:00:00. > 3:59:59the meaning of black culture in music, theatre, writing and
:00:00. > :00:19.I have a dream that the black man will have the hand the white man.
:00:20. > :00:23.Black lies matter, White lies matter, everybody's lies matter.
:00:24. > :00:45.Immigration should mean controlled immigration.
:00:46. > :00:58.Black culture is a term used for people of African descent. Is black
:00:59. > :01:07.culture a uniform thing or isolated pockets of creativity? East Coast
:01:08. > :01:11.rap to East London grime. All the similarities, all the differences
:01:12. > :01:17.and the hybrids come with time. Speaking about black culture, often
:01:18. > :01:23.young adults and teens come to me, black music has bridged many gaps.
:01:24. > :01:26.But the Heritage is undermined by the lack of economic ownership. I'm
:01:27. > :01:32.from a generation that has grown with that, watched our creation,
:01:33. > :01:39.sliced while our history and spaces are blown to bits. From where I
:01:40. > :02:00.stand in the UK, it is a shadowy area and I'm keen to cast light in
:02:01. > :02:06.the form of art mind. Within every community there exists
:02:07. > :02:12.a range of voices. We create what we become so we can change the choices.
:02:13. > :02:18.That is the magic of art. It allows us to engage with the story.
:02:19. > :02:29.Speaking of engaging with the story, meet ritual for it. -- Rachel for E.
:02:30. > :02:37.I asked why she was writing, it is not supposed to be confidential? Who
:02:38. > :02:40.will she showed to? She says she is happy to understand things. If I
:02:41. > :02:45.want to try it I can write stuff down and we can discuss it. I
:02:46. > :02:49.already understand things and if I want to discuss something I would
:02:50. > :02:53.just say it. But I would bury my head in my diary is I was hurt,
:02:54. > :03:01.confronted with this misguided 18-year-old. She kept going on about
:03:02. > :03:04.it being my session and it is her job to listen. So I thought if I
:03:05. > :03:11.have these weekly sessions I might as well speak my mind. If it is her
:03:12. > :03:16.job. I had a show about a young girl from south London. Your writing her
:03:17. > :03:24.perspective with both admiration and respect for what she sees. It was a
:03:25. > :03:27.bit tongue in cheek, you see how she will be perceived. She has this
:03:28. > :03:33.south London kind of stereotype that you sort of right. Her name is
:03:34. > :03:38.candies but actually she is incredibly bright. I like the idea
:03:39. > :03:44.of you hearing this attitude and accent and then she starts to save
:03:45. > :03:48.the we agree with. Did you know black people are more likely to get
:03:49. > :03:54.stopped and searched by police? And she says it is statistics like that
:03:55. > :04:03.but make me do what I do. I did not ask you why you do your job. And you
:04:04. > :04:07.doing this does not change the fact that we live in a world where an
:04:08. > :04:13.armed police officer can shoot the young boy dead. We do not really
:04:14. > :04:18.talk about this stuff. And if we do it is like, you have equal
:04:19. > :04:26.opportunities now, what are you complaining about? I do not think
:04:27. > :04:33.that kind of stuff, like you cannot say it is not PC. I think that
:04:34. > :04:37.stands for politely condescending. Like you are coming and telling me I
:04:38. > :04:42.need your help. Do you feel there is a responsibility of representation?
:04:43. > :04:51.Initially I just wanted to express myself. To be a pioneer for the
:04:52. > :04:57.representation of black women. It is important to convey the variations
:04:58. > :05:01.within black women. When you turn on your TV or read a newspaper, they
:05:02. > :05:07.always take certain boxes or act a certain way. I want to twist things
:05:08. > :05:11.and play with stereotype. What does it mean for this thing called black
:05:12. > :05:18.culture? Where does that story fit in. I'm not here to before black
:05:19. > :05:26.culture to go this is a global responsibility. Gender equality,
:05:27. > :05:32.racial equality, we all need to take responsibility. Not how we fix this
:05:33. > :05:36.as black people. That is explored in the play and it is interesting how
:05:37. > :05:44.it is received. For some this topic is illustrated through a preacher.
:05:45. > :05:50.When she starts to speak people laugh. Everyone recognises this. I
:05:51. > :05:54.get people to clap as if they were in church. Then there's topic of
:05:55. > :06:00.them and us and how we fix this situation, I start to speak about
:06:01. > :06:07.that. Wake up black people. I know nobody
:06:08. > :06:11.going to preach this on a Sunday morning. But God has said you'll
:06:12. > :06:19.wake up and start making excuses about how we have to work twice as
:06:20. > :06:25.hard when the truth is we just will not see it. Open our eyes beyond the
:06:26. > :06:30.physical, so it are sci-fi as individuals and start to focus.
:06:31. > :06:37.Complaining how the Lord does not here are calls. Kudos. Do you feel
:06:38. > :06:45.you started off as politically charged? Yes, politics came from my
:06:46. > :06:49.own experience, people expected me to embody these stereotypes, how
:06:50. > :06:53.women are perceived and the kind of woman you had to be to succeed. The
:06:54. > :07:00.kind of things you had to do to be successful. I thought hold on,
:07:01. > :07:03.switch this up a bit. Your mission initially was not to try to save
:07:04. > :07:07.these people do not exist and that is just a figment of your
:07:08. > :07:13.imagination, but to take some existing identities and add a bit
:07:14. > :07:18.more colour and variation? Exactly. You said you recognise these women
:07:19. > :07:24.and that is why we are laughing. We can relate to it. All we are
:07:25. > :07:28.embarrassed because we have experienced something like that. And
:07:29. > :07:33.sometimes you consent the audience question why they are liking that
:07:34. > :07:37.character. Because I relate to you, or look down on you, it creates this
:07:38. > :07:41.discomfort which is also interesting. It is opening dialogue
:07:42. > :07:45.and people are talking about it. That is more likely to cause things
:07:46. > :07:53.to happen and change. I know, I'm fully aware Obama is in
:07:54. > :07:59.office. The dream come true. But the truth is black people, real change
:08:00. > :08:04.starts with you. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. That is
:08:05. > :08:11.change of the divine kind. You leave that behind and you turn to him.
:08:12. > :08:20.That makes all things new. Only the grace of God can really change you.
:08:21. > :08:28.Now I'm saying white folk got to go together, it seems only a few blacks
:08:29. > :08:37.have got to make the world better. Black is successful, why cannot
:08:38. > :08:40.black and success befriends? You cannot go to school because you can
:08:41. > :08:47.hustle for another dollar. Wake up. It is not the world was Iraq fault.
:08:48. > :08:54.It is not the fault of that white guy who got the job. Wake up. -- not
:08:55. > :08:59.the world's falls. Do you think there's a difference between racial
:09:00. > :09:08.and gender politics, that you embody? For me racism always trump
:09:09. > :09:14.sexism. And within the sexism it is always like, black women are...
:09:15. > :09:20.Black men are strong and that women are sassy and a bit much and she
:09:21. > :09:28.needs to calm down. I feel there is always constantly levels within
:09:29. > :09:56.either inequality. Congratulations again. Talent has messed you up!
:09:57. > :09:57.Culture provides a dialect, an antidote
:09:58. > :10:00.An outlet for anyone denied respect.
:10:01. > :10:06.The medium through which you and I connect.
:10:07. > :10:09.From spoken aspirations to some commemorations, culture can
:10:10. > :10:14.Not to see the barriers that we inherit, to see
:10:15. > :10:21.First you make a sound, then you wait a while.
:10:22. > :10:24.Then you get the kids trying to emulate your style,
:10:25. > :11:20.England is a -based culture. Something is seminal as England is a
:11:21. > :11:24.bitch penetrated consciousness. But your accent and methods were
:11:25. > :11:28.uncompromising. How was it to be received at that time? At that time
:11:29. > :11:34.we were trying to do something new with poetry. I was trying to use my
:11:35. > :11:39.words at the time to articulate how we felt about our experiences living
:11:40. > :11:45.and growing up, struggling in a racialised society.
:11:46. > :12:03.The tension with the police in the 1970s and 1980s... It has not
:12:04. > :12:08.stopped. We are the generation that continues to bear that. But at the
:12:09. > :12:13.emergence of this cultural setting, how was it coming out and just
:12:14. > :12:20.clearing space to the cultural in a way that wasn't able to your life?
:12:21. > :12:28.Still fighting. You're talking a lot of stuff that should get you in
:12:29. > :12:32.trouble. You made one poll about the SPG. I was vilified by certain
:12:33. > :12:36.sections of the right-wing press. Which I took as an endorsement. But
:12:37. > :12:44.I was doing the right thing and saying the right thing.
:12:45. > :12:52.# Everywhere you go it's the talk of the day #
:12:53. > :12:58.Everywhere you go you hear people say
:12:59. > :13:01.# The special patrol our murderer. The demonstration against the
:13:02. > :13:07.National Front degenerated into a running battle between the police
:13:08. > :13:14.and demonstrators. I remember being sceptical when I came to the studio
:13:15. > :13:20.with some of my stuff. There was one in particular, the SPG, you know who
:13:21. > :13:25.you are dealing with with this guy? And he'd go, well, bass, tell you
:13:26. > :13:35.what, you don't mind not putting my name on this record!
:13:36. > :13:42.Their Peach, London teacher and father of two children was hit hard
:13:43. > :13:46.on the head and died. The pathologist said he may have been
:13:47. > :13:49.the victim of a Robert Koch. The police say the officers carry
:13:50. > :13:53.standard truncheons and not rubber cosh is and according to the yard
:13:54. > :14:04.the police inquiry into Peach's death is being pursued with vigour.
:14:05. > :14:08.-- rubber cosh. I remember Linton saying to me I'm not contriving
:14:09. > :14:13.anything, these are things happening around us and I'm just reporting on
:14:14. > :14:17.it. And I was downward that. It was at the moment what was going on,
:14:18. > :14:22.being recorded, so that future generations could hear the state of
:14:23. > :14:25.it. # Is England becoming a fascist
:14:26. > :14:31.state? # The answer lies in your own state
:14:32. > :14:36.# And in the answer lies your own fate. #
:14:37. > :14:40.Interestingly what is spoken about what is the Jamaican influence on
:14:41. > :14:46.the punk movement, the skinhead movement. Do you feel any affinity
:14:47. > :14:51.to that? Both music types were the music of the unemployed in the 1970s
:14:52. > :14:57.and it was black and white working-class youth solidarity.
:14:58. > :15:01.Expressed culturally. We have to be careful when talking about black
:15:02. > :15:05.culture. What is black culture? Culture is not determined or defined
:15:06. > :15:10.by pigmentation. Caribbean migrants have contributed to British popular
:15:11. > :15:14.culture and it has become institutionalised. But the black
:15:15. > :15:17.communities had to wage struggles after struggles after struggles
:15:18. > :15:21.against the police and certain reactionary elements. Do you feel
:15:22. > :15:25.like there has been some progress in the translation of these different
:15:26. > :15:31.cultural moments meeting in the spaces we are creating? Even though
:15:32. > :15:37.we had to resort to riots and insurrections and uprisings in order
:15:38. > :15:42.to integrate ourselves into British society we have by and large done
:15:43. > :15:46.so. And we are no longer on the periphery of British society. So,
:15:47. > :15:52.yes, there has been progress. It should only get better but we will
:15:53. > :15:57.wait to see. All right then, we will be looking forward to it and my
:15:58. > :16:00.generation is indebted to you and eternally grateful for your
:16:01. > :16:05.contribution. We are eternally grateful of the contribution of our
:16:06. > :16:10.parents' generation because they laid a solid foundation for us for
:16:11. > :16:18.stop I'm looking forward to your work, I'm sure you have much more in
:16:19. > :16:21.new. -- I'm sure you have much more in you.
:16:22. > :16:24.Every culture follows an invisible order and many exist
:16:25. > :16:29.This one has been on an uncharted journey.
:16:30. > :16:31.To all the latecomers, this one started early.
:16:32. > :16:33.Diasporas have hand-picked their moments, unique to
:16:34. > :16:38.And created many a hybrid form, like the one in which I perform.
:16:39. > :16:43.But the concept of blackness is relatively new and it gets
:16:44. > :16:51.It's a mix of ethnicities with separate histories, so black
:16:52. > :17:06.Two and a half years ago I was sitting at Cambridge doing my
:17:07. > :17:13.finals, and I had a question on my paper about culture. The question
:17:14. > :17:23.was: What is black music. And I quoted one book heavily, and that
:17:24. > :17:26.was The Black Cats And To. -- the black at Atlantic. I'd like to ask
:17:27. > :17:33.you what the term black culture means? How long have you got? The
:17:34. > :17:38.first thing we should say about black culture is it is a 20th
:17:39. > :17:44.century invention, and even earlier it was something called Montenegro
:17:45. > :17:51.culture and that was always in debate, in dispute. And before that
:17:52. > :17:56.culture we can say it was African culture. That had to be jam-packed
:17:57. > :18:02.as well. There were a range of different cultural forms that
:18:03. > :18:03.matched the linguistic, cultural, religious anthropological
:18:04. > :18:08.complexities of Africans as they became slaves, and were shifted by
:18:09. > :18:16.force of violence across the Atlantic. Ultimately you see culture
:18:17. > :18:22.as alive as its subjects. It is a thing that evolves, breathes, reacts
:18:23. > :18:27.and adapts? Yes, races and doesn't see culture in the fluid developing
:18:28. > :18:31.historic way. Races and six to pickle you and capture youth within
:18:32. > :18:38.a particular specification of the culture that you are supposed to
:18:39. > :18:41.inhabit. Is itself owned? To suggest it is self owned suggests it is a
:18:42. > :18:48.kind of property, you either own it or you don't. My next question is,
:18:49. > :18:51.is it not intellectual property? I don't think it is intellectual
:18:52. > :18:56.property. It became intellectual property when people put it under
:18:57. > :19:01.copyright. That caricatured commodified Armagh Hollywood form
:19:02. > :19:06.arrives in our computers and headphones and that invites us to
:19:07. > :19:08.join in and plays ourselves in what I would call a generic culture, a
:19:09. > :19:26.generic black culture. There was a popularisation of
:19:27. > :19:29.gangsta rap in the 90s. Having been a product of that exact marketing
:19:30. > :19:34.and identifying with that experience much more than I would have
:19:35. > :19:38.identified with the wider British experience, these things are
:19:39. > :19:42.projected so powerfully. Sometimes the music isn't a load of car alarms
:19:43. > :19:43.and shouting. Sometimes it is really compelling and exciting.
:19:44. > :19:58.LAUGHTER Does that not feedback into a
:19:59. > :20:03.cultural question about people's acquisition of information and how
:20:04. > :20:07.people choose to go about building up their narratives of understanding
:20:08. > :20:12.the world? Absolutely. But I still think there is something restrictive
:20:13. > :20:16.about these portals and channels of flowing information, which end up,
:20:17. > :20:19.or could end up in narrowing our understanding of the richness and
:20:20. > :20:24.complexity of identity. I would rather that we could find a richer
:20:25. > :20:38.and deeper sense of humanity. And culture? And culture.
:20:39. > :20:45.What is the function of a cultural commodity? Is it intellectual
:20:46. > :20:49.property? Or maybe an alternative to poverty.
:20:50. > :20:52.When a community creates an economy, are its people renumerated properly
:20:53. > :20:53.to build themselves and support themselves?
:20:54. > :20:55.Or are they overcome by the corporate world?
:20:56. > :21:34.# This isn't music # This is a sport # I
:21:35. > :21:38.think I'm ready to retire # Something I say to young artists and
:21:39. > :21:45.rappers, look at rap is one of writing. I wish somebody told the
:21:46. > :21:49.bat when I was 20 and said you are a writer and rap is one form of
:21:50. > :21:52.writing. Is wrap something that can take different forms, energy and
:21:53. > :22:00.life force? Wrapping is writing, environments
:22:01. > :22:05.Wairarapa-Bush from does not show us the intellectual roots it had in the
:22:06. > :22:08.first place. By the time I got to university I felt like the cultural
:22:09. > :22:12.imperialism I was battling with to be respected as a lyricist isn't
:22:13. > :22:15.worth it and I might as well drop out of the music and deliver it more
:22:16. > :22:19.conversationally and people received it as poetry. It is an intrinsic
:22:20. > :22:26.issue people have with young kids from the hood, young black kids
:22:27. > :22:29.calling themselves poets. Every convention they say makes rap not
:22:30. > :22:34.poetry is a convention Shakespeare used. He wrote 154 sonnets and every
:22:35. > :22:41.single one is set to a particular flow and remember either time you
:22:42. > :22:50.get back to The Tempest, It Is Double-time. He was obviously a very
:22:51. > :22:55.intelligent guy but so was Tupac. I'm second-generation, black
:22:56. > :23:03.Caribbean, Scottish, I'm confused by the boxes, they just breed
:23:04. > :23:07.confusion. It all seems like insanity. Why must I rob you of your
:23:08. > :23:10.humanity to feel good? When I talk about rock music to
:23:11. > :23:16.young black kids they say it is white people music. There were
:23:17. > :23:22.African American musicians who inspired the Beatles, led Zeppelin,
:23:23. > :23:25.Pink Floyd are named after two blues singers. We have cultural
:23:26. > :23:28.appropriation, what's the difference between exchange and appropriation
:23:29. > :23:31.question at exchange is I say I like the culture and I will borrow from
:23:32. > :23:38.it but I will acknowledge the influence.
:23:39. > :23:45.# To me that is cool, if urban means street that is called. What they
:23:46. > :23:48.were listening to. How do we get to a stage where rock music is nothing
:23:49. > :23:51.to do with black people and Jazz music is only in classical music
:23:52. > :23:56.venues and there are four black people in the audience? Music is
:23:57. > :24:01.still marketed on racial grounds. If you fall between the cracks as an
:24:02. > :24:04.artist, or if you're not easy for all the music industry they don't
:24:05. > :24:10.know where to put you. That is like their favourite statement, and what
:24:11. > :24:12.they mean is you don't fall into the stereotypes of blackness but you are
:24:13. > :24:25.also not white. For me the artist has a tremendous
:24:26. > :24:29.role to play not just in black culture but every culture as an
:24:30. > :24:32.alternative source of power. In the case of a world where racial
:24:33. > :24:37.hierarchies aghast it's incumbent on the black artist to say these things
:24:38. > :24:41.can be defeated like this, it is really political. But the powers
:24:42. > :24:46.that be would like music to be apolitical, not just black music.
:24:47. > :24:52.One thing I say to myself is you are political being black.
:24:53. > :24:54.Whiteness is political too. Whiteness does not have to be
:24:55. > :24:58.predicated. It doesn't have to be explained.
:24:59. > :25:02.Everything else has to be explained but it just exists.
:25:03. > :25:04.Blackness makes people uncomfortable. There is a bad
:25:05. > :25:12.history, thinking about black-white relations. IBO asking if I'm a
:25:13. > :25:18.racist, oh my god, I didn't own any slaves, all of these responses that
:25:19. > :25:26.are more about the person's and paranoia. But the paranoia goes both
:25:27. > :25:30.ways. My mum's family is Scottish and my dad's family is Jamaican and
:25:31. > :25:34.I was waiting for racist abuse. But it didn't come. Even as a
:25:35. > :25:38.ten-year-old I waited for somebody to say something, I was on guard,
:25:39. > :25:44.saying where is the races and, when it is coming? And it didn't come and
:25:45. > :25:48.it was like get over yourself. My Scottish family would have been more
:25:49. > :25:54.bothered if he'd been English. They thought he is black, at least he's
:25:55. > :26:02.not English full stop their issues with the English often override the
:26:03. > :26:06.issues of people with colour. I want to be comfortable just making
:26:07. > :26:10.money and not having anything to say about the world is. I'm one of the
:26:11. > :26:14.lucky few that has been able to do both. That is black culture's gift
:26:15. > :26:22.to the world. And what people come to reggae music for. Why people and
:26:23. > :26:25.black people. It is that unique insight that only black people can
:26:26. > :26:32.offer because only black people have had that specific racialised a
:26:33. > :26:56.stratified class experience. Thank you very much. Any time.
:26:57. > :27:02.The concept of blackness is relatively new. The tides of change
:27:03. > :27:06.are rising quietly. We are in different times entirely. We've
:27:07. > :27:11.already transformed the usual norms expected of chart-topping musical
:27:12. > :27:14.forms and while our efforts have come to the fore there is a new
:27:15. > :27:18.generation that hunger for more. They want to mature in the world of
:27:19. > :27:24.business. It's the age of the young black entrepreneur. UC, black
:27:25. > :27:29.culture is the umbrella term for works by people of African descent.
:27:30. > :27:40.But maybe one day the term will mean an overarching pan African ascent.
:27:41. > :27:46.To end my Artsnight here is my choice to play us out.
:27:47. > :27:51.# Buffalo soldier # In the war for America #
:27:52. > :27:55.As a child I used to listen to this song with my mum while she explained
:27:56. > :28:03.the journey of many black diasporas.
:28:04. > :28:30.# Buffalo soldier # Said he was a Buffalo soldier
:28:31. > :28:46.# Win the war for America # Buffalo soldier #
:28:47. > :29:09.Dreadlock rasta # Driven from the mainland
:29:10. > :29:10.A slow start in the south-eastern corner of