Rap Therapy: An Interview with Bhishma Asare

There hasn’t exactly been an abundance of good news stories since the beginning of the pandemic, so when Rap Therapy came along, we had to spread the positivity.

Rap Therapy is a series of workshops, which uses rap as a tool to teach students how to positively express themselves, and become more creative preventing social tragedy. The core focus is to improve communication between young people and influence positive ways of expression, in turn improving their mental health. This equips students with transferable skills such as communication, teamwork and listening skills, which they can use in and out of their classrooms.

After working with over 4,500 young people across 45 schools, communities and youth establishments it’s little wonder they’ve been featured on national television with interviews with both ITV and BBC News.

We managed to catch up with the founder of the project, Bhishma Asare to dig a bit deeper into it’s origins…

Bhishma, the obvious question would be, how did it come about ?

Rap Therapy started not long after I released an EP called ‘Invisible Guidelines’. This EP was about the area which I live in (Thornton Heath) and the things which we see growing up. It spoke about the area and the ‘guidelines’ which we are taught to survive, these guidelines are the wrong guidelines. I speak on the area and the crime and how it is normalised and from this EP there was a lot of media attention, The Metro, The Guardian, The Advertiser and East London Lines wrote exclusive stories on the EP. I always wanted to give the young people the proper guidelines and help them understand how to express themselves positively through rap. Piloting Rap Therapy in Lanfranc Academy in Croydon, we were able to reach 4 students and get them back on track in school, preventing them from getting kicked out of school.

How long has it been running and is this your first time working with children?

It has been running since early 2018, I had done other projects which was young people orientated, but this is the first thing I am doing that solely revolves around the young people with the direct purpose to impact them and strengthen their mental health.

So it started in Croydon… where is it going?

We have to date, worked with over 4600 young people and we are growing rapidly. We aim to take over London, with the hopes of eventually expanding out to further parts of the UK such as Manchester and Liverpool, but we will continue our works in London and Surrey reaching as many young people as possible.

How has the support been so far? Who’s helped?

UNLTD has been our biggest support. They have supported our vision of setting up a studio network across London so that young people can record in different studios for free, allowing us to create long-term impact amongst young people. They have liked and supported what we do from the start.

There has never been a more popular or relevant way to engage with the kids. Rap is the perfect medium to capture their interest... how have the kids been responding to it so far?

Young people absolutely love Rap Therapy, the students respond positively and have learnt transferable skills that they can use not only in the classroom but also the real world, once they get there. Students are our biggest advocates and what we do is engaging. Young people have been able to change their attitudes and mind-states and have also been able to walk away from tough situations and write raps about their feelings in that given moment.

In your ITV interview, you speak about being in their shoes. Can you tell us a bit about your own story and the presenters you choose? I get the impression this is something you wished would’ve been in place growing up?

Rap is an outlet I have always used to positively express myself from a young age. Using rap, unknowingly aided my mental health and allowed me to express things I would have found difficult to otherwise do. The presenters we choose have all got an interesting story and a genuine love for young people. The presenters come from relatable backgrounds, meaning that students are more open to explaining any problems they have and listening to the advice that the presenter offers. When starting Rap Therapy, people I grew up with who ended up in either mental health institutes or prison have said that there would have been a high chance if they had something like Rap Therapy when growing up, they wouldn’t have ended up in the situation they did.

You speak about social tragedies... with the rise in suicide and domestic abuse during the pandemic, having the ability to communicate has never been so paramount. Has there been an instance where your project has remedied a situation or brought about corrective action?

When we go into a school or youth establishment, the school will ask us to tailor the workshop according to the young people who they put in the programme. There have been instances, where we have students with extremely high anxiety, who have been able to overcome this and end up performing in front of a small group of peers. There have been other instances, where schools have told us the students who are involved in the workshops have been bullying others. We would get them to understand why bullying is wrong, get them to write a rap about either being a good friend or why bullying is wrong, and the school will see a correction in their behaviour. A lot of these students just need to hear the right message from the right person. With students who may suffer from depression or self esteem issues, we get them to write songs about ‘I will love myself’ automatically through them pinpointing what they love about themselves and writing it in a relatable medium, these young people change how they view themselves.

What are the chances of this becoming part of the curriculum? Is it something that’s currently in discussion? Is it currently within school hours?

Rap Therapy operates during school hours. I believe it should be part of the curriculum as it is essential that every young person learns the skill of using rap as an artform to express themselves, which will in turn strengthen their mental health. With children’s mental health being a priority for schools, it is beneficial that Rap Therapy finds itself in every school.

With the endless list of benefits, has there been any councils or teaching bodies that have shown interest or support in your project?

Yes, Croydon council, Lambeth council and Southwark council have all shown extensive support in what we do. Education institutes such as the Institute of Education (UCL) and Cambridge University have shown interest in what we do and have supported us on our journey.

What are your thoughts on drill music, the glorification of gang violence and the impact it has on kids?

Drill music in itself as a genre is not bad, it is the message behind the music and the glorification of violence. There is a difference between insight and glorification and insight can be given without glorification. I believe all artists, not just drill artists have a responsibility to tread carefully and think about their message that they are putting out before releasing it, as ultimately young people who don’t come from a similar lifestyle listen to this music and believe that it is ‘cool’ and begin to idolise a lifestyle they know nothing about.

You’re firmly focussed on driving home a positive message. Which artists inspired you growing up?

Most of the artists I listened to growing up were American based artists such as Nas, Tupac, Biggie, Papoose but as I have gotten older, I have grown a fond interest in UK artists like Dave and Wretch 32. I have also grown to like current American rappers such as J.Cole and Kendrick Lamar

Any additional mentions that we haven’t covered?
Nope

Bhishma, thanks again for your time and from all of us here at Wordplay, we wish you all the best and every success that’s coming your way…