♫ Two months down the line, you gotta show us love
♫ Three tracks already, but you haven't had enough
♫ Rap Soc's takin' off like an airplane does
♫ Cause now we on the mic with Crimson Hub
(upbeat hip-hop music)
- [Jay] We're part of the Rap Society.
We formed in January, 2017.
- [Rishav] I think that LSE is quite academic oriented
and a lot of people, when they see LSE,
they think of it as, like a great institution,
which obviously it is, but we kinda wanted to
make it seem a bit more fun, a bit more relaxed,
like, doing something that's not always seen as
work-oriented,
and I think Rap Soc's one of
the biggest things that's different to it.
- We first started rapping together at predrinks.
It was just very casual, literally just for fun.
I've always thought that with rap,
there's this kind of thing attached to
it where people think you need to be poor,
you need to be a certain, like gender,
but that's what Rap Soc's about.
We wanna show that you can be wherever you're from,
if you like the sound of something, can you enjoy it?
It doesn't matter, like, where you're from
or anything, just enjoy it.
♫ So I guess you can say I'm flames like a Snapchat streak
♫ Your balls remind me of a paddling pool
♫ You get it, cause they're not that deep
♫ You don't keep it 100, you're LSE100
♫ Cause you put me to sleep.
LSE100's a compulsory course about social sciences.
We rap about it because it's a commonality between
all students.
It's something that everybody has to do kind of thing,
and it's like a challenge everybody has to face,
and it just kind of brings that sense of
community together if we're talking about things like that.
I'll do one now for all you Americans.
♫ Trump your boss, that's why I'm Rap Soc president
♫ Animal on the beat, I belong in the zoo
♫ Sick on this track, man I must have the flu
♫ Listen carefully and believe that it's true
♫ Second year but I'm still fresher than you
♫ I feel like the Joker, grime is my heart
♫ Content is sick and the flow's getting on
♫ You can call me grand Muhammad Ali
♫ Cause the punches are getting more lit than Diwali
♫ Rap Soc of the Year, Yeah, I'm liking that fact
♫ Stop all this bitching, just sit down and listen
♫ Admit it, your jaw just dropped harder
♫ Than our student satisfaction
Just like LSE100,
talking about student satisfaction was another way to
be able to unite everybody because
it just seems like a general
slight resentment with all students,
that our student satisfaction is, I think,
the lowest in the UK,
but that's the reason why we started Rap Soc.
- The Rap Society, I think, in second year,
it's made the year different
because it's provided us all a release system,
in a way, because we can write about
things that we think are common issues today
or even at university, and it just provides another way for
us to voice these messages, I guess.
♫ As I grew up, I was really, really blessed
♫ Made the most of what we had, despite being led
♫ On the other hand, my eyes were always fixed
♫ On the Tamagotchi that had all the other kids obsessed
- Started listening to grime last year,
and because of UK grime artists, like Stormzy,
and that's why I started writing rap after
because he kind of inspired me.
I'd appreciate his music more because
I'd appreciate the flows more,
the wordplay more, like how difficult it is to achieve.
- See, I use to play the drum kit,
and I used to perform at some shows, some talent shows,
but when I came to LSE, it was always difficult for
me to pursue this due to the fact that it's quite big,
my drum kit, so rap was another way of
me to get involved in music
and something that was more convenient
as wherever I am, I can just think of ideas
and different lyrics as well.
- Tomorrow, we have a rap cypher.
It's where a lot of people that rap want to come
and just rap.
- In our cyphers, normally is mainly LSE students,
but we also invite other non-LSE students
and non-university students come as well.
- Yeah, Rap Society for me, it's been an interesting part of
university, to be heavily involved in society
and especially finding a society is a different experience
and it's something that not a lot of
people can say that they've done.
(funky pop music)
(indistinct conversation)
- Are you are rappers?
- Yeah, you know us.
- Famous rappers.
- We're from the ends.
- I've seen your videos.
- Do you like it?
- Yeah.
(everybody laughs)
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