UK hip-hop pioneer Dizzee Rascal announces 2025 Australian We Want Bass tour

UK hip-hop icon Dizzee Rascal has announced that he will be heading Down Under in 2025.

The Bonkers hitmaker, 40, who was last in the country in 2022, will be bringing his We Want Bass tour to five Aussie cities.

The tour will kick off at The Forum in Melbourne on February 1st before moving on to Sydney's Enmore Theatre on February 4th.

The rapper will then take his show to Adelaide's Hindley Street Music Hall before wrapping up at the Fortitude Music Hall in Brisbane on February 7th.

Before the February run kicks off, Perth fans will have the chance to see the dance Wiv Me hitmaker at a New Year's Eve bash at the Palace Motel.

Taking to social media to announce the tour, Dizzee wrote: 'You lot have been asking for a while...Australia, New Zealand and Bali, I'm finally coming back.'

The announcement was met with joy from the rapper's Aussie fans with one chiming in: 'I used to pray for times like these.'

Summing up the sentiment of many, another offered: 'Oooooh yes please! Sydney here we go.'

Dizzee, real name Dylan Mills, is currently in the middle of a UK tour to celebrate 15 years since the release of his groundbreaking album Tongue n' Cheek.

The rapper burst onto the UK hip-hop scene with his Mercury Prize-winning debut album Boy in da Corner in 2003.

Dizzee, who got his start as a DJ at the tender age of 14, parlayed that early success into a career that has spanned 25 years and prompted many to dub him a pioneer of UK hip-hop and grime music.    

Dizzee has released eight albums, with his 2009 record Tongue n’ Cheek peaking at number three on the UK album charts.

He has also scored four number one UK singles – Dance Wiv Me, Bonkers, Holiday and Dirtee Disco, and collaborated with the likes of Robbie Williams, Calvin Harris, and Ty Dolla Sign.

His long career has not been without controversy though, with the rapper convicted of assaulting his former partner Cassandra Jones in 2022.

An appeal against his conviction was dismissed in January 2023 and he received a community order that included a 24-week curfew and a retraining order preventing him from contacting Cassandra for 12 months.

The rapper lost an appeal against the conviction in 2023.

In a statement released after Dizzee lost the appeal, Cassandra, who shares two children with the star, said the appeal had been 'hugely upsetting' for her, adding the experience has helped her understand why 'so many women drop out of the criminal justice system'.

'This verdict today once again shows wealth and status cannot be used to silence women,' she said in the statement.

'Domestic abuse is a crime impacting one in four women in their lifetime.

'I would like to thank my family and friends and the specialist organisations who have supported me throughout and also say to other women experiencing abuse that regardless of money or influence, support is out there, and you are not alone.'

The Live Nation presale for the tour kicks off from 10am on Thursday 31st October and general tickets go on sale at 11am on Friday 1st November.