British hip-hop star Dizzee Rascal went straight in at the top of the UK singles charts on Sunday, the Official UK Charts Company said. The new entry, “Dance wiv Me”, knocked American R&B artist Ne-Yo’s “Closer” into second place. This is supposedly the first time in 12 years an independent lable has gone straight in at No.1

Dizzee Rascal is a big RMC and Yoropiko fan and is often seen on stage in either RMC or Yoropiko jeans and a Yoropiko denim jacket.

Dylan Mills (born 1985 in Bow, East London), known professionally as Dizzee Rascal, is an English rapper and record producer. His (largely self-composed) music is a blend of garage MCing, conventional rap, grime and ragga, with extremely eclectic samples and more exotic styles. His debut album, Boy in da Corner, won him the 2003 Mercury Prize.

Dizzee grew up in the East End of London in South Bow on a council estate. As a teenager, he was detained for stealing cars and robbing a pizza deliveryman, and expelled from four secondary schools. Jeff Chang in his article titled Future Shock explains Dizzee Rascal as a “fatherless child coming up in the East London council estates, aimless youth failed by the schools and the system but saved by music, bedroom beat-head who went top of the pops by representing his streets but can’t escape their judgment. Right outside his front door, mates have turned predators…Childhood school chums who grow up to knife and shoot each other. There are no great leaps here. The daily is never routine. There are only moments for Dizzee to capture, encapsulate, and preserve, griot-like.”  A sympathetic music teacher introduced him to music production on a school computer. He began MCing on pirate radio and at raves at fifteen, but since his mainstream success he has distanced himself from the now growing scene. He used to be a member of the Roll Deep crew, until a conflict with former friend Wiley.

Dizzee has come a long way…