Top 55 Dizzee Rascal Quotes

I like staying in. I’m that kind of guy.

I grew up on the pirate radio scene which started out as drum ‘n’ bass music. U.K. garage picked up and got bigger on the back end of that.

For a bit I was going mad trying to do martial arts twice a week and go to the gym and do weights, but that can make you ill if you balance it with flying around and living like I do, so I narrowed it down.

People used to shoot their guns while I was MCing.

I come from the underground, from the ground.

I liked going to the Caribbean, just having nice holidays, do you know what I mean?

I pride myself on the energy I put on stage.

I’m an entertainer.

Some people don’t want to be helped, they want to do what they’re doing, it’s all they know.

All that really moves me is music.

I come from nothing, man.

Politicians… say what they say – you might get every now and again a genuine one, innit? But I think people, like, as a whole make the difference.

I’m not gonna lie; I don’t always like everything about Bow and I don’t always like everyone in Bow and they don’t always like me but on the whole I love where I come from. I’m proud of where I come from and I’m proud to represent that area.

Yeah, I love festivals, man.

As a kid, I felt I had it bad – and people where I came from did – but if I’d been in a similar position in America, it could’ve been 10 times worse. We have the NHS. We don’t have slums like I’ve seen in the Deep south, or shocking intolerance.

I’d done plenty of dark stuff and edgy stuff and hardcore stuff, and I kind of found that stuff easy.

I’m not afraid to embrace different music and different culture and put it in the music.

I’m definitely not proud of some of the stuff I did as a youth, but that’s where my mind-frame was at one point in my life, and I can’t pretend those things didn’t happen. I’m not glorifying them, I’m trying to make them into art.

I see all that celebrity stuff now as whatever, man. What’s more important is that everyday people are liking my music, it’s got to that stage. I’ve worked really hard for a long time for it to come to this point, where I’m putting smiles on people’s faces, and I’m loving it.

When I go Miami, I go deep-sea fishing. I love doing that.

Sometimes you might get inspired by something, write about it, then later that lyrics sounds better on another beat. That’s happened a few times. Like ‘Dance Wiv Me’ – those lyrics didn’t start on that beat.

America is the land of the hustler: it’s bigger, bolder, flasher, more in your face, whereas England’s more about attention to detail – trying to be refined and classy, and I think a lot of people in the urban scene in this country have had trouble accepting that.

I always put people with my kind of background first.

I grew up and learnt to hold my own. My mum was doing two people’s jobs. It makes you grow up early. There’s less people to talk to, less close people, innit? You’re going to end up being lonely because you think a bit more.

Yeah, I like Three Six Mafia and stuff like that.

There’s a real gun culture in the U.K., for those who don’t know. It’s very real.

I like that the sight of me can make people happy. That’s nice innit? I like that people like my music. I like that you get perks sometimes. Sometimes people treat you better, but through that there’s the opposite as well.

I made hardcore music and that came kind of easy – it was what I knew. But it was a challenge for me to make a big pop tune.

Grime 4 Corbyn? I just don’t know what I’m supposed to feel about that – does he even listen to grime?

When you’re actually boxing, unless it’s a proper grudge match, it’s less about beating the person up and more about being better within yourself. Being patient, timing things, like chess, so really, it’s as much down to you as what the other person does – and that’s life.

I think there’s loads of undiagnosed depression where I came from. Post-traumatic stress disorder as well. Some of the things you see as a kid are like the things you’d expect to see in a war zone, but there’s no one to talk to about it because running to a psychiatrist ain’t the thing.

I go everywhere quiet – like a ninja. Always have done. Think big, move quiet.

London’s where I grew up and had most of my experiences.

I’m not really going to defend anyone’s lyrics.

If you are going to work, you might as well follow your heart, because nothing in life is easy and if it’s going to be hard, it might as well be what you really want.

People who criticise me are just jealous.

The world’s a jungle in my eyes, innit? Everything’s tribal. If you see someone who don’t look like you – especially the colour of your skin – you’re going to be suspicious, or not as welcoming or warming, innit? I’ve learned not to take it too personal.

Barack Obama embraced hip-hop, man. That’s the way he got through to kids.

Rappers and MCs have always had an alias. Building your character, it helps you to get things out.

Hip hop is the way it is because of America.

There’s things that I say that people wouldn’t say. And just putting across my vulnerability as a person in my music as well. A lot of people wouldn’t do that, everyone wants to be hard.

I take risks.

I just go to the gym once every few weeks and go training once or twice a week. But it’s all pretty random.

Seeing different sides of life, seeing different sides of society, that’s what London’s all about. When I was young my mum always tried to make me do that.

I quite like thai boxing. But then I’m not surprised because I did taekwondo and karate and judo and all of that when I was a kid, and then just stopped when I got a bit older.

There’s so much to London, so many different kinds of people and people are the key to life, but my favourite part? It’s got to be Bow, where I come from.

Some people will never let the grime thing go, but my fifth album is not meant to sound like my first album.

No one can establish what selling out is.

I like to work with the best artists, full stop, around the world, and just make things happen man.

When I was growing up, it was ‘All Eyes On Me’ by Tupac and ‘Doggy Style’ by Snoop Dogg. I’ve met Snoop and he’s the best. They say you shouldn’t meet your idol – that definitely doesn’t apply to him.

When you hear ‘I Luv U,’ that’s me doing Three 6 Mafia. That actual track is a mix of ‘What’s Your Fantasy?’ by Ludacris and ‘Is That Yo Chick?’ by Jay Z. That’s my version of that track.

I dominated the underground and then I dominated the overground, and I did that on my own.

In Miami, there’s a buzz there, everyone out there’s partying – it’s crazy.

To an extent, everyone is jealous of everyone.

When you’re doing things like Glastonbury main stage, and there’s 80,000 people and your hits are going off, it’s at those moments you sit back and breathe and take it in, man, cos it might never happen again.