DIZZEE RASCAL DREAMS 2004 CONTEXT RESEARCH BACKGROUND INFORMATION

DIZZEE RASCAL ‘DREAMS’ 2004 CONTEXT RESEARCH

BACKGROUND INFORMATION Dylan Kwabena Mills also known as Dizzee Rascal was born on the 18 th September 1984 in London, England. Mills was born in London and his Nigerian father died when Mills was young so he was raised in a single parent family. Rascal describes his childhood as ‘disruptive’ as he was ‘violent’ and was constantly being kicked out of numerous schools. In early interviews Rascal said he would ‘fight with teachers, steal cars and rob Pizza Delivery men’. In his fifth school Rascal was excluded from all classes except music and started making music on the school computers which lead on to him being encouraged by his music teacher to attend workshops in the summer holidays. This sparked his passion for making music and became his hobby and in the future his career.

EARLY CAREER AND THE SONG ‘DREAMS’ 2000 -2003 Dizzee Rascal’s career started when he was just 14 years old, he became an amateur Drum and Bass DJ and rapped over tracks and also made appearances on pirated radio stations. A pirated radio station is a radio station without a valid licence. When Rascal was aged 16 he self-produced his own single called ‘I LUV U’ in 2002 and singed with the record label XL. Dizzee Rascal mainly worked with his mentor Wiley who is also a Grime artist. Dizzee Rascal started accumulating millions of views of You. Tube in 2000 -2003 with Rap Battles going on between Rascal and MC Crazy Titch on the pirate radio station Deja Vu FM. 2003 -2004 Rascal’s first solo album was called ‘Boy in da corner’ and was released in August 2003 and was in the UK top 40. The album peaked at #23 place and was very successful for the first album Rascal made because it achieved the prestigious award which was the Mercury prize for being the best album in 2003. Dizzee was stabbed during one of the performances of a song six times leaving him hospitalized however this did not stop him from making music. In 2004 the single ‘Dream’ was another Top 20 hit and was released in 2004, this song used the chorus of Captain Sensible’s song ‘happy talk’ and was a message about Rascal’s youth, street culture, crime and living in a single parent household.

1950’S BRITAIN-IMMIGRATION FROM THE CARIBBEAN In the music video of Dizzee Rascal’s ‘Dreams’ the video consisted of a 1950’s styled children’s puppet show which corresponded to the lyrics in the song. In the music video Rascal created two worlds, a 1950’s traditional setting with a traditional city setting (the corner shop). The video represents a 1950’s children’s television show called ‘Muffin in the mule’ it was originally aired on the BBC in 1946. The show was presented by Annette Mills who sang and interacted with puppets and other characters on her Grand Piano. This is exactly the same as Dizzee Rascal’s ‘Dream’. The actress who played the pianist in ‘dreams’ also has a clear resemblance to Annette Mills in the actual show in 1946. The actor in Rascal’s ‘Dreams’ You can also see the set is extremely similar also. Rascal did this to create innocence as he used a child like backdrop with bright colours and a happy theme. This completely contrasts the lyrics of the song and the issues that Rascals discuses. The Pianist acts as a narrator because she reacts to the song and what Dizzee Rascal is saying, she portrays the typical reaction of older people reacting to rap music. Having a shocked/ disturbed facial expression in some scenes.

1950’S BRITAIN-IMMIGRATION FROM THE CARIBBEAN The Immigration from the Caribbean. During the Second World War many Caribbean men and women served in the armed forces for England which led to the Windrush in 1948. This was when many people who served in the war in Britain or was from the Caribbean and Jamaica came to England for a better life. Most of the passengers where ex-service men seeking work in England there was plenty of jobs in the England as they had to rebuild from the destruction of the war (20% of Britain was destroyed during WW 2. There was a lot of discrimination and conflict between the natives and the Caribbean's over accommodation because a lot of homes were destroyed. The link to Dizzee Rascal’s ‘Dream’ This 1950’s reference shows extreme stereotypes of for example discrimination is a contemporary issue but people do not understand Rascal is portraying his song in a allegory because there is a moral to the song.

ANTI-SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR AND THE BAN OF HOODIES Anti-Social behaviour are actions that harm or endanger the well being of someone. Anti-Social behaviour was linked to wearing hoodies because of riots by youths mainly in London. Hoodies were just a normal default dress however, they are now scene as gangster clothing that only youths wear and if there is a group of children in hoodies then they want to cause harm, which is obviously not the case. http: //news. bbc. co. uk/1/hi/england/kent/4534903. stm This newspaper article shows that a shopping mall banned hoodies and baseball caps from being worn on the premise and this was put into the code of conduct of the shopping mall. It states ‘Guidelines say intimidating behaviour by groups or individuals, anti-social behaviour including swearing, and wearing clothing which deliberately obscures the face such as hooded tops and baseball caps, will not be allowed’. They banned hoodies because it is ‘linked in’ with anti-social behaviour. Hoodies were originally worn by hip hop artists in the 1980’s and this creates a contrast with it being linked with anti-social behaviour.

ANTI-SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR AND THE BAN OF HOODIES This links with Dizzee Rascal’s song ‘Dream’ because he is wearing a red hoodie with red trousers which is the ‘anti-social’ dress code. He starts off saying he was ‘reckless with no shame’ which shows the stereotype is true however later on in the song Dizzee Rascal has a more positive wise representation because he describes his hard work and how it lead to success and achievement. The representations of a stereotypical black rapper dressed in a hoodie with trainers is completely contrasted with Dizzee Rascals positivity and his wise message he tells in the song. The Chorus I like the talky happy talk Talk about things you like to do You got to have a dream If you don't have a dream How you gunna have a dream come true Dizzee Rascal choose to use this chorus because its promoting positivity and happiness and encouraging people to have a dream and make it come true like his own dream of becoming a successful rapper

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