What Is Dizzee Rascal's Net Worth?
Dizzee Rascal is an English rapper, musician, and record producer who has a net worth of $3.5 million. Known as a "pioneer of grime music," Dizzee Rascal has released the albums "Boy in da Corner" (2003), "Showtime" (2004), "Maths + English" (2007), "Tongue n' Cheek" (2009), "The Fifth" (2013), "Raskit" (2017), and "E3 AF" (2020), and four of those albums were certified Gold or higher in the U.K. Five of Rascal's albums have reached the top 10 on the UK Albums Chart, and his singles "Dance wiv Me" (featuring Calvin Harris and Chrome), "Bonkers" (with Armand Van Helden), "Holiday" (featuring Chrome), and "Dirtee Disco" were #1 hits on the UK Singles Chart. Dizzee's first album earned him a Mercury Prize for Best Album of the Year at the age of 19, making him the youngest person to win the award. He launched the record label Dirtee Stank as a teenager, and he revived it in 2005. In 2020, Rascal was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to music.
Early Life
Dizzee Rascal was born Dylan Kwabena Mills on September 18, 1984, in Bow, London. He is the son of a Ghanaian mother and a Nigerian father, and he lost his father at a young age. Dizzee was raised by his mother, Priscilla, and he has said of his childhood, "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." Rascal attended many east London schools, such as Langdon Park School and St Paul's Way Community School, and he was expelled from several of them. Around this time, a teacher was reportedly the first person to refer to him as "Rascal." In interviews, Dizzee has mentioned that he stole cars, fought with teachers, and robbed pizza delivery men during his youth. At one point, he attended the Young Actors Theatre Islington (YATI), where future comedian Shazia Mirza was his science teacher. Rascal started making music on YATI's computer with the encouragement of music teacher Joseph Robson, and during summer break, he participated in a music workshop put on by Tower Hamlets Summer University.
Career
When Dizzee was around 14 years old, he became an amateur bass and drum DJ and occasionally appeared on pirate radio stations. At the age of 16, he produced his first single, "I Luv You," on his own record label, Dirtee Stank. In 2002, he formed the "13-piece garage collective" the Roll Deep Crew with some former classmates, and the following year he was stabbed while performing with them in Cyprus and had to undergo surgery. The Sidewinder Awards named him Best Newcomer MC in 2002, then he was chosen to be a judge on the Sky1 talent competition series "Must Be the Music." After signing a solo record deal with XL Recordings, Rascal released his debut album, "Boy in da Corner," in 2003. The album went Platinum in the U.K. and reached #23 on the UK Albums Chart, #14 on the "Billboard" Independent Albums chart, and #16 on the "Billboard" Heatseekers Albums chart. The single "Fix Up, Look Sharp" was certified Silver in the U.K. Dizzee's second album, 2004's "Showtime," reached #8 on the UK Albums Chart and was certified Gold in the U.K., and he had his first top 10 single on the UK Singles Chart with "Stand Up Tall." Next, he released the 2007 album "Maths + English," which reached #7 on the UK Albums Chart and went Gold in the U.K.
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Dizzee's fourth album, 2009's "Tongue n' Cheek," featured four singles that topped the UK Singles Chart, "Dance wiv Me" (featuring Calvin Harris and Chrome), "Bonkers" (with Armand Van Helden), "Holiday" (featuring Chrome), and "Dirtee Disco." "Dance wiv Me," "Bonkers," and "Holiday" were certified Platinum or higher in the U.K., and "Dirtee Disco" was certified Silver. "Tongue n' Cheek" reached #3 on the UK Albums Chart, #1 on the UK R&B Albums Chart, and #9 on the New Zealand Albums chart and went Platinum in the U.K. Rascal's next two albums, "The Fifth" (2013) and "Raskit" (2017), reached #10 on the UK Albums Chart. "The Fifth" featured the singles ""Goin' Crazy" (featuring Robbie Williams) and "Something Really Bad" (featuring will.i.am), which reached #5 and #10, respectively, on the UK Singles Chart. Dizzee's seventh album, "E3 AF," was released in 2020 and reached #13 on the UK Albums Chart. Rascal also took part in the 2004 re-recording of "Do They Know It's Christmas?" with Band Aid 20, and he has performed on songs by Basement Jaxx ("Lucky Star"), Shakira ("Loca"), Jessie J ("Wild"), and DJ Fresh ("The Power" and "How Love Begins" ).
Personal Life
In March 2005, Rascal was arrested for having pepper spray in his possession during a car search in east London. The driver was also arrested for "being in possession of a section five firearm – pepper spray – and an offensive weapon, which was an ASP baton, and cannabis." In February 2008, Dizzee's ex-girlfriend Kaya Bousquet died in a car accident; he had dated the model for two years. A few months later, Rascal was arrested on suspicion of possessing an offensive weapon after he allegedly approached a driver with a baseball bat during a road rage incident. In 2010, he told "The Independent" that he was planning on abstaining from drugs and alcohol in the future, stating, "I'm not having any alcohol. No weed. I'm not doing anything – except some boxing to release energy." However, in 2011, he told "GQ," "To be honest with you, the whole living clean vibe didn't last long. My biggest mistake was probably saying it in an interview, to be fair. I tried living mad clean – but I like partying as much as anyone else." In March 2022, Dizzee was convicted of assaulting his ex-girlfriend Cassandra Jones in June 2021 after "chaotic argument." When he was leaving court, Rascal knocked a camera out of a photographer's hands and threw it. He was given a community order that included a curfew of 24 weeks, and a restraining order was issued prohibiting Dizzee from contacting Cassandra for a year.
Awards and Nominations
Rascal has received numerous award nominations, and in 2003, he won a BT Digital Music Award for Best Use of Mobile and a Mercury Prize for Best Album of the Year for "Boy in da Corner" as well as an Urban Music Award for Best Newcomer. In 2004, he earned a MOBO Award for UK Act of the Year and an "NME" Award for Innovation. He has also won two MOBO Awards for Best UK Male (2007 and 2008). Dizzee received an Antville Music Video Award for Best Narrative Video for "Sirens" in 2007 and an Urban Music Award for Best Male in 2009. In 2010, he won a BT Digital Music Award for Best Independent Artist, a UK Music Video Award for Best Music Advertisement – Television or Online for "Tongue N' Cheek," a Brit Award for Best British Male Solo Artist, a Music Producers Guild Award for UK Album of the Year for "Tongue N' Cheek," and a BET Award for Best International Act. Rascal was honored with The Ivors Inspiration Award at the 2011 Ivor Novello Awards, then he won a Hungarian Music Award for Rap/Hip-Hop Album of the Year for "The Fifth" (2014) and Webby Awards for Best Music Video for "Bop N' Keep It Dippin" (2018) and "Money Right" (2019). Dizzee received an honorary Doctorate of the Arts from the University of East London in 2013.
