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The question of parentage used to hang heavily over UK rap, born from US rap but ignored on the other side of the Atlantic. On the rare occasions that American ears were cast in their direction, UK rappers found themselves mocked for their funny accents and lack of credibility. To rub salt in the wounds, the European home of rap was provocatively claimed by France, where les rappeurs had the curious advantage of not having to rap in English. All that has changed. Led by grime, UK rap underwent a renaissance in the 2010s. As British rappers stepped out from America’s long shadow, a different notion of parentage emerged.
The shift was symbolised by Skepta’s victory in the 2016 Mercury music prize, when the grime MC’s mother joined him as he collected the award. She upstaged him on the podium by breaking into a dance. Since then, maternal tributes have become commonplace in UK rap. From Stormzy to Headie One, mothers have been praised in verses and given speaking roles in records. The latest example comes with the debut studio album from east London rapper Kojey Radical. Reason to Smile is threaded with snippets of his mother Janet Adu Amponsah talking about moving from Ghana to London and raising her son, whose real name is Kwadwo Adu Genfi Amponsah.
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The title track opens with her speaking in Twi, a dialect of Akan (Ghana’s principal language). Elsewhere, she switches to English. “My mother’s voice always felt like home,” Kojey raps of his bilingual parent on two occasions. The sentiment is trickier than it might seem. Born in London in 1993, he wasn’t taught Twi as a child: his mother wanted him to speak English. Her voice might feel like home to him, but he wasn’t raised to understand his Ghanaian mother tongue.
