Dylan Kwabena Mills, born September 18, 1984, records as Dizzee Rascal. Born in Forest Gate and raised on a council estate in Bow, east London, by his Ghanaian mother after his Nigerian father died when he was two, he was expelled from four schools and eventually excluded from every class except music, where a teacher pushed him toward production. He signed to XL Recordings in 2002 and released the self-produced Boy in da Corner in 2003, which won the Mercury Prize and is routinely named the best British rap album ever made. Showtime and Maths + English followed, then Tongue n' Cheek pushed him into UK number one pop singles. He is credited as a founding figure of grime and the first British rapper to achieve international recognition.