Dizzee Rascal blasts ‘grime’ tag

Dizzee Rascal doesn’t understand why he was called a “grime” artist.

The ‘Bonkers’ hitmaker insists the genre doesn’t exist and he has many diverse influences and inspirations affecting his music.

He said: “Everyone called it grime, but I didn’t. All it was was a mixture of all the stuff I was into. There is no such thing as grime.

“It’s like hip-hop – journalists make it up. Grime is just a name that’s from grimy areas and a lot of grimy s**t happening, but as for the music, it’s everything from reggae to drum and bass to Nirvana.”

The ‘Dance Wiv Me’ star – who has previously worked with Calvin Harris, Florence Welch and Lily Allen among others – also admits he doesn’t think he would be as successful without the work of other people.

He told the Guardian newspaper: “Everything I do is a collaboration. Whether it’s with the engineer or whoever, I come up with something I couldn’t come up with on my own.

“The fella I like working with most is my manager and songwriter Cage, that’s just the most natural. Working with Florence, she’s one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. Working with Lily was quite good as well.”

The London-born star – real name Dylan Mills – also insisted he is happy with all the people he has worked with in the past.

He added: “There’s no-one I’ve done a collaboration with where I think, ‘F**k, I’ll never do that again’. I just want to be round the best and everyone I work with is the best at what they do.”