W: Noah Fashesin. I: Eamonn Gillespie

‘’ I just wanna make music that makes people feel something, makes people think, makes people act, so when people listen to it I want people to be inspired to do better”.

A rapper, a gospel artist, a Custom House native, a West Ham fan, a Ghanaian, and an example. Guvna B is more than just the rapper that is presented to us, the rap veteran has done more than 10 years in the UK music scene cementing himself as UK rap icon as well as completing a number of very impressive side missions.

“I started rapping, getting inspired by Kano. I’m from East London … he lived like 10/15 minutes away. I remember I saw a tune called Ps & Qs on MTV base and said rah that's a brother from the ends, I could do that”. Guvna started rapping like the majority of young kids in inner city London, just for fun at first rapping about things that you've never done but may have seen, Guvna began building a name for himself in East London but had to change his content after his lyrics hit a little too close to home, “When I was like 15 one of my friends got stabbed to death and then I felt like the lyrics I was spitting about weren't right, I was chatting about stuff I didn't even do … seeing the real effect of that, his life and family just made me think I want to put out a different message and I started talking about more positive stuff and people started to mess with it”. 

Guvna B never wanted to be a rapper but was raised around music, whether it was at his local youth clubs or churches, music was always around and always a option. “My parents are Ghanaian, they wanted me to do something a bit traditional … I always enjoyed music but I didn't have enough belief in myself to give it 100%, I always viewed it as a backup”, Guvna had the problem that many children of immigrants have when wanting to explore a creative career and with Guvna not being completely confident in music, he studied at the University of Hertfordshire before taking on an office job. It wasn't until he saw he was making a similar amount from his 9-5 than he was from music and decided to give himself 6 months to make the music work, ultimately never returning to the office. Now 10 project downs, a 3 times Mobo winner and a 3 times Urban music award winner, Guvna B “Would say, I'm a rapper bro”.

Guvna has had a career long enough for a testimonial, a 10-year-long journey filled with achievements and awards, but it was a recent achievement that allowed for his whole family to fully understand the impact Guvna has been making across all these years, with the east london native becoming the face of the new Custom House station. “That was a proud moment, especially for Mumzy, she didn't really know wagwan with music that much, so when she saw my face up at the station I think it symbolizes success for her”. Becoming the face of Custom House isn't Guvnas only achievement away from music the lifelong West Hams fan has become a cult hero working closely with his boyhood club as well as creating an anthem titled ‘Massive’ a play on the recently developed chant of ‘West Ham are Massive’. The freestyle was for a bit fun at first but was picked up by West ham supporters on social media and turned into a charity drive to raise money for a young west ham fan fighting for her life. Guvna has become a face almost synonymous with the east london club, “I was going to Upton Park when I was younger … now going to the training ground, building relationships with players and that, it's sick man”.

When going to meet Guvna B the thing that most excited me was his latest project, ‘The Village is on Fire’, the project to me was a masterpiece covering so many topics and feelings that I felt as a young black male. The project was created off the back of an assault that saw Guvna B attacked by a group of white males in the area he lives. The album looks at the different aspects and relationships in society that make it so hard for the proverb of ‘It takes a village to raise a child’ to truly be carried out, “When I was growing up I used to hear a lot that it takes a village to raise a child, meaning that everyone is responsible. But when the education system isn't fully functioning, when the healthcare system isn't helping the most marginalised people, when parents aren't taking responsibility it can feel like this village is burning down”.

The first track ‘Bridgeland Road’ features Guvnas cousin and Bafta award-winning actor and writer Michaela Coel, the track starts with a monologue from the award-winning actor directed at Guvna following his attack, “We've had that most our lives to be fair, advising each other between the good and bad .. She faced an assault a few years ago and wrote about it and it helped her process, so when she's telling me I think this could help. For me the art was my gateway to process what I had been through”, that talk from Michaela wasn’t a one-off and as Guvna reminded me when she wrote about her assault it aided her in being able to process it but also led to the creation of one of the powerful and touching series to touch British television with ‘I may destroy you’.

The project was and is a journey from its point of creation to when it reaches the listener's ears, the album obviously looks at Guvnas troubles but also explores the way in which black people are treated in this country not only by the odd racist but by large bodies of power such as the police, “I think a lot of black people especially, maybe we trick ourselves into thinking when we do better in life when we get off the block then we get treated better. Whether you're working class, middle class, poor, or rich you're still gonna be black and people will always have a stereotype for what that means”, following Guvna’s attack he had to deal with the police and their ignorance. After being a victim of an assault he was the one questioned about his criminal background (a background he doesn't have) rather than the focus being on the perpetrators. The lack of care for him as well as the police's ignorance towards the incidents ultimately led the case to be closed with no one being brought to justice.

The project is a powerful creation of music with themes and ideas that touches on many aspects of Guvnas life. His track alongside Ghanaian artist Darkovibes was shot in his late father's hometown and allowed Guvna B to go to the street his dad would wonder as a young man, for the first time, “Going back to ghana walking the streets that he  (Guvna Bs dad) did gave me a deeper sense of what he achieved coming over to England and starting from scratch”. In Guvna Bs own words ``My success isn't my success is the success of my dad, my grandparents, everyone who came before me”, and that success is multiple awards, 10 project releases, the face of the custom house train station, a working relationship with his boyhood club West ham and so much more.

Guvna B is a legend when it comes to UK rap, 10 years in and still as strong as ever. ‘The Village is on fire’  is one of the most touching and raw projects that I've heard come out of UK rap this year. it's a simple motive that Guvna has when creating music and after working for 10 years there's so much more to come“I just wanna make music that makes people feel something, makes people think, makes people act, so when people listen to it I want people to be inspired to do better”.