Dizzee Rascal has revealed that he used his spare time during lockdown to retrain to be a plasterer.
The Mercury-winning rapper told Fix Radio that he “needed to learn to do stuff” during the COVID-19 pandemic and he took it upon himself to sign on for the Able Skills Construction Training course in Dartford, where he earned a City and Guilds Certificate in plastering.
“I did a plastering course for however long,” he said. “I forgot how to do it, I got the certificate and everything.”
“Big up Able Skills, it was wicked,” he added, noting that it took a while for his coursemates to recognise who he was. “Towards the end, there was a couple dudes, I’ve been with them for weeks. They were like, ‘Hey, oh my god, it’s you, hey man, he’s rich man, he’s famous man. Right at the end is when they clocked it.”
At the end of 2024, Dizzee returned to his day job, releasing the surprise EP ‘I Invented Grime’, just months after the release of his eighth studio album ‘Don’t Take It Personal’. That record included verses from P Money, BackRoad Gee, Not3s and D Double E, and boasted the lead single ‘What You Know About That’ with JME.
In other Dizzee Rascal news, the artist revealed earlier this year that he was given the beat to Beyoncé‘s 2013 single ‘Partition’, but was forced to give it up because he “couldn’t come up with” anything.
He was also announced as one of the first names for the 2025 edition of the Neighbourhood Weekender, appearing alongside James and Stereophonics.
Dizzee celebrated the 15th anniversary of his hit album ‘Tongue N’ Cheek’ last year, while he is also remembered for his debut album ‘Boy In Da Corner’, which is widely credited as bringing grime into the mainstream in the early ’00s. The rapper celebrated that record’s 20th anniversary in a one-off gig at London’s The O2 in 2022, where he performed it in full.