When i'm 30/35 i'm going to cut of my dreads. I'm going to grow my beard and i'm gonna go
live somewhere in Saudi (Arabia) or something like that
raise my children in an Islamic country.
Asalaamu Alaikum guys and welcome to an episode about Young Adz.
I know what you're thinking
and no, he's not a junior maths wiz,
despite him promoting addition in his
name.
You're not funny...
...you suck
The young'uns especially here
in England, the United Kingdom,
that are listening to Trap and Drill music,
in fact most kids I would say from a
middle class to a lower class (background),
this is a standard environment in school. You go, your friends are listening to it
or when it's free time in ICT they're
watching these videos or someone's
related or friends with someone that's
in the rap scene,
or someone's involved in gangs or
whatnot so it is your bog standard
lifestyle
here in the UK. Myself i'm from South
London,
a lot of these rappers emerge from South
yeah:
Young Adz; he's from Lewisham= South
Krept & Konan; Thornton heath= South
Dave; from Streatham= South. 
So for me when I used to go secondary
school, again this sort of- although trap and
drill
wasn't particularly there but again you
still had the Grime and the rap
scene.
There people would be freestyling at
lunch time near the courts,
and we'd have police outside and they'd be
gang issues, so i mean if you go to state
schools
this sort of stuff is standard. The
reason why i say this is because
sometimes when we just say that kids
listen to this sort of music,
it's kind of i think it's a bit unfair
because we're making it seem like they
have a choice, and in some cases they do have a choice,
but in most cases
it's it's the environment, it's the
friends that are around you,
sort of culture that you're surrounded
with and that's what happens. So let's
jump to Young Adz,
i wanted to discuss Young Adz because i
think the problem is that
when it comes to troubled youth it's
very easy for us to say:
"You don't listen or you don't
respect your elders"
that sort of stuff but when we actually
take the time to get to know them,
what's pushing their buttons, what trials
they're going through,
it will help yeah, it will help in a more
productive way. I mean myself, we spent
time living in Brixton for a while,
my childhood we lived in an estate, my mom kept me with her. I mean my
thing was different to
say Young Adz-as you're gonna find out.
All right for those of you
that don't know Young Adz is a famous
British rapper and he's part of Jadakiss's
European group called D-block Europe.
Due to certain things that happened when he was young:
My granddad died my dad had split up
with my mom, my mom was going through a lot.
His home environment was
not the best and most conducive place
for him to be:
Yeah and i was on the block when i was 7,
1am on the block. Olders (elders) telling me go
-home what are you doing?
-After this he was asked
why he was not at home at that age
to which he responds: Ain't nothing you want to see going on inside.
Nothing you want to see going on inside bro. Nothing.
I mean you can see he's
had a troubled beginning
yeah, and for those people that are
watching; here the point that we can take
is, it's very
important for us to make sure that we
have
a united household for our kids,
especially if we are in lower class
environments because it does have a big
big impact on them. Find out where your
kid is, find out what they're doing,
keep them with you, especially the early
years. Thereafter he started
his Trap life. For those uncles that are
watching Trapping just means selling
drugs.
I just went back to being on the streets, me and LB started Trapping.
It's important that you're 
acknowledging that it is dumb sh*t
-dumb sh*t, it's real sh*t
-Getting in trouble with the police
So i'm on tag for Cunch Case (drugs) i got
bagged (caught) in Oxford in a Q7 (car).
So Young Adz has got a very close friend
that he always keeps
with him called LB, and LB's brother
had a link with Jadakiss, the famous
American artist and Jadakiss
really liked this young guy's talent and
he wanted to sign him.
He said uh I want to fly you out now. I'm like "I'm on tag"
He's like "Word? (really?) What you Trapping? 
I'm like yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
Stay out of the long reach of the
federal law.
But of course initially,
balancing this whole rapping lifestyle, 
with the trapping lifestyle, it was very difficult.
-See our thing with (Jada)kiss bro 
-yeah
This is what a lot of people don't understand. God forbid bro/Allah forbid I could go
jail tomorrow for 10 years
so could he (LB) we'll come out and still be
-D Block Europe. 
-I think for a lot of people watching when they
hear music- oh it's haraam brother, why why you do this man why?
Each situation needs to be understood
on its own merits. Somebody that's come
from this lifestyle
where they're doing- where they're
selling drugs, doing drugs, God knows what
Four hours/five hours/six hours you're
in a Lean (liquid drug) coma, 
because you're waking up you're drinking
Lean and you're just going straight
back into it, straight back to sleep.
For them to make this transition, for
them it's progress.
The work rate is outrageous outrageous, 
now apparently you're sitting on like
-over 500 records 
-yeah more than that
It may not be progress to you
but you can't compare everybody using
your own self as a metric. Like your
upbringing is different to somebody
else's, your challenges are different,
and inshaAllah eventually the person will
come round.
But then after this, he made such a profound point.
But you gotta think about what young ni**as are
going through to wake up and want to go
back to sleep bro.
Yes exactly, what causes
a person in that lifestyle to want to
numb themselves? Naturally it's pain. When
you go to the dentist when you go to the
hospital before an operation they numb
you so you don't
feel the pain. So if somebody is going to
intoxicants
they are numbing something. So this is a
brilliant segue into
the long-term effects of this Trapping/
Gangster lifestyle.
You see when you're a kid growing up,
because we growing up in the hood bro you're
psychologically you are getting f*cked up every single day.
I mean this whole gangster and you know
selling drugs and spoiling people's
lives and
spoiling your own lives and getting
involved in gangs,
this sort of stuff does leave a mark,
and the sort of things that you and i
take for granted: relationship with our
parents,
that's what a kid needs at that
early years.
My mom will tell you that there's a period of a year where she ain't
like she she's talking to me uh
once every two weeks, she ain't even got
a number for me.
I mean this is what this sort of lifestyle entails yeah, it breaks you up with the things
that actually make you human
to such a degree that you don't even
feel human anymore, and i'm glad
Alhamdulillah he does have a counsellor as well.
Yeah sometimes my counsellor said to me,  
that you know i should
-Oh you got a counsellor? 
-yeah yeah yeah
All the young'uns that are watching that
listen to their music and that aspire
towards them
many of these guys, many of these guys
will say in their interviews:
"Don't look up to me or LB please.
You see as people yeah and i'm
gonna look at the camera and say this:
If you want a role model go to your
local masjid (mosque) yeah go to your local
mosque
yeah go get your good English/Media
teacher whatever and build a bond with him.
I mean if their lifestyle was so
good and so worth it, why would they be
saying
don't follow us. So naturally kids that
come from this background
and then they show interest towards the
religion and the Deen, 
they are not just gonna go from zero to
hero, you cannot expect a primary school
student
to understand the syllabus of somebody
in university.
It takes time. It takes nurturing. 
It takes understanding yeah, so if you
are dealing with these people as a
teacher or as a parent,
understand them, understand... look at what they're listening to
look at who they're hanging around yeah.
Have a picture,
because many a times if the parents too
strict, the kid
will present a different image to the
parent and then outside they're doing
something else. 
But if the parent has that sort of (friendly)
relationship at least the kid's being
honest,
and slowly wean the kid off that. I get
certain parents,
they're outside working but i mean that
comes at a price.
I would say live in a smaller home yeah, 
drive in less,
eat less but give time to your family
because after these sorts of principles
get instilled into them
it's a problem.
When I'm 30/35,
i'm a cut off my dreads, i'm gonna grown my beard 
and I'm gonna go live
somewhere Saudi (Arabia) or something like that. Raise my children
-in an islamic country inshaAllah. 
-and you mean that?
I mean that inshaAllah (Allah willing)
-yeah he's been saying that...
-i hope i hope that brings you the
happiness that you're looking for. 
-InshaAllah yeah
But of course like the clip at the start, 
what really got to me
is that somebody that has the fame, 
that has the wealth...
I see you man just shopping on a regular. I'm on the (insta)gram
like these men are taking the mickey out
of this game.
Coming from a seemingly Jaahil/Wild background.
Ignorant background. 
Can still understand the purity
of the deen and realizes that you know
what, this is temporary...
They're going to throw me away one day,
they're going to throw LB away one day, yeah course they are
bro. It happens to everyone, they throw
you away. That's why people lose their mind,
because they fell in love with the power
it was forever.
Because the guy has been
in this lifestyle for a very long time,
but yet somebody like him- if this
religion was such a joke,
why would people that are around
beautiful women- I mean in another 
interview he was saying
'you know sometimes you're sitting with a 10 out of 10
but still there's stuff going on
in your mind'
yeah because true happiness comes from
inside.
And this is what Allah says, that if you
forego your purpose
if you forgo what you're actually here for
and you forgo his remembrance
you will end up depressed, you will end
up unhappy,
and if you want true happiness
It is only in the remembrance of Allah-
acknowledging/recognising/
obeying Allah, that your hearts will
find satisfaction.
Does that excuse Young Adz staying in this industry and leading more people astray?
Of course not, but does it mean that we
have to-
we can ignore whatever he's gone through
to understand where he is now?
I don't think that's right either. 
-I should uh use my uh
music to you know express you know uh a
lot of
traumatic situations that i've been
through
But of course there are other
ways of expressing yourself as well
um that are more beneficial to your soul
and spirit. Naturally when you do 
haram your hole gets bigger
and bigger and bigger. 
It's like quicksand; so you are going to
sink further and further.
Let's say worst case scenario you couldn't record for like a month,
do you know that that'll do to you?
Yeah i just got to get high (have drugs) 
for the month.
Because i have to be practical, some
people are still going gonna listen to
this sort of music and i think my
practical advice is:
Balance it. If you are listening to say
an hour of this,
listen to an hour of positivity/ an hour
of Qur'an/lectures
speaking to positive people. If you
apply too much heat to
your left hand then how do you
counteract that?
You need an equal amount of coolness
to counteract that yeah. Let's leave it
there guys until next time...
I can go in the shop...
I can break down in tears right now and go to
the shop to get tissue. I might bump into
four fans "oh my god is that Young Adz?"
I've gotta smile yeah take
take my picture. 
You're a service, you're not a human you're a
service. You're as good as a clown like you're a circus actor
Asalaamu Alaikum
