Dizzee Rascal

Barack Obama embraced hip-hop, man. That\'s the way he got through to kids.

Yeah, I like Three Six Mafia and stuff like that.

I don\'t think I was ever really a normal kid. I always wanted to do it big, and so I was always on the lookout for strong people I could learn from.

I like that the sight of me can make people happy. That\'s nice innit? I like that people like my music. I like that you get perks sometimes. Sometimes people treat you better, but through that there\'s the opposite as well.

You can never have enough winter jackets.

Music\'s something that I really wasn\'t pushed into, it was something I just kinda chose, I just kept pushing myself, and it was all down to me.

Some people don\'t want to be helped, they want to do what they\'re doing, it\'s all they know.

Grunge, like Nirvana and all that. Heavy metal, Iron Maiden, Metallica, Guns and Roses, drum and bass. I like to listen to it and try and break down what makes a fan of that music say 'Ah @#$%& that other music', do you get me? Trying to figure out what makes them tick, I always try and break that down with every piece of music. But the energy in that music, I love it.

Other than my Instagram - very recently - I'm not out there. I'm not in the papers every week, I've managed to curb all that. I've never turned up at a party just to be snapped. It's not my kind of thing.

I'm trying to give people the chance to put out their music without the bullshit pressures of other labels.

There's just something about being English. When you travel the world you feel more grateful.

The important thing for me is that I try to understand the culture. Everything I thought I knew about the country was either through TV, music, movies or hopping in and out when I did shows. You can't just get the US through being in Miami, LA and New York. Middle America is the place to understand real America.

I found it easy to produce. I'm not the musical guy. I can't read and play music like that, but put some drums and a sample in front of me and I can whip it up nice, and I'll work out some keys and find some interesting instruments to put under it.

I just know that he's Robbie Williams - he's massive, that's all I know! He nailed it. Working in the studio with him was cool. I got there at about six in the afternoon and then stayed until six in the morning. We only worked for like two hours, the rest of the time we were just chilling out the back. The way Robbie handles everything... he's a star, but there were never any pretensions, no ego. He put effort in.

You can find out a lot sitting in the barber's.

I always want to make people dance so there'll always be an element of dance in my music.

There wouldn't be no grime without me.

I just think I'm free

Some people think I'm bonkers

I let sanity give me the slip

Everybody says I got to get a grip

A heavy bass line is my kind of silence

All I care about is sex and violence

I act real shallow but I'm in to deep

I wake up just to go back to sleep

Everything in my life isn't what it seems

I wake up everyday it's a daydream

I got the big beat Dizzee Rascal! I get on down

I got the big beat I hear the sound

Duck down, lay down just get on down