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Dizzee Rascal discusses rap violence, politics and selling out
By CMU Editorial | Published on Wednesday 23 September 2009
Dizzee Rascal was interviewed by Victoria Derbyshire on BBC Radio 5 Live yesterday, and was quizzed on a variety of topics, including violent lyrics in rap and hip hop, his appearance on Newsnight earlier this year to discuss Barack Obama’s US election victory, and claims that he has sold out.
Asked if he thought rappers should be more restrained in the contents of their lyrics, particularly when it comes to violence, he pointed out that there are other sources of such content for children. He said: “You can talk about rappers being responsible, but at the end of the day they are trying to entertain. I’ve seen ‘Macbeth’ and it’s about killing and witches and all that, Shakespeare is in the curriculum and it’s violent! If you’re saying that, then you have to say the same about Shakespeare, because it’s all good kids pick up on hip hop, but Shakespeare, that stuff is gory – it’s about murder”. He added that “poverty, insecurity [and] depression” were more likely to cause young people to become violent than what they see on the telly or hear on their stereo.
Discussing his appearance on ‘Newsnight’, he said: “I was happy with it, some other people were not happy with it, but I was alright with it”. When asked how close he thought Britain is to having a black Prime Minister (one of the questions he was previously asked by Jeremy Paxman), he replied: “I don’t know how close are we to having a good Prime Minister”.
As for claims that he’s sold out and forgotten his roots, he said: “Part of it is from where we come from. It’s almost like we don’t expect to ever make it out of there. So when someone breaks through it’s almost like ‘how did they do that?’ There’s that part of it”.
He continued: “[And] definitely people almost resent success. I know my roots, but I fly, I’m not a tree. 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 … a lot of [newer artists] are doing what I was doing six years ago, so haven’t I left something positive behind?”
