Dizzee Rascal: ‘Shakespeare is violent’

The always entertaining Dizzee Rascal has given an interview to BBC Radio 5 Live in which he lambasts people who criticise rap music over its apparently violent undertones.

The 2003 Mercury Music Prize winner said: “I’ve seen Macbeth and it’s about killing and witches and all that. Shakespeare is in the curriculum and it’s violent! You can talk about rappers being responsible but at the end of the day they are trying to entertain. It’s about the artistry that rap is about.”

Dizzee, real name Dylan Mills, also defended himself over the infamous interview on BBC’s Newsnight programme (see video below). He said: “I was happy with it. Some other people were not happy with it, but I was all right with it.”

Mills also spoke of the resentment he feels others have of his success, claiming: “I know my roots but I fly, I’m not a tree by the way, so, I don’t have to stay planted in the ground. I do what I want. The whole thing about the grime scene and me selling out, well, OK, I don’t make music that sounds like it did seven years ago but kids today do and a lot of them are doing what I was doing six years ago so haven’t I left something positive behind?”

Dizzee Rascal’s fourth album Tongue N’ Cheek, containing the smash hit singles Dance Wiv Me, Bonkers and Holiday, is out now.

This article was written for TMM.