Get to know Oscar #Worldpeace, the grime-influenced rapper with heaps of lyrical substance

So far in 2018, grime, drill and UK rap have been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons. Targeted by some media as a contributing factor behind the recent spike in knife and gun crime, the unfair blaming of young black voices hasn’t stopped rappers like Oscar #Worldpeace from sharing their truths. “Being from Tottenham, there’s a lot of things that go down,” says the Mike Skinner-approved wordsmith. “I’ve had a real life – I’m not one of these fakes – and I’ve pretty much seen it all. I may not have done it all, but I’ve definitely seen it all. I want to be the change I want to see in the world, so when I approach my music as a black man I have a responsibility.”

Oscar grew up in North London to a Jamaican mother and Ghanaian father, his music-making cousins inspiring him to do the same. “I wanted to be just like them,” he says, “so I started getting into it, writing bars and trying to impress them.” Those bars would lead him to an early life of grime during his school years, his favourite MC being Kano and his favourite album ‘Home Sweet Home’. Along the way, though, reggae, hip hop, and r’n’b powerhouses like Lauryn Hill, Mary J. Blige and Faith Evans would sway Oscar’s sound, contributing a more thoughtful side to his musical roots. “I remember my mum playing a lot of women at home,” he adds. “That’s been a big influence in my music – my mother’s record collection.”

Four years ago, #Worldpeace got a huge surprise when he opened Twitter: there was a message from The Streets’ Mike Skinner giving props on his debut single ‘Mook’. At first, he thought he was being catfished. “I was fully shocked,” he tells us. “I didn’t believe it was him! Even when he told me to meet him, on the way there I was questioning everything. I didn’t hear his voice, as it was just through email and Twitter DMs, so I was thinking I might get there and it’s just some random guy,” he laughs. Luckily for Oscar, Skinner was the real deal and now, years later, he’s still something of a mentor.

‘IC3’ is the title of Oscar #Worldpeace’s latest project, a four-track offering that sees him tackle the British police identity code for ‘black male’ and the other hurtful and damaging stereotypes that affect this group of society on a daily basis. “The focal point of this project is my thoughts and opinions on police brutality and growing up as a black male in Tottenham,” says Oscar of his intelligent, thought-provoking body of work. “I don’t approach music from a fantasy world... I approach it from a real place.”

The ‘IC3’ EP by Oscar #Worldpeace is out now on World Peace