Dizzee Rascal has revealed that he was originally given the beat to Beyoncé‘s 2013 single ‘Partition’, but gave it up because he “couldn’t come up with” anything.
The grime pioneer was the first-ever interviewee on GRM Daily‘s new YouTube series Thoughts In A Culli. While chatting with the blog’s founder Posty, Rascal reflected on the time he spent in LA in the early 2010s and how he stumbled upon the instrumental that is now synonymous with the Houston singer.
“This time I was around in LA – it was 2011, 2012 or something,” he began. “I was working with these different producers and some of them gave me little beat packs. In one of them, there was this beat; it was wicked. I was like, ‘Ah!’ – I just couldn’t come up with nothing for it.”
The east Londoner then revealed: “Maybe like a year later or something like that, I heard Beyoncé on it… I had ‘Partition’. I just didn’t write to it.”
‘Partition’ was the second single from Beyoncé’s ground-breaking self-titled fifth album and is now certified four times platinum by the RIAA. In a four-star review, NME said she was “hungrily demanding more of herself than just being Beyonce” on the “dark, complex and randy” album.
Rascal is best known for his Mercury Prize-winning debut album ‘Boy in da Corner’, which is widely considered the LP to bring grime into the mainstream in the early ’00s. The rapper celebrated the record’s 20th anniversary in a one-off gig at London’s The O2 in 2022, where he performed it in full. That same year, he was also given a community order after being convicted of assaulting his ex-fiancé.
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Earlier this month, he shared his eighth studio album ‘Don’t Take It Personal, which has verses from P Money, BackRoad Gee, Not3s and D Double E. The record has two lead singles: the exuberant track ‘What You Know About That’ with JME and D Double E and ‘How Did I Get So Calm’.
Next month, Beyoncé will release ‘Act II’ – the second part of her ‘Renaissance’ album trilogy. The first instalment ‘Renaissance‘ was released in July 2022 and was heavily influenced by house music and ballroom culture. Its follow-up is speculated to be country-inspired since the lead singles – ‘Texas Hold’Em’ and ’16 Carriages’ – fall under the genre.
In other news, Rascal is scheduled to perform at Wales’ In It Together festival in May and the South Facing festival in London on August 3.