Dave Chamberlain

Dizzee Rascal contradicts everything the UK tourist board would lead us to believe.

The self-styled rapper (real name Dylan Mills) betrays, especially, the stoic visions of Tower Bridge and Westminster Abbey. Born in East London and raised in the projects, Mills was, er, a bit of a rascal who had trouble in school and with authority until he found an alternative route: music.

Producing and playing the part of MC, Rascal cut his debut single at age 16, "I Luv U," a jarring, electronic maelstrom of English-style hip-hop. Two years later he garnered the UK's prestigious Mercury Prize for his debut full-length, "Boy in Da Corner," and was declared by Mike Skinner of The Streets as the next big thing.

And with the release of last year's "Showtime," Rascal has not only entrenched himself in both English and American hip-hop lexicon, but he's at the forefront of an entirely new brand of hip-hop coming from the British isles. Grime, a hybrid of hip-hop, speed garage and a little drum `n' bass, has become an underground sensation that's poking its head above the surface. Despite the fact that there are countless others building a reputation with grime (Wiley and M.I.A.), Rascal remains its undisputed king.

"It's a raw, kind of uptempo music," Rascal says through an undiluted, extremely thick East London accent, "that derived from pirate radio station--illegal setups--in the Council Estates, which would be like your projects. It's the new punk, or at least the closest thing to it." With roots deeply entrenched in garage, it would have been a logical course for Rascal to start his path into grime through that R&B-laced dance music.

"It'd already done its thing before I could become a part of it," says Rascal. "I really liked drum `n' bass, and when I first started out with music I was into mixing the drum `n' bass record. Then everything moved to garage, but I didn't keep up with the records. Eventually I started doing things as an MC, and then being a pirate radio producer. So when it came to it, I just made what I thought people would like, or what I liked."

Grime, garage and jungle aside, Rascal's rising star in England doesn't necessarily translate to American success. Hip-hop is, after all, an art form native to the States, and it takes a very special artist to break Americans' stranglehold. But Rascal says that now, on his fourth trip through the US, he's not encountered any anti-UK hip-hop bias. "Not really. I mean, I've got the production side as well--so I'm really hitting people at both angles. The accent was a bit for people, and I think it's still a bit much for people to take in."

Though Rascal frequently gets compared to Skinner's The Streets, that hardly holds water; in terms of production, The Streets are far less bombastic and over the top. Same goes for the lyrical product. Whereas Skinner composes the ultimate English slacker, down-on-his-luck, drugged-out and goalless, Rascal's style comes straight from the ghetto. Whereas The Streets go on about the mundane, Rascal raps about guns, drugs and violence--not exclusively, mind you, but for Rascal it's a case of talking about what he sees and knows.

He paints a very different picture than most Americans have of the UK, especially regarding the guns and crack culture. The prevailing assumption is that, since firearms are more or less illegal throughout Britain, it has avoided a gun problem. The idea of English smoking crack definitely doesn't strengthen the cliché. "I know, I've heard that," Rascal says with a slightly exasperated tone. "The thing is, we're so far away, and the only thing you get to see is all about Buckingham Palace or Leicester Square or shit like that, know what I mean? But guns are here...Same with crack."

Though he buries it well on both his records, Rascal has been a frequent victim of the violence that surrounds English ghetto and rave (club) culture. Three years ago, right before he started recording "Showtime," Rascal was attacked and stabbed while on vacation on Cyprus. He's not too keen on talking about the attack, but he's aware of the fallout. The record doesn't necessarily bear the stamp of someone who almost lost his life just prior to recording, though he does admit that the stabbing prompted him to "get on with it a bit. One of the tracks I recorded, I was still stitched up...The track called "Respect Me" was the first thing I recorded when I got back from Cyprus."

It wasn't the first time he'd taken a knife either. In fact, the incident in Cyprus marked the sixth time. "I know this sounds cliché, but where I came up, that's just not a big thing. But, I mean, it does alter your perspective of life a little bit."

Dizzee Rascal plays April 30 at the Double Door.

(2005-04-26)

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