George the Poet on Music, Memory, and the War on Blackness Art & Culture (Part Two)

Intelligence Squared

Arts, News, Society & Culture, News Commentary

4.2 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 12 March 2025

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

George Mpanga, known as George the Poet, is seen by many as one of the UK’s most compelling voices in poetry, music, and social commentary. Originally hailing from St Raphael’s Estate in Neasden, Mpanga has spent over a decade working at the intersection of art and politics reflecting on his upbringing to shed light on how race and inequality still shape Britain today. His debut poetry collection in 2015, Search Party, tackled the north-south divide, the housing crisis and critiqued government anti-immigration policies, to widespread acclaim. Since then, Mpanga’s work has bridged grime, prose, spoken-word performance, and most recently longer-form audio, as he has continued to interrogate the socio-political status quo. In February 2025 he joined us on stage to discuss the themes of his new memoir, Track Record: Me, Music, and the War on Blackness. He discussed his personal story alongside a broader social history of race and identity in Britain, and examined what he terms “the war on Blackness”: the systemic forces that continue to oppress people of African descent worldwide. ----- If you'd like to become a Member and get access to all our full ad free conversations, plus all of our Members-only content, just visit intelligencesquared.com/membership to find out more. For £4.99 per month you'll also receive: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared episodes, wherever you get your podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series - 15% discount on livestreams and in-person tickets for all Intelligence Squared events ... Or Subscribe on Apple for £4.99: - Full-length and ad-free Intelligence Squared podcasts - Bonus Intelligence Squared podcasts, curated feeds and members exclusive series … Already a subscriber? Thank you for supporting our mission to foster honest debate and compelling conversations! Visit intelligencesquared.com to explore all your benefits including ad-free podcasts, exclusive bonus content and early access. … Subscribe to our newsletter here to hear about our latest events, discounts and much more. https://www.intelligencesquared.com/newsletter-signup/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:30.1	Ready to launch your business?
0:31.7	Get started with the commerce platform made for entrepreneurs.
0:34.9	Shopify is specially designed to help you start, run and grow your business
0:39.0	with easy customizable themes that let you build your brand, marketing tools that get your
0:43.7	products out there. Integrated shipping solutions that actually save you time, from startups to
0:48.6	scale ups, online, in person and on the go. Shopify is made for entrepreneurs like you.
0:58.7	Sign up for your $1 a month trial at Shopify.com slash setup.
1:04.4	Welcome to Intelligence Squared, where great minds meet.
1:06.5	I'm producer Mia Serenti.
1:15.4	For this episode, we're rejoining for part two of our conversation with George the Poet on music, memory and The War on Blackness.
1:19.9	If you haven't heard part one, do just jump back an episode and get up to speed.
1:26.0	George joined us recently on stage at the Kielm Theatre to discuss the themes of his new memoir, track record,
1:29.1	in which he locates his personal story alongside a broader social history of race and identity in Britain. Now it's time to rejoin the conversation,
1:34.3	recorded recently at the Kieln Theatre in London. Here's our host for the evening, writer and social
1:40.2	commentator Shantay Joseph. As soon as you get back from Uganda, you start University of Cambridge.
1:47.0	And one of the things you talk about with your time in Uganda is like being in a place where
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