Dappy

Dappy

Dino Contostavlos, , better known by his stage name of Dappy, is an English-born Greek rapper, singer and actor. He is also the lead singer of MOBO award-winning English hip hop band N-Dubz. He is known for his slightly unusual dress sense and his love for what he describes as "eye-catching headwear". His trademark is wearing a selection of woolly chullos (sometimes referred to as "Dappy hats"), turning up the right or left ear-flap of the hat.

Early life

Born and raised in Camden Town, North London, Dino grew up with his parents, Zoi Agorou and Byron Contostavlos, younger sister Melissa and older brother Spiros. When he was younger, he attended to Richard Cobden Primary school, then attending Haverstock School with bandmate Richard "Fazer" Rawson which was known at the time for its poor reputation. Although Dino was fortunate in that he grew up in relative affluence with his father been a former member of Mungo Jerry, his family was very poor and he revealed in N-Dubz's book, "Against All Odds: From Street Life to Chart Life", that he got in with a bad crowd around his estate, been involved in gangs, drugs, and carrying weapons.

He states "When I was a teenager I was getting up to all sorts to make money. Then I had a scare. I realised that I could go to prison for years of my life. Then my dad came into my bedroom one day to find me with some serious drugs. He said: 'What are you doing with this in your hand? You don't need that. You are going to go down!'. Sometimes there were nights where my mum would be crying and begging me not to go out - but I ignored her. I wanted to be able to get my own money and pay for my own things. Be able to show my mum, 'Look, this is what I have got', but I didn't really see that I was making her into an emotional wreck because I would get into trouble with the police'. Dappy attended 3 different schools, been expelled from all for persistent truancy and fighting, eventually dropping out of education when he was 15, however he returned later to study at college and received an A* in English.

Dappy started performing in and around Camden Town from the age of 11 years old with band-mates Fazer (who he first met at karate lessons before coming best friends with him at school) and Tula "Tulisa" Contostavlos, who is his cousin. At the time they were called the Lickle Rinsers Crew and went under the management of Dappy's father Byron, who had found success with 1970s pop band Mungo Jerry, and to Dappy was the "inspiration behind the band". Byron worked at a local barbers shop, putting all the money he had into equipment and resources for the band at their studio. However Byron died on April 12, 2007 after a heart-attack and N-Dubz wrote the song "Papa (Can You Hear Me?)", which was played at his funeral and became the group's second biggest hit at #19, and at #17 in the download charts. Dappy later described his dad's death as "the lowest point in our lives, we had no money, no manager, no driver, no accountant, but most of all I had no father - B was everything to me and it hurts so much to think that he never got to see what we have achieved now, but I know he's looking down on us and he'd be really proud".

Dino later had the words "RIP Dad" tattooed on his neck and doesn't like to say his dad's name, instead referring to him as "B" or "Uncle B", which was also the name of N-Dubz's debut album. Before Byron died, he said he'd like their album to be called Against All Odds but after his death, the group called their debut album Uncle B in tribute, with their second album being called Against All Odds.

N-Dubz and other projects

Main article: N-Dubz

Dappy appeared on the television show Never Mind the Buzzcocks on 29 November 2007, on Phill Jupitus's team, and wore a trademark "Dappy hat", also giving one to Simon Amstell to wear as part of the gag. Despite vowing he would not return to the show he appeared for a second time on the guest team on 4 December 2008 and for a third time, on Phill's team, which was broadcast on 18 November 2009.

He appeared in Chipmunk's video "Chip Diddy Chip", as a one of Chipmunk's school friends, where he wore a messy school uniform and bandana on his head with a baseball cap on backwards. He is known to be a good friend of Chris Moyles and also gets on well with Tinchy Stryder after releasing a single together, called "Number 1", although in the past they have said to have fallen out many times over credits for the song etc. They responded by telling the crowd after their performance at BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend in May 2009, "and remember, don't believe what the media say 'cos it ain't true".

Dappy has appeared many times on GMTV with Fazer and Tulisa and also went on Big Brother's Little Brother with Tulisa, to discuss the contestants in the 2008 celebrity series. He made a cameo appearance on K.I.G's "Head, Shoulders, Kneez and Toez" music video alongside fearless and mazer. He also featured on Gracious K's "Migraine Skank" video. He normally raps a few verses in N-Dubz's songs and writes "the hooks". Dappy is the only N-Dubz character to appear in their song "Sex", which is featured on Channel AKA past 11pm because of the explicit lyrics and the explicit video.

Dappy has said before he would like to work with Maniac and Peter Andre as he loves their music and wants to do a hit with both of them.

Criticism and controversy

In mid 2007 Dappy released "Love For My Slum" with fellow UK rap artist Baker Trouble, which was number one on Channel U (now Channel AKA) for several weeks and was a big hit in the underground urban scene. However didn't do as well with the media and was heavily criticized for a scene in which Dappy is stood outside a block of expensive luxury flats with a "rich kid" who is trying to look like a gangster. The Independent wrote, "His lyrics combine jealousy with anger: 'You got too much to lose / You're in a great position... You wouldn't last a minute where I'm from / You'd go missing / So appreciate what you got / 'cos I'm still wishing.' And then he grabs the rich kid by his coat, pulls him toward him, and punches him in the face. The silent boy falls instantly to the pavement ... Do scenes like these suggest that music videos are encouraging their viewers to indulge in criminality?". Other papers put that he was "idolising thuggery". When asked in interviews about the single, following these comments he said "these people need to listen to the lyrics, they are about showing appreciation to what you've got".

In December 2008 Contostavlos pleaded to guilty to two accounts of assault at Chelmsford Magistrates Court, Essex after reportedly spitting in a girl's face while drunk on a night out. Dappy pleaded guilty to the offences and for each count received four weeks' imprisonment, suspended for 12 months, to run concurrently and 100 hours community service. He was also ordered to pay £50 compensation to girl and her friend and £300 costs. sentence.

On Thursday 29 January 2009, Contostavlos was arrested and bailed after he was accused of making death threats with a gun. He denied the allegation. His home in Camden was raided following the incident, by police looking for a firearm. Three days later (Saturday 31 January) he was then hauled off a BA flight from Edinburgh to London by police after it touched down, with fellow N-Dubz performer Fazer, after appearing to be acting disorderly. A source said: "They were swearing at kids on the plane, being foul and threatening passengers. Cabin crew called ahead to the police, who were waiting when the plane landed. They were taken away by armed officers."

On Tuesday 12 January 2010, Contostavlos appeared on the Chris Moyles Show on BBC Radio 1 along with Fazer and Tulisa. The show received a text message from a Chloe Moody in Boston, Lincolnshire complaining that Dappy was "vile" and "a little boy with a silly hat" and that N-Dubz were "losers". Dappy secretly copied Moody's phone number from the studio console and, the following day, tried calling her and sent threatening messages including: "Your [sic] gonna die. U sent a very bad msg towards Ndubz on The Chris Moyels [sic] show yesterday Morning and for that reason u will never be left alone!!! u say sorry I will leave u alone u ****." Moody claimed that she continued to receive messages after declining to apologise, one of which said: "u dum f****** ***head u can call me names over the radio but when I call u direct u chicken out u punk!nana f****** niii, Dappy" (the asterisks are not Dappy's own). Dappy's management later apologised on his behalf and offered free tickets to one of his concerts, however he has not apologised to Moody personally. N-Dubz have now been dropped from the Government's Anti-Bullying 'R U Cyber Safe?' campaign due to this. The rapper appeared with Schools Secretary Ed Balls to launch pop single "R U Cyber Safe?" in November 2009 and Mr Balls said he was "thrilled to have them on board" however he has now dropped the band saying: "This text message was totally unacceptable. There is no excuse. We have no further plans to work with the band." "

N-Dubz hit the headlines again in April 2010 on the front page of The Sun and other newspapers after Dappy and Fazer were caught firing at passers by and fans outside their tour bus in Newcastle when they were their doing a show, with Dappy getting a little carried away and accidently hitting a girl on the bottom, who then called the police on them. The guns then got confiscated and Northumbria Police confirmed: 'We were called to the court car park at the rear of the 02 Academy in Fenkle Street just before 8pm on Saturday following complaints pellets were being fired from a coach at the location. Officers spoke to two persons who had been firing plastic toy guns at each other which discharged small 6mm pellets.

Personal life

Dappy doesn't have a permanent home, he currently lives between his mum's flat and his ex girlfriend's flat in East London, where she and her and Dappy's 1-year-old son, Gino live. They have split up several times however and in February 2010 it was reported that Contostavlos had been hospitalised after his girlfriend had attacked him.

"They'd been out the night before and had a massive fight the following morning," a source said. "Gino wasn't there. Things were out of control. Dappy knew he had to do something. He called the police. Dappy refused to be helped by the medical staff because he didn't want to look like a wimp. But he was in lots of pain and went to hospital afterwards so his nose could be treated." A police spokesperson confirmed that Vassell was taken in for questioning over a suspected assault and possession of a Class B drug. Dappy later told the News Of The World of the attack saying "I sat back and put my hands behind my back. She wasn't going to provoke me into doing anything. I was standing on the balcony and she got the phone and slammed it against my nose. There was a lot of blood. I shed a tear. But I would never hit back." However Dappy apparently took her back, just a week after he said they'd split up for good over her beating him. He said: "I love her to pieces, she's got my kid."

Fazer and Tulisa have joked before that he has "no taste in girls". Several girls have written letters to magazines such as KISS and Bliss describing Dappy as a hunk and rated #4 in OK! Top 100 Hottest Men.

He had said before he would like to own a thatched cottage in Kent, although he would feel out of place due to him being a self-proclaimed 'foreigner'. He is of Greek origin, and although born and raised in England, he does not consider himself to be English in any way and at home he speaks Greek. He says he is one of many "foreign bloodz that lives in Camden". He is sometimes teased as "the little man" as he is only 5 foot 3 inches tall.

N-Dubz were forced to reschedule some of their live shows from the Uncle B tour after Dappy was diagnosed with temporary deafness. He later said the ordeal "was terrible and it has really taught me to take better care of my ears because I wouldn't be the musician I am today if I couldn't hear."

Dappy and band-mate Fazer are said to be keen fishermen, often relaxing by the riverbank together with their rods out, and Dappy has often expressed his love of Phil Collins. On Never Mind the Buzzcocks he famously failed to make the audience sing along with him to Careless Whisper by George Michael. In November 2009 in another appearance on the show, he embarrassed himself by mistaking Martha Wainwright for Cerys Matthews.

It has been claimed that Dappy has an obsessive habit of crashing model planes and also an obsession with hats.

There was a rumour Dappy had set up his own greek kebab shop in London called 'Dapz's Grease hole', a claim which he later rubbished.

He revealed that he is a "massive" Arsenal fan when N-Dubz appeared on Live from Studio Five, gushing "it is an honour to sit next to you" to former Arsenal striker Ian Wright who is one of three hosts on the show.

In 2010, it was reported that Dappy had been kidnapped by Manchester Hip Hop duo F.O.A.K after a video surfaced on Facebook and Youtube showing Dappy being grappled and thrown into the boot of a Ford Fiesta. The kidnapping scene in the video has since been confirmed as a fake and was solely done to mock Dappy.