Dizzee Rascal – aka Dylan Mills – is a rapper, songwriter, and producer from London, England, UK. His vocal style is highly rhythmic and his music encompasses many genres such as grime, hip-hop, and bassline music.
When Mills was a child he was frequently running into trouble at school, which led to one of his teachers calling him a “rascal”. This name ended up sticking with him and he used it as part of his stage name. Dizzee Rascal always had a fascination with music when he was young and by the age of 16 he produced his first single “I Luv U”. The song was a success for Dizzee Rascal and reached the No. 29 spot on the UK Singles chart. In his early career Dizze Rascal jointly formed the rap group Roll Deep Crew and also began working with the rapper Wiley who he considered his mentor.
In the early 2000’s Dizzee Rascal signed to XL Recordings and in 2003 he released his debut album “Boy in da Corner", which was met with great critical praise by such publications as Pitchfork, NME, and Rolling Stone. The album contained the singles “I Luv U”, “Fix Up, Look Sharp” and “Jus’ a Rascal”, and contained music that closely followed the grime genre, which consisted of beats constructed around synth lines and electronic sounds in a very minimal manner. The album was also a commercial success reaching the No. 23 spot on the UK Albums Chart. Dizzee Rascal also won a Mercury Prize for the album and was the youngest artist at the time to have won the award.
In 2004 Dizzee Rascal released his second studio album “Showtime”, which reached the No. 8 slot on the UK Albums Chart and has also been certified gold by the BPI. Like Dizzee Rascal’s debut album, “Showtime” was critically praised and contained several notable singles like “Stand Up Tall” and “Dream”. Dizzee released his third album “Maths + English” in 2007, which did well both critically and commercially. The album also contained many notable guest artists such as Lilly Allen who appeared on the track “Wanna Be” and Alex Turner from the Arctic Monkeys who appeared on the track “Temptation”. The year 2007 also saw Dizzee Rascal working with Beck on his remix of the song “Hell Yes”.
For Dizzee Rascal’s fourth studio release “Tongue n’ Cheek”, which he released in 2009, he decided to step away from his grime roots and focus on a more mainstream pop sound. The album featured more catchy upbeat rhythms and more melodic hooks compared to his previous albums, but it also forfeited some of the grit that the previous albums contained. “Tongue n’ Cheek” contained four No. 1 hits, which included “Dance wiv Me”, “Bonkers”, “Holiday”, and “Dirtee Disco”.
Over the years many artists have had the desire to collaborate with Dizzee Rascal. Florence and the Machine has collaborated with Dizzee to create the song “You Got the Dirtee Love”, and the famous popstar Shakira collaborated with Dizzee on her song “Loca”, which peaked at No. 32 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. Dizzee Rascal is known for his energetic live performances and has played at many notable festivals such as the Ilosaarirock Festival and the Evolution Festival. He has also been on tour with many respectable musicians such as The Prodigy and The Red Hot Chili Peppers. In 2012 Dizzee Rascal was given the prestigious privilege to perform at the opening ceremony for the London Olympics. Apart from making music and performing it live, Dizzee Rascal is busy running his record label “Dirtee Stank”, which he founded in 2003.
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