George Mpanga talks to Duncan Hall about ditching his rapping for poems

AS a Harlesden teenager George Mpanga, aka George The Poet, was part of the London grime scene – but underwent an epiphany early on.

“During my time as a rap artist I felt like I was being put in a box,” he says. “It didn’t allow me to expand on my ideas. I wasn’t as interested in presentation as much as ideas. I had tried to engage people through rap in all sorts of ways, but I wasn’t able to spark a discussion.

“When an audience don’t know you or have an affinity to you and your music they glaze over when you get on stage. Something in them says: ‘This is rap, it requires less cognitive activity’. They weren’t prepared to digest my words or speak to me about the content afterwards.”

So George’s solution was to ditch the music and become a poet – at which point, as he says, everything fell into place.

“My live shows are like a conversation, I feel like I’m talking to people,” says George, who when not touring the country is in his final year studying politics, psychology and sociology at King’s College, Cambridge.

His first hardback collection of poetry, Search Party, was released last week by Ebury Press.

But he hasn’t entirely turned his back on music, as underlined by the critical acclaim for his debut EP The Chicken And The Egg, which was released last December.

The same month George was nominated for the Brits Critics Choice Award, and in January came fifth in the BBC Sound Of 2015 poll.

Listening to the 37-minute EP it’s not surprising.

To a gentle R&B backing George weaves together stories of infidelity, unwanted pregnancy and family breakdown which rewards repeat listens as he embraces different characters and viewpoints.

“I wanted to give the EP the most appropriate back drop,” he says. “I was writing down things I had seen and experienced.

“It was stream of consciousness, channelling bits of conversations and experiences, giving a voice to things I had heard, calling up memories. It was things I heard people complain about on the phone, things I heard from friends who had kids. I was being a mouthpiece.”

He describes his role as a poet as providing constructive representation for all. It’s something which could be heard in his 2012 calling card video This City, which championed his London home.

“I think the issue is representation,” he says. “Most people don’t get represented in the media – a lot of actual experience slips through the net. Not everyone is brought to the table and discussed.”

Songs with positive energy or uplifting messages often get pushed to one side.

“When someone mentions Hackney the first thing that pops up in most people’s minds is the riots,” he says.

“It’s a historically volatile community. The music which comes out of Hackney assists in the general perception – because if you’re going to do a story about Hackney let it be negative so you can sell it. It’s the logic of consumerism, it’s a passive process, when people are lazy about marketing the message.

“I talk about the human side – it’s not everyone singing Kumbaya. I want to tell the situation on the ground. If there is violence in Hackney let’s give some human context to it.

“It goes back to the approach in The Chicken And The Egg – more universal stories about relationships in modern life.”

Essential info

George The Poet, The Haunt, Pool Valley, Brighton, Friday, February 27 

Doors 7pm, tickets from £8. Call 01273 606312.