SPOTLIGHT ARTIST: RIZ MC

Rizwan “Riz” Ahmed is an English rapper as well as an actor. He was born in Wembley, London into a Muslim family and is of Pakistani Heritage. His parents left Karachi, Pakistan and moved to England in the 70s before Riz was born. He attended school in London and later graduated from Christ Church , Oxford with a degree in PPE (philosophy, politics, and economics; a degree course at Oxford). He also studied acting at the Central School of Speech and Drama. 

Kicking off his rap career, the track “Post 9/11 Blues” was released in 2006 as satirical social commentary. It was, at first, banned from British airplay and deemed “politically sensitive.” Other tracks, however, like “Sour Times,” accompanied by a video, were not banned. In 2007, Riz MC was selected as a BBC Introducing artist and played at the Glastonbury Festival and the BBC Electric Proms. He was invited to perform at the Meltdown Festival as an opening act at the Royal Festival Hall back in 2008 and was given Emerging Artist in Residence at the Southbank Centre in London. Riz played at the London Camp for Climate Action in 2009 and is a co-founder of the Hit & Run night in Oxford (which has moved to Manchester) and has become one of Manchester’s leading underground music events. 

His Debut Album MICroscope was released in 2011 and on December 1st, 2011, it was announced that Riz MC signed to the independent label, Tru Thoughts in Brighton. More recently, in 2015, dubstep artist, Distance, announced he had recently finished an album he produced called HalfLife with this week's spotlight artist, Riz MC. 

 

By Kianna Woods for RAPstation.com