Dizzee Rascal

Born in London and raised in Bow in the east of the British capital, Dizzee Rascal emerged in the early 2000s in the wake of pirate radio — initially as a drum-and-bass DJ and later as an MC and producer. A founding member of the Roll Deep collective, he helped bring grime to the fore with a taut, often high-pitched delivery laid over dry, jagged instrumentals heavily influenced by UK garage, bassline and British hip‑hop. Signed to XL, he released the single "I Luv U" and the album Boy in da Corner in 2003, a self-produced record that early on defined his urban writing and won him the Mercury Prize that same year. Dizzee Rascal followed with Showtime (2004) and Maths + English (2007), while broadening his scope through occasional collaborations, notably with Arctic Monkeys and Basement Jaxx. From Tongue n' Cheek in 2009 he steered his sound toward more pop- and dance-friendly formats, as evidenced by work with Calvin Harris, Florence + the Machine and Shakira. After The Fifth (2013) he returned to a more directly grime-oriented aesthetic on Raskit (2017), followed by E3 AF (2020) and Don’t Take It Personal (2024), continuing a trajectory rooted in the London scene while remaining open to other rhythmic registers.