Dizzee Rascal

The artwork for Boy in da Corner is iconic.
For some, it is the first album cover they can remember. How did it come about?

The artwork was made by Ben Drury. At the time, everything was kind of overwhelming for me. I've done photo shoots before – for magazines – like RWD and shit like that. But it was my first album shoot. So, I sat there, and I've done like 30 different poses. I don't think I knew what they were going to do with the images. It was just in a white room, there was no yellow. It was all added later. And then when I saw it afterwards, I don't even remember my reaction.

The pose was not something you had planned?

No. In fact, I hated photoshoots because you had to do so many different poses. When I was in that corner, I've just done loads of different things. I've still got photos from all different outfits I wore on that day and all the different shots. And that's the one that Ben Drury ended up picking.

You were young at that time, 17 or 18. If you look back now,
what was the thing that shaped this particular record for you?

I don't think there's one thing that shaped it. But I'm gonna say the production. It didn't sound like anything else. It didn't even sound like a lot of the underground.

You've done the beats back then.

Yeah. And then I stopped producing by the time Tongue n’ Cheek came along. So, Maths + English was the last album I produced. Then I picked it back up again years later on the Don't Gas Me EP, in 2017. But to come back to your question: I would say besides the production, it was the subject matter that stood out. The stuff I was writing about, the way I was writing about, and the way I was expressing it. The album was a snapshot into real urban living in London or the UK at the time.

A bit further in your career you made records with Arctic Monkeys or Florence + the Machine. How did this happen? Did they reach out to you or was it in your interest to work with them?

I can't remember exactly how it came around with the Arctic Monkeys. They were the biggest and hottest new rock band at the time, and they were around my age as well. I remember meeting them and coming to the studio. They remixed their beat, and then I jumped on it. Florence + the Machine was more about the actual Brit Awards performance – for us being part of it. Then that just became iconic in itself. And I approached Calvin Harris after seeing him at Radio 1’s Big Weekend in Swindon. I introduced myself to him, like, "I love what you're doing". I remember hearing Acceptable in the 80’s when it came out and it stood out to me. I loved it – I thought it was wicked.

You were in both places at once, underground and mainstream.

I was leaving the underground behind at that point, because I was doing more festivals and things like that, where not a lot of people from my scene were. Besides, it was no conscious decision to make pop at the time of Dance wiv Me. I just liked what Calvin Harris was doing and I wanted to make a tune with him. Even Bonkers – I wasn't looking for that. Armand Van Helden just sent me the beat, while I was in the US, and I just decided to do it. People think that the record label made me do it but that wasn’t true it at all.

In many interviews you stress how much music means to you and that you will always make music. What would you have been if you weren't a musician?

God on his truth. I can't see anything else. I started so young, like when I was 15 in school and all that. I'm lucky that I always knew what I wanted to do and just did it.

What does legacy mean to you as an artist?

I don't think it means as much now. We're in 2024, if you say the wrong thing or some things that we did back in the day could come up and smack you like right now. I don't know about legacy so much now. For me personally, to put out what I think is really good in my own way and have the freedom to do it, it's as much about that for me. And I'm a father, so I care more about my kids and that makes me more proud than anything before.

Published in 30.DEC.2024

Photography: Daniel Adhami
Photo Assistant: Danyal Rahati
Styling: Connor Gaffe
Styling Assistant: Frank Williams

ZEITUNG MAGAZINE