Dizzee with excitement for grime star

Legendary British rapper Dizzee Rascal has announced a headline show in Cork this autumn with tickets going on sale tomorrow, Friday.

The pioneering rapper, producer, and songwriter from Bow, East London, will play Cork City Hall on 28 October.

Cutting his teeth on pirate radio in the early 2000s, Dizzee’s 2003 debut album ‘Boy in da Corner’ is widely considered grime’s ground zero – an inventive record that won the Mercury Prize and made him, at 19, the award’s youngest winner.

Follow-up albums ‘Showtime’ in 2004, and ‘Maths + English’ in 2007, broadened his palette and profile, teeing up a run of era-defining pop-rap singles that made him a fixture at the top of the charts. These included tracks like ‘Dance Wiv Me’ with Calvin Harris, ‘Bonkers’, ‘Holiday’, and ‘Dirtee Disco’, which all hit UK No. 1 and anchored his platinum-selling 2009 album ‘Tongue n’ Cheek’.

By the early 2010s he was a household name, invited to perform at the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games.

After three more well received albums in 2013, 2019, and 2020, Dizzee was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to music.

He has remained prolific in recent years, returning in 2024 with ‘Don’t Take It Personal’, an album released via his Big Dirtee imprint, before capping the year with the surprise EP, ‘I Invented Grime’.