kicked out, always fighting to keep me in the school system." He attended a series of schools in east London, including Langdon Park School, and was expelled from four of them, including St Paul's Way Community School. Reportedly, it was around this time that a teacher was the first to call him "Rascal". Cagey about exactly what Rascal's youthful "madnesses" entailed, in early interviews he mentioned fighting with teachers, stealing cars, and robbing pizza delivery men. He began making music on the school's computer, encouraged by his music teacher Joseph Robson, of which he is now a patron. Unusually among his friends, he read the heavy metal magazine Kerrang! and was a fan of the grunge band Nirvana. Aged sixteen, he self produced his first single, "I Luv U". During his early career, Rascal worked with his mentor Wiley to create the still unreleased song "We Ain't Having It" and rapped on some Sidewinder recordings. He made some instrumentals including "Go" and "Ho" and "Streetfighter". Rascal had an ongoing feud, from late 2003, with fellow underground grime artist Crazy Titch, which began when a fight broke out between the pair during a set on a guest show on the pirate radio station Deja Vu FM. The set, which features many seminal early grime artists, was filmed, and has accumulated over a million views on YouTube and resulted in the two exchanging diss tracks. After winning a Sidewinder Award for Best Newcomer MC in 2002, Dizzee was a judge on the Sky1 show Must Be The Music. He also did a verse on the Roll Deep remix of "Let's Push Things Forward" on the 2002 album Weak Become Heroes and 12" single by The Streets.

Dizzee's first solo album, Boy in da Corner, was released to universal critical acclaim in August 2003, entering the UK Top 40 at #40. The album would peak at #23. In the same week the album was released, whilst performing with Roll Deep Crew in Cyprus, Dizzee was stabbed six times. 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, 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. His unique style, as "words pour out at a high pitch and pace, as if syllables are the only thing that can hold back a scream", have given him a sound that hip hop heads can embrace as something new and original in the hip hop scene. Later in the year he collaborated with the Basement Jaxx on their third album, Kish Kash on the track "Lucky Star". The track 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 film Kidulthood released in 2006. "Jezebel" was not a single from the album, but was well received, gaining exposure 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. He made his US concert debut on 7 February 2004 at Volume in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

In 2004, Dizzee Rascal won the NME Award for Innovation. His second album, Showtime, was released in September of the same year, eclipsing the peak of his debut album by entering the UK Albums Chart at #8. The first single from the album, released two weeks earlier in August 2004, was titled "Stand Up Tall"; it was written and produced by grime producer DJ Youngstar of Pulse X. The title track was featured on the soundtrack for the first FIFA Street video game. 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 makers of 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 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?" 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; this would mark the first time that Dizzee reached the number one spot in the UK Singles Chart, albeit as part of the ensemble. In 2004, Dizzee Rascal made an international endorsement deal with urban brand Eckō Unltd. and designed his own shoe with Nike in 2005. and "English" to writing lyrics. The first single off this album, "Sirens", was released on 21 May. The album was one of the 12 nominees for the 2007 Mercury Prize, which ultimately went to Klaxons' album Myths of the Near Future. During the year, Dizzee worked with cross genre artist Beck on a remix of the song "Hell Yes", and 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 was featured as "Temptation" on his third album. The official US album was released on 29 April 2008; it contained two tracks not on the European release, but it did not include the track "Pussyole'". It was Dizzee's first album to be released under the Definitive Jux label. In 2008, Rascal recorded a song for suicide charity CALM; the song "Dean" was about a friend of Dizzee's 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.

Dizzee Rascal released his fourth studio album, Tongue n' Cheek, on 21 September 2009. It included his four number one hits "Dance wiv Me", "Bonkers (with Armand Van Helden), "Holiday" 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. In a collaboration track with Chase & Status titled "Heavy", Dizzee Rascal said, "Grime had a little time without me still no grime without me, No life without me, no Risky Roadz, no Grime Daily" seemingly seeking to create the impression that grime had petered out since he left the scene. On 23 May 2008, Calvin Harris, whom he collaborated with on the number one hit "Dance Wiv Me", revealed on his Twitter that he was producing a Dizzee track; at the Evolution Festival in Newcastle, and when on tour supporting The Prodigy, he confirmed that two new singles called "Road Rage" and "Dirtee Cash", both of which featured on the album, would be released. "Dirtee Cash" peaked at No. 10 and Road Rage was never released as a single. At the 30th annual 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 31 May 2010 Dizzee re released the album Tongue n' Cheek with a few new tracks including "Dirtee Disco", which was released on 24 May 2010. The track went to number 1 on the UK Singles Chart. In August 2010, it was revealed that he was to collaborate with Colombian popstar Shakira on the English version of "Loca", the lead single of her album Sale el Sol. He stated that "I know it sounds a bit mad now, but you'll see it and see what's going on, it's me doing something different man, on a merengue tip". On the week of 14 October 2010, Dizzee made his first appearance on the US Billboard Hot 100 after the song peaked number 32. On 6 February 2011, it was announced Dizzee would support the Red Hot Chili Peppers at their Knebworth House show in the summer.

On New Year's Day 2011, Dizzee Rascal released DirteeTV. com alongside the Newham Generals, D Double E and Footsie. The 25 track mixtape was released as a free download, and included features from fellow rappers JME, Kano, Scrufizzer, Example, Rapid, Chronik, Hyper and Smurfie Syco. The mixtape featured new and old tracks by Dizzee Rascal. In 2012 he was also expected to have a collaboration with Snoop Dogg on either his new album or Snoop Dogg's new album Reincarnated. His first collaboration with DJ Fresh, "The Power" was the third single from Fresh's third studio album, released in September 2012. Dizzee performed during the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics. On Calvin Harris's third studio album, 18 Months, Dizzee Rascal paired up with Harris and Dillon Francis to create the track "Here 2 China". Dizzee Rascal's album The Fifth was released in 2013. The lead single was "Goin' Crazy" featuring Robbie Williams.

In June 2016, Dizzee Rascal collaborated with Calvin Harris for the third time on the single "Hype", which reached number 34 on the UK charts. A year later, he released the single "Space" with a livestreamed teaser trailer and announced his sixth studio album, titled Raskit, which was released on 21 July 2017, peaking at number 10 on the UK albums chart. Later that year, he collaborated with French rapper Orelsan on the song "Zone" (also featuring Nekfeu). Dizzee Rascal released an EP titled Don't Gas Me in September 2018. The EP also marked the first time Dizzee and Skepta worked on a track together, releasing Money Right which peaked at number 68 on the UK singles chart. He also began appearing in Ladbrokes adverts on television, with "Bonkers" playing in the background. In August 2020 Dizzee Rascal announced his seventh studio album, titled E3 AF, which was then released on 30 October 2020. The album peaked at number 13 on the UK albums chart. In November 2023, he released a single titled "How Did I Get So Calm" from his forthcoming eighth studio album "Don't Take It Personal", which released on 9 February 2024.

When starting to make music in his teenage years, Dizzee Rascal "learned to rap fast" over drum and bass tracks with 170 180 bpm, in contrast to the slower tempos of UK Garage. Dizzee Rascal once told author Ben Thompson in an interview with The Observer magazine that "everything I do is for the music – I want to master it like Bruce Lee mastered martial arts". Dizzee Rascal worked closely with his mentor Wiley, who created one of the first grime tracks, called "Eskimo". In 2005, music critic Sasha Frere Jones observed that despite Dizzee's large mainstream exposure, grime still was not having a commercial breakthrough in the US, although it was "becoming familiar". Andy Bennett and Jon Stratton highlight in the book Britpop and the English Music Tradition (2010) how Dizzee Rascal alongside Sway and M. I. A. created music that explored new soundscapes with new technologies, with lyrics expressing anger at Britain's "racialized" subordination of minority groups and that the innovation that generates new musical forms like grime and dubstep that are, inevitably, politically engaged. The chart success of grime influenced artists like him is heralded as a signal in the way that white Britons are adapting to a new multicultural and plural musical mix in contrast to previous bands.

The first white label release of "I Luv U" was made on Rascal's own label, 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 30 September 2005, that Dizzee Rascal 'revived' the label and made his first signings, Klass A and Newham Generals. The label was formed and is owned by Dizzee Rascal, and is co run by Dizzee's manager, Cage, label manager, Laurence Ezra, tour manager Paddy Stewart and executive producer Teriy Keys. 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." In 2014, Merky ACE was added to the Dirtee Stank line up.

During the 2008 US presidential elections, Dizzee gave a live interview to Newsnight presenter Jeremy Paxman, in which he described Barack Obama as "an immediate symbol of unity". Addressed by Paxman as "Mr Rascal" at one point, he said he felt that hip hop played an important part in encouraging young voters and humorously suggested that he could well one day become Prime Minister.

In March 2005, Dizzee Rascal was arrested for allegedly carrying a section five firearm after a search during a car stop in east London; he was found to be in possession of pepper spray. The driver of the car was also arrested after being found in possession of pepper spray, an ASP baton and cannabis. In February 2008, Dizzee Rascal's ex girlfriend, model Kaya Bousquet, whom he had dated for two years, died in a high speed crash on the M1 motorway. Later that year in December he was arrested and held on suspicion of possessing an offensive weapon after allegedly approaching a motorist with a baseball bat in a road rage incident at Sevenoaks Way, Orpington. Dizzee Rascal said in 2010 that he planned not to use drugs or alcohol at all in the future. He told The Independent, "I'm not having any alcohol. No weed. I'm not doing anything – except some boxing to release energy." In 2011, however, when asked what his favourite drink was during an interview with GQ, he answered "Do I drink [alcohol] now? To be honest with you, the whole living clean vibe didn't last long. My biggest mistake was probably saying it in an interview, to be fair. I tried living mad clean – but I like partying as much as anyone else." In November 2013, Rascal received an honorary Doctorate of the Arts from the University of East London. He was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2020 Birthday Honours for services to music. On 7 March 2022, Dizzee Rascal was convicted of assaulting his former partner Cassandra Jones at a property in Streatham on 8 June 2021, after a 'chaotic argument'. Upon leaving court, he knocked a camera from a Press Association photographer's hands and threw it across the street. He received a community order, which included a 24 week curfew, as well as a restraining order prohibiting him from contacting Jones for a period of 12 months. An appeal against his conviction was dismissed in January 2023.

YearAwardCategoryNominee/workResultRef.2003BT Digital Music AwardsBest Use of MobileBoy in da CornerMercury PrizeBest Album of the YearUrban Music AwardsBest NewcomerHimselfMOBO AwardsBest NewcomerBest Garage Act2004NME AwardsInnovationMOBO AwardsUK Act of the YearBrit AwardsBest British Breakthrough ActBest British Male Best British Urban ActIvor Novello AwardsBest Contemporary Song"Jus' a Rascal"Q AwardsBest AlbumShowtime2005Brit AwardsBest British Urban Act HimselfHip Hop Album of the YearArtist of the YearHimselfNew Artist of the YearMale Artist of the Year2006Brit AwardsBest British Urban ActBest Hip Hop ActBest Single"Sirens"Best VideoAntville Music Video AwardsBest Narrative VideoMercury Prize Best Album of the YearMaths + English2008MOBO AwardsBest UK MaleHimselfBest Hip Hop ActBest Single"Dance wiv Me" (with Calvin Harris)Popjustice £20 Music PrizeBest British Pop Single Rober Awards Music Prize Best Music Video"Toe Jam" (with The BPA & David Byrne) UK Music Video AwardsBest Dance VideoBest Urban Video"Sirens"2009Urban Music AwardsBest MaleHimselfMOBO AwardsBest UK ActBest Hip Hop ActBest Video"Bonkers"Brit AwardsBest British Single of the Year"Dance wiv Me" (with Calvin Harris)MTV Video Music Awards JapanBest Dance Video"Toe Jam" (with The BPA & David Byrne)Q AwardsBest Video"Holiday"Best Track"Bonkers"The Record of the YearRecord of the YearUK Music Video AwardsBest Dance Video2010BT Digital Music AwardsBest Independent ArtistHimselfBest Male ArtistMOBO AwardsBest UK ActBest Video"Dirtee Disco"Best AlbumTongue N' CheekMercury PrizeBest Album of the YearUK Music Video AwardsBest Music Advertisement – Television or OnlineMusic Producers Guild AwardsUK Album of the YearIvor Novello AwardsAlbum AwardBest Contemporary Song"Bonkers"Brit AwardsBest British Album of the YearHimself2012Q AwardsBest Solo Artist2013Antville Music Video AwardsBest Commissioning ArtistCamerimageBest Music Video"Bassline Junkie"MOBO AwardsBest VideoUK Music Video AwardsBest Urban Video – UK"I Don't Need a Reason"Best Art Direction & Design in a Video"Goin' Crazy" (with Robbie Williams)Best Pop Video – UK"Wild" (with Jessie J & Big Sean)Best Editing in a Video 2014BET Awards Best International Act: UK HimselfHungarian Music AwardsRap/Hip Hop Album of the Year The Fifth2015UK Music Video AwardsBest Urban Video – UK"Couple of Stacks""Pagans"2018Berlin Music Video AwardsBest Narrative"Bop N' Keep It Dippin"UK Music Video AwardsBest Urban Video – UKBest Styling in a VideoWebby AwardsBest Music Video2019Berlin Music Video AwardsBest Narrative"Money Right" (with Skepta)D&AD AwardsBest Production DesignUK Music Video AwardsBest Production Design in a VideoWebby AwardsBest Music Video 2023The National Film AwardsBest Supporting Actor in a TV Series"Jungle"