MUSIC-BRITAIN/GEORGE THE POET New British music act on his mission to help the young

Record ID: 191310

  • Title: MUSIC-BRITAIN/GEORGE THE POET New British music act on his mission to help the young
  • Date: 23rd January 2015
  • Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (RECENT) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** VARIOUS OF GEORGE THE POET BEING PHOTOGRAPHED POINTED FINGER (SOUNDBITE) (English) MUSICIAN, GEORGE THE POET, SAYING: "I'm feeling good. I've always wanted to get a big platform so I could talk to everyone and spread constructive messaging so this is sick. It's MTV. It's perfect."
  • Embargoed: 7th February 2015 12:00
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  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVADP46ARSPGTAEZIK1D5Q0Y9SGD
  • Story Text: New music act George the Poet is not your average pop star. He is a Cambridge University graduate, and has a mission to help the young with his 'wordsmithery'.
    His future looks promising after being nominated for Critics' Choice at the Brit Awards and coming fifth in the BBC Sound of 2015 competition.
    Speaking at the MTV Brand New for 2015 launch event, for which he is also nominated, George the Poet - real name George Mpanga - expressed his joy about how his career is going.
    "I'm feeling good. I've always wanted to get a big platform so I could talk to everyone and spread constructive messaging so this is sick," he said. "It's MTV. It's perfect."
    George the Poet studied politics, psychology and sociology at King's College, Cambridge. He started rapping at 14-years old, but admitted he was 'rubbish' at the time. He has since refined his style to what can be heard in his single '1, 2, 1, 2' - a song giving guidance and encouragement.
    "I do have a plan," he said. "The idea is to unlock everyone's potential. I don't think society encourages people to just be who they are for what they want. I think society's like 'Oh you can be who you are, after you've done everything we need you to do,' which doesn't quite work for everyone because not everyone fits into a conventional career path, for example, like myself, which is why I'm doing what I'm doing."
    Mpanga grew up on an estate in north-west London, where he claims gangsters were rife, although he admits that wasn't "a form of masculinity" he wanted to buy into.
    "I'm very keen to contribute to society in a constructive way," he said, "and because my environment growing up didn't encourage that I became very conscious of it and I was looking for the person to show me how to do it and I couldn't find that person, especially not in a public space. I found some people like that later on in my life but I thought the minute I get famous I want to promote that I'm going to make sure I am that person, so that any kid that grows up in a place like where I grew up that it doesn't dictate your outcome."
    George the Poet admitted he struggled to get signed to a label because his music was seen as too niche. However, he's now signed to Island Records and believes that the music industry is slowly changing and that he will be helping push the boundaries.
    "There's been a change because there's a need for it. I'm not sitting in my room just imagining that people want change, and imagining that there's a space in music where people aren't talking about real things or imagining that the radio is largely vacuous. I'm not imagining that the direction of the music industry is kind of drifting away from anything substantial. I'm not imagining these things, they're actually happening. So when I come out and I start combatting them, they're received for a reason. I ain't going to be shut down, I'm not going to lose, because my power doesn't come from me or my imagination. My power comes from people and the fact that we're all part of this collective human family that has shared experiences and those experiences need to be discussed and catered to."
    George the Poet is due to tour the UK in February. The MTV Brand New competition winner is announced on January 30th.
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