England rapper Dizzee Rascal will be one of the
new faces for the popular Ecko Clothing brand in an upcoming advertising campaign.
The East London rapper is set to start the campaign
in this year’s fall/winter collection. According to Ecko’s international manager
Justin Mingo, the company wanted to start recruiting up and coming artists from
Europe.
Mingo said Ecko has always promoted new faces
from the entertainment world, however they now want to take an international
direction.
"England we are coming up," Dizzee
Rascal told AllHipHop.com. "Sometimes though, people emulate what’s coming
from the United States. There aren’t that many people in London doing anything
original. There was a time where people were dressing up with the champagne
and all that b#######, but n##### like me had hats, hoods, making our own beats
doing our own s### and making our own way."
It was only natural that Ecko singled out Dizzee
for the campaign, as he was recently seen wearing the brand in his video "I
Luv U." His debut album Boy in Da Corner made him the first rapper to win
England’s prestigious Mercury Music Prize,
The campaign was shot earlier this year in New
York. The new collection is set introduce more hoodies and other casual clothing;
a trademark of Ecko which has led them to be one of the leaders in the urban
fashion world.
Dizzee will land in the United States next week
for a string of intimate dates with fellow UK rapper The Streets.
"When I come over here, I don’t want to
be known from just from MTV," Dizzie Rascal told AllHipHop.com. "I
go to where the people are and show the locals that are a part of setting the
foundation, that we are authentic."
Dates are below:
Fri June 11 Mountain View, CA Shoreline Amphitheater
(with Dizzee Rascal) (Live 105 festival)
Sat June 12 Los Angeles The Wiltern (with Dizzee
Rascal)
Tue June 15 Seattle Nuemo’s
Fri June 18 Park City, UT Harry O’s
Sat June 19 Denver Fox Theater
Mon June 21 Minneapolis Fine Line Music Café
Wed June 23 Chicago Metro
Thu June 24 Detroit St. Andrew’s Hall
Fri June 25 Toronto Mod Club
Sat June 26 Montreal Club Soda
Mon June 28 Boston Avalon Ballroom (with Dizzee
Rascal)
Tue June 29 New York City Irving Plaza (with
Dizzee Rascal)
Wed June 30 New York City Irving Plaza (with
Dizzee Rascal)
Thu July 1 Washington DC 9:30 Club (with Dizzee
Rascal)
Sat July 3 Atlanta Earthlink Live