Scorzayzee is a Nottingham hip hop artist and emcee, also known as Dean Palinczuk. He is associated with the Nottingham rap crew Out Da Ville, with Lee Ramsay and Karizma among the group’s members. His work is linked to UK hip hop and grime, and he is known for rapid, technically dense lyricism.

Career

Scorzayzee begins recording and gaining attention in the late 1990s, first through Out Da Ville. He develops his craft with mentorship from Trevor Rose and becomes known on the UK hip hop scene through his featured verses. After the group disbands, he records a large body of solo material, including four mixtapes, numerous singles and many collaborations.

He records a set of solo tracks with producers Nick “Dimes” Stez and DJ Fever, including “Picasso”, “Wishmaster”, “Even Heroes Die”, “Crepps”, “Archery”, “Want What’s Yours”, “We Dont Care”, “They Dont Care About Us”, “Driven to Tears”, “Rupert Brown” and “Busy Road”. Some of these appear on 12-inch releases and many circulate on radio playlists and live sets rather than on a full album compilation.

Notable radio and press attention

During Out Da Ville’s peak, Scorzayzee, Lee Ramsay and Karizma appear live on Tim Westwood’s BBC Radio 1 Rap Show. He is later voted seventh best rapper in the world in a Hip Hop Connection reader poll, placing above names including Tupac, Xzibit and Talib Kweli in that poll.

One of his best-known solo tracks, “Great Britain”, is produced by the Nottingham team P Brothers and is played on Zane Lowe’s BBC Radio 1 show. The song also draws coverage in the Sunday Telegraph and prompts parliamentary discussion about whether it should be banned.

Film work and later releases

In 2008, Mark Devenport arranges an audition for Shane Meadows’ film Le Donk. Scorzayzee meets Meadows and Paddy Considine at Broadway Cinema in Nottingham, raps for them, gets the part and appears in the film, which is renamed Le Donk & Scor-zay-zee as his role expands. The film is shot in five days and released in 2009 to critical acclaim.

In the same period he releases tracks including “Final Destination”, “Chemical Bomb” and “Busy Road” online. Between 2009 and 2011 he जारीices singles and mixtapes such as “Luv Me”, The Starter Mixtape, the Raging Bull mixtape, and the paired releases War To The Puzzle and Peace To The Puzzle.

Other details

Scorzayzee also records a BBC Radio programme, Scorzayzee and the S Word, with MistaJam, which reflects on his early years, Out Da Ville and his later struggles. He is described as both a lyricist and an actor, and he also appears in a local no-budget film during a period when he writes intermittently. He later works on a comeback show at Rescue Rooms in Nottingham alongside acts including Inkrument, Cappo and Phi Life Cypher.