Death is present with me these days. Partly because the traditions around this time of year are so connected to the dead. And also because of my mum’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis exactly one year ago in October.

I see rap as a way to empower myself - to embody, through my lyrics and the way their rhythms strike me, both powerful and vulnerable parts of me. Ultimate ideals that I know are in me, and that I love to use rap to step into.

This song is called You were born for this. It’s inspired by an Erin Telford breathwork session, where she spoke these words at a particular moment during my emotional release and they broke deep into me and made me feel powerful, strengthened by every survivor through my entire family tree, and able to let go.

Part of my own journey in freeing my own voice is learning to see myself equally as facilitator and as a musician.

There is a silent critic
Of the most scathing kind
That dwells within my consciousness
And harnesses my mind

You are unique. There is only one flavour of you in the entire universe. And that means your expression is unique, and so is your voice. 

Once as a kid I was playing in the sea on a family vacation. The waves were big. Really big. I laughed and jumped joyfully as the foaming arches danced over my head, not knowing that for every upsurge of a wave there is an accompanying undertow, a powerful counteracting force in the dance, a downward pull that answered the upward rush.

In my singing workshops where we sing in harmony, I notice how the sound goes through different stages as the group finds its synergy.

The process goes something like this:

In most of our daily lives, anywhere we go, this mantra resounds around the walls of our world. And when we are told, over and over and over again, that we are not enough, what happens? Well, of course, we begin to believe it!