Dylan Mills, known professionally as Dizzee Rascal (born November 1, 1985), is a grime solo artist, formerly a Roll Deep crew member, who emerged from the UK Garage music scene. His music was a blend of garage MCing, conventional rap, grime and ragga, with some more eclectic samples.
Dizzee began MCing on pirate radio and at raves at fifteen, but since his mainstream success he has distanced himself from the fledgling scene. Rascal grew up in the East End of London in south Bow in a council estate, raised by his single mother, a Ghanaian immigrant. Little is known about his father, though it is thought that he died when Mills was two. He attributes his musical development to a school teacher who allowed him to skip regular classes and spend time working on music on the school computers.
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 version of rapping (known as 'spitting') which blends elements from garage MCing, conventional rap, grime and ragga.
Dizzee Rascal has numerous rivals within the Grime scene, mainly from the Bow, East London area. A notable rival of Dizzee Rascal is Crazy Titch who produced and recorded a diss called "Just An Arsehole" which used the backing track of Dizzee's record of "Jus A Rascal".
Dizzee Rascal has had international endorsements deals with urban brand Ecko and designed his own shoe with Nike. He has also worked with cross genre artist, Beck, on a remix of the song Hell Yes.
He released his debut album in 2003, which was called Boy In Da Corner, winning him the 2003 Mercury Prize. His second album Showtime was released in 2004. His third effort, Maths and English was released in 2007. All three albums received critical acclaim. He experienced commercial success in 2008 when Dance Wiv Me reached the number one spot in the UK charts. His fourth album, Tongue n' Cheek was released in 2009, going platinum for sales exceeding 300,000 units in the UK. Dizzee Rascal's album The Fifth was released in 2013, the same year he received an honorary Doctorate of the Arts from the University of East London.
Discography:
Studio albums:
2003: Boy in da Corner
2004: Showtime
2007: Maths + English
2009: Tongue n' Cheek
2013: The Fifth.
Dizzee began MCing on pirate radio and at raves at fifteen, but since his mainstream success he has distanced himself from the fledgling scene. Rascal grew up in the East End of London in south Bow in a council estate, raised by his single mother, a Ghanaian immigrant. Little is known about his father, though it is thought that he died when Mills was two. He attributes his musical development to a school teacher who allowed him to skip regular classes and spend time working on music on the school computers.
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 version of rapping (known as 'spitting') which blends elements from garage MCing, conventional rap, grime and ragga.
Dizzee Rascal has numerous rivals within the Grime scene, mainly from the Bow, East London area. A notable rival of Dizzee Rascal is Crazy Titch who produced and recorded a diss called "Just An Arsehole" which used the backing track of Dizzee's record of "Jus A Rascal".
Dizzee Rascal has had international endorsements deals with urban brand Ecko and designed his own shoe with Nike. He has also worked with cross genre artist, Beck, on a remix of the song Hell Yes.
He released his debut album in 2003, which was called Boy In Da Corner, winning him the 2003 Mercury Prize. His second album Showtime was released in 2004. His third effort, Maths and English was released in 2007. All three albums received critical acclaim. He experienced commercial success in 2008 when Dance Wiv Me reached the number one spot in the UK charts. His fourth album, Tongue n' Cheek was released in 2009, going platinum for sales exceeding 300,000 units in the UK. Dizzee Rascal's album The Fifth was released in 2013, the same year he received an honorary Doctorate of the Arts from the University of East London.
Discography:
Studio albums:
2003: Boy in da Corner
2004: Showtime
2007: Maths + English
2009: Tongue n' Cheek
2013: The Fifth.
Hip Hop Grime British Rap
News
Past Events
- Boardmasters 2021
- Kendal Calling 2021
- Tramlines 2021
- Doune The Rabbit Hole 2021
- SW4 2020
- Boardmasters 2020
- Tramlines 2020
- Kendal Calling 2020
- Glastonbury Festival 2020
- Southbeats Festival 2019
- Fusion Festival 2019
- Boardmasters 2019
- Weekender Jersey 2018
- SW4 2018
- MADE Festival 2018
- NASS 2018
- Mutiny Festival 2018
- Bestival 2017
- Electric Fields 2017
- V Festival (Staffordshire) 2017
- V Festival (Chelmsford) 2017
- Glastonbury Festival 2017
- Wild Life 2017
- We Are FSTVL 2017
- Sundown Festival 2016
- SW4 2016
- Forgotten Fields 2016
- Tramlines 2016
- On The Pitch 2016
- Shrewsbury Fields Forever 2016
- Blissfields Festival 2016
- Love Saves The Day 2016
- We Luv Festival 2016
- The Big Feastival 2015
- Brownstock Festival 2014
- Y-Not Festival 2014
- The Wickerman Festival 2014
- T in the Park 2013
- Glastonbury Festival 2013
- Shakedown 2012
- Sundown Festival 2012
- Relentless Boardmasters 2012
- Kendal Calling Festival 2012
- Splendour Festival 2012
- Wakestock 2012
- Beach Break Live 2012
- Park Life Weekender 2012
- Evolution Festival 2012
- V Festival Stafford 2011
- V Festival Chelmsford 2011
- Belsonic Festival 2011
- Bestival 2010
- Leeds Festival 2010
- Reading Festival 2010
- Global Gathering 2010
- Lovebox 2010
- T In the Park 2010
- Glastonbury 2010
- Radio 1 Big Weekend 2010
- Jersey Live 2009
- Creamfields 2009
- V-Festival 2009
- Radio 1 Big Weekend 2009