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.