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About Dizzee Rascal
Born as Dylan Kwabena
Mills on November 1st
1985, in Bow London,
Rascal was raised in a
council estate by his
single mother. His
father is thought to
have died when Mills was
2. Being expelled from
four secondary schools
in the span of four
years for his excesses,
Mills attended several
schools in east London,
often being called a
rascal by his teachers.
In his fifth school,
Langdon Park, in Poplar,
Rascal was excluded from
most classes except for
music where, under the
encouragement of music
teacher Mr. Smith,
Dizzee first began to
develop his sound on the
school’s computers.
Rascal’s debut album,
Boy in da Corner
received global critical
acclaim, entering the UK
top 40 charts at #40,
later reaching #23. His
first single I luv you
was self produced at the
age of 16. Later
re-recorded and released
in June 2003, I luv you
became a top 30 hit
single. Another single
from the album Fix up
look sharp was released
in August 2003, becoming
Dizzee’s first top 20 UK
single and the biggest
hit from Boy in da
Corner. The same week
the album was released,
however, Dizzee was to
face another momentous
event. While performing
with Roll Deep Crew in
Aiya Nappa, the young
artist was stabbed six
times. Apparent rivalry
between Rascal and UK
top 40 no #1 garage act
So Solid Crew was
thought to be connected
to the stabbings but
after brief
investigations, the
theory was dismissed.
Another significant
event was waiting for
Dizzee that same year.
In September 2003, Boy
in da Corner won Dizzee
the mercury music prize
for best album, making
him the youngest and
only the second rapper
to win this prize.
Rascal was 19 at that
time. After the
phenomenal success of
boy in da corner, Dizzee
collaborated on Basement
Jaxx’s third album Kish
Kash, on Lucky star.
Released in November
2003, Lucky star gave
rascal his third top 30
hit.
2004 was to be another
phenomenal year for
Dizzee. After winning
the NME award for
musical innovation,
Dizzee released his
second album ShowTime
which topped the UK
album chart at #8,
over-shadowing his own
success on the debut
album! Rascal was also
part of Band Aid 20, a
group of British musical
artists who re-recorded
‘do they know it’s
Christmas?’ Maths +
English, rascal’s third
album released in June
2007, was also nominated
for a mercury music
prize, but this time, it
didn’t win. Rascal has
collaborated with
several artists such as
Beck, The Arctic Monkeys
and Rory Campbell.
Rascal recorded a track,
‘Dean’, for a suicide
charity called CALM in
2008. ‘Dean’ is about
Rascal’s friend who took
his own life. Later in
2008, Rascal was
arrested in southeast
London over an incident
with a baseball bat; but
was released on bail
soon after.
Dirtee stank, Rascal’s
own record label, has
been launched with the
aim of supporting gifted
artists who might have
‘social problems’. Dance
wiv Me, Bonkers and
Holiday were all
released under the
Dirtee Stank label and
all three have topped UK
charts.
Currently topping UK
charts with his single
Holiday, Rascal
is set to release the
fourth studio album,
Tongue “n” Cheek on 7
September 2009.
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