Dizzee Rascal

Dylan Mills (born 18 September 1984 ), better known by his stage name Dizzee Rascal, is an English rapper, grime MC, songwriter and record producer. His music is a blend of grime, UK garage, bassline, British hip hop, and R&B. Best known for his number-one hits "Dance wiv Me", "Bonkers", "Holiday", "Dirtee Disco" and "Shout", his debut album Boy in da Corner won him the 2003 Mercury Prize. Follow-up albums Showtime, Maths + English and Tongue n' Cheek have been critically acclaimed and certified gold, the last going platinum for sales exceeding 300,000 units in the United Kingdom.

Early life
Dizzee Rascal's Nigerian father died when he was young, and he was raised in Bow, in the East End of London, in a single-parent family, by his Ghanaian mother Priscilla, about whom he says: "I had issues as a kid. I was violent and disruptive. The way my mum helped was by finding me a different school every time I got kicked out, always fighting to keep me in the school system".

He attended a series of schools in East London, and was expelled from four of them, including St Paul's Way Community School. He also went to Langdon Park Secondary School in East London. Reportedly, it was around this time that a teacher was the first to call him "Rascal". Cagey about exactly what Mills' youthful "madnesses" entailed, in early interviews he mentioned fighting with teachers, stealing cars, and robbing pizza delivery men. In the fifth school he was excluded from all classes except music. He also used to attend YATI (Young Actors Theatre Islington).

He began making music on the school's computer, encouraged by a music teacher, Mr Smith, and during the summer holidays attended a music workshop organised by Tower Hamlets Summer University of which he is now a patron. His mother bought him his first turntables.

He was a childhood friend of footballer Danny Shittu, whom Dizzee Rascal described as "like a big brother".