Pitchfork

If the term "Dirtee Stank" holds any meaning to you or your loved ones, well, there's a pretty good chance you're a Dizzee Rascal fan. And now Dizzee, aka London's grime aficionado, has gone the way of Eminem, Mike Skinner, Snoop Dogg, et al, and formed his own record label-- the newly christened Dirtee Stank Productions.

Dizzee says he started Dirtee Stank in an effort to represent the urban scene in ways major record labels cannot. "Majors don't fully understand the scene," he told Sound Generator recently. "They try and water it down and it doesn't work. That's why I'm working on Dirtee Stank."

Dirtee Stank's genesis actually predates Rascal's two LPs Boy In Da Corner and Showtime (both released via XL Recordings), but he's now planning on using it to sign Dizzee-approved artists, starting with the promising three-piece Leicester combo Klass A. In a recent interview with UK music news outlet The Situation, Dizzee said, "Signing a band is a major step for me, I'm really happy. I feel like I've found the best next thing to come out of England. They're coming out around the end of this year."

No official announcements have been made regarding any Klass A releases, although they can be heard on the inaugural Dirtee Stank mixtape and they're frequently played on DJ Semtex's BBC 1Xtra show. As for the Diz-man himself, he's recently wrapped up his first North American tour, which went off without a hitch despite Dizzee being arrested for that lame pepper spray crap...well, ok-- one hitch. His tour plans consist of a few festival appearances. Like so:

05-06 Rotterdam, Netherlands - NOW and WOW
05-24 London, England - Electric Ballroom (with Klass A, Newham Generals)
05-30 Newcastle, England - Evolution Free Festival