Dizzee Rascal reportedly backed out of a collaboration with Stormzy because the rapper used a verse from one of his songs.
According to editors at The Sun, the grime star walked away from working with the Shut Up rapper on his track Return Of The Rucksack, but Dizzee, real name Dylan Mills, decided against it because the song features a riff on one of his own verses.
The 32-year-old grime pioneer explained to the news outlet that after hearing his verse on the track, working with the 24-year-old ingenue “didn’t feel right” as the new generation would be oblivious to the influence he had on the track.
“Me and Stormzy were going to get in the studio but I didn’t feel it was right,” he explained to the news outlet. “The song he sent me was Return Of The Rucksack. The chorus, that’s actually a verse from one of my songs – Seems 2 Be.”
The lyrics for Dizzee’s verse from his critically acclaimed debut album Boy in da Corner, which won him the Mercury Prize in 2003, begins, “Roll deep on these, put these Mc’s on deep freeze, Hit these, wit these and rip these, Come like rusko, come flip these…”
And on Stormzy’s hit album Gang Signs & Prayer, his verse inspired by the Bonkers’ rapper begins, “But I roll deep on these, Show these likkle MC’s about greaze, Show these likkle MC’s about me, I was on my steeze from 2003…”
“I’ve had a lot of artists do that, sampling my stuff and wanting me to jump on it. He quotes so many of my lyrics but the new generation won’t know that,” Dizzee continued, explaining why he decided against working with the Mercury Prize 2017 nominee.
However, Dizzee, who released his sixth studio album, Raskit, in July, isn’t completely against collaborations.
He also revealed to the news outlet that he will be working with Formula One racing champion Lewis Hamilton on new music.
