Britain: Music fans woke yesterday to find a seismic shift had occurred overnight in the industry after a little-known teenage rapper beat household names to win one of its most prestigious awards.
Londoner Dizzee Rascal's bleak take on urban life remains a mystery to many, despite a loyal following among millions of young rap fans. But after winning the annual Mercury Music Prize for the best British or Irish album late on Tuesday, he is being tipped for mainstream success on both sides of the Atlantic.
The 19-year-old, real name Dylan Mills, has won acclaim for his inventive raps about life on London's crime-ridden public housing estates. Gang violence, depression and poverty are among the subjects on his album Boy in da Corner, which includes the lyrics "I am a problem for Anthony Blair".
He raps over an unsettling wall of sound, which mixes thumping basslines with electronic bleeps, odd bursts of guitar and street sounds of sirens and builders' machinery.
His sound is hailed as the next step in Britain's garage music scene, a once underground movement championed by illegal "pirate" radio stations, but which now dominates the charts.
His first single I Luv U, about a teenage pregnancy, was an unexpected dancefloor hit and was picked up by national radio DJs. But success came at a price. He was caught up in the violence which has dogged the garage scene when he was stabbed in Cyprus in July.
Despite predictions of huge sales and the chance to break into the American market, the young rapper is keeping his feet on the ground. "I come from nothing, I come from the underground," he told reporters after pledging to donate the £20,000 sterling (€28,000) Mercury prize to underprivileged children. - (PA)