Description
About Aniefiok Ekpoudom
Aniefiok ‘Neef’ Ekpoudom is a writer and storyteller from South London whose work documents community and culture in contemporary Britain. His debut book Where We Come From: Rap Home and Hope in Modern Britain is a social history of British Rap. It will be released via Faber & Faber in August 2023.
As a journalist, he writes longform essays and profiles for The Guardian, GQ and more. From charting a history of Black Football culture in South London to mapping the forces of migration and music that formed J Hus, his writing weaves social, cultural and narrative history to explore the current, lived realities of peoples across the UK.
Aniefiok’s writing has featured in a number of essay collections and anthologies, including #Merky Books titles Keisha The Sket (2021) and A New Formation: How Black Players Shaped The Modern Game (2022), as well as SAFE: On Black British Men Reclaiming Space (Trapeze, 2019).
Aniefiok was named on the Forbes’ 30 Under 30 List for Media & Marketing. He is a British Journalism Award winner for his work with The Guardian. He has also been named Culture Writer of the Year at the Freelance Writing Awards, and is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
About Where We Come From
A stunning social history of British rap and grime by one of the nation’s foremost cultural chroniclers.
‘A stunning exploration of a genre, a movement and a world. It’s every bit as lyrical as the rap Ekpoudom has documented.’ CANDICE CARTY-WILLIAMS, author of Queenie
‘Illuminating and intimate. Ekpoudom’s prose is rhythmic and deft but also crackles with joy. I know I’ll be reading it for years to come.’ CALEB AZUMAH NELSON, author of Small Worlds
‘A rousing, inspiring, often breathtaking history that reads with the flow of a magnificent novel. Ekpoudom is one of the very finest chroniclers of black British culture.’ MUSA OKWONGA, author of One Of Them
I met people who never quite fit in where they were supposed to, who found solace, salvation and meaning in these sounds, these words.
Something is happening in Britain, trembling the tracks as it unfolds. Recent years have borne witness to underground genres leaking out from the inner cities, going on to become some of the most popular music in the nation. In this groundbreaking social history, journalist Aniefiok Ekpoudom travels the country to paint a compelling portrait of the dawn, boom and subsequent blossoming of UK rap and grime.
Taking us from the heart of south London to the West Midlands and South Wales, he explores how a history of migration and an enduring spirit of resistance have shaped the current realities of these linked communities and the music they produce. These sounds have become vessels for the marginalised, carrying Black and working-class stories into the light. Vividly depicted and compassionately told, Where We Come From weaves together intimate stories of resilience, courage and loss, as well as a shared music culture that gave refuge and purpose to those in search of belonging.
Ekpoudom offers a rich chronicle of rap, identity, place and, above all, the social and human condition in modern Britain.
‘A landmark work that will undoubtedly shape conversations about not just UK rap and grime, but British music for years to come.’ YOMI ADEGOKE, author of The List
‘Phenomenal – this is the book we’ve all been waiting for. Like the heroes he chronicles, Ekpoudom acts as torchbearer, his book a beacon, for the story that follows..’GUY GUNARATNE
‘Essential… a book from the nation’s frontline, where poverty and hardship and exclusion meet poetry and beauty and a higher voice. The writing achieves a lyrical, hypnotic power all of its own.’ SAM KNIGHT, author of The Premonitions Bureau
About Nikesh Shukla
Nikesh Shukla is an award-winning screenwriter and novelist. Nikesh wrote the 2023 Spider-Man India miniseries ‘Seva’ for Marvel, as well as numerous television projects. He won multiple awards for writing the short film Two Dosas starring Himesh Patel and has worked in multiple writer’s rooms including on projects for Apple TV, Amazon Prime, HBO and Sky.
Nikesh recently released the first book in his kids’ book series, The Council Of Good Friends. He is also the author of three YA novels, Run, Riot (shortlisted for a National Book Award), The Boxer (longlisted for the Carnegie Medal) and Stand Up. He is the author of Coconut Unlimited (shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award), Meatspace and the critically acclaimed The One Who Wrote Destiny. Nikesh’s new book, Brown Baby: A Memoir Of Race, Family And Home was longlisted for the Jhalak Prize. He has also written a book on writing called Your Story Matters.
Nikesh is the co-founder of The Good Literary Agency. He was one of Time Magazine’s cultural leaders, Foreign Policy magazine’s 100 Global Thinkers and The Bookseller’s 100 most influential people in publishing in 2016 and in 2017. Nikesh is the editor of the bestselling essay collection, The Good Immigrant, which won the reader’s choice at the Books Are My Bag Awards. He co-edited The Good Immigrant USA with Chimene Suleyman.