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| Rapper, hit film-maker … now Plan B turns to helping marginalised youths | Rapper, hit film-maker … now Plan B turns to helping marginalised youths |
| (5 months later) | |
| What can you do with a reputation as a streetwise talent, a stone-cold stare and a great voice? The rapper Ben Drew, better known as Plan B, has already made hit albums, directed and written a film, Ill Manors, and appeared on screen. But this summer the 29-year-old believes he has found the best use yet for the respect he has earned among young people. | What can you do with a reputation as a streetwise talent, a stone-cold stare and a great voice? The rapper Ben Drew, better known as Plan B, has already made hit albums, directed and written a film, Ill Manors, and appeared on screen. But this summer the 29-year-old believes he has found the best use yet for the respect he has earned among young people. |
| This week he launches Each One Teach One, an East London trust designed to go to the heart of the problems facing young adults who have no route to earning a living or fulfilling themselves. "If you are good academically, there is a way through. There always has been. But I want the other kids," said Drew. | This week he launches Each One Teach One, an East London trust designed to go to the heart of the problems facing young adults who have no route to earning a living or fulfilling themselves. "If you are good academically, there is a way through. There always has been. But I want the other kids," said Drew. |
| The idea behind EOTO is to link a group of projects designed to give disadvantaged 14 to 25-year-olds new skills in a working environment and then build up a support system that provides money and advice for a network that would eventually spread across Britain. | The idea behind EOTO is to link a group of projects designed to give disadvantaged 14 to 25-year-olds new skills in a working environment and then build up a support system that provides money and advice for a network that would eventually spread across Britain. |
| "When people ask me what EOTO is, I go back to the original idea and then I think, 'I know what. It is a university of alternative learning'," Drew explained, speaking from the headquarters of one of the organisations he is now working with, a training salon in Hoxton called The Hair Project. | "When people ask me what EOTO is, I go back to the original idea and then I think, 'I know what. It is a university of alternative learning'," Drew explained, speaking from the headquarters of one of the organisations he is now working with, a training salon in Hoxton called The Hair Project. |
| "It is important that kids who are coming into an environment like this think, 'This is the real deal. This is professional'," he said. "So now we have built our stadium and we want to find the players." | "It is important that kids who are coming into an environment like this think, 'This is the real deal. This is professional'," he said. "So now we have built our stadium and we want to find the players." |
| The challenge is huge, but Drew believes it is essential work if there is a chance of changing the lives of the most problematic young people. His trust will start out by working with groups in the London boroughs of Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest and will target pupils at the referral units local education authorities use to teach children outside mainstream schooling. | The challenge is huge, but Drew believes it is essential work if there is a chance of changing the lives of the most problematic young people. His trust will start out by working with groups in the London boroughs of Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest and will target pupils at the referral units local education authorities use to teach children outside mainstream schooling. |
| "The big issue we have got is finding the kids. Because we are talking about the kids that are seen as bad: the kids that aren't engaging. These kids are hard to reach, but if we can get to them, then the other kids are not going to be so hard." | "The big issue we have got is finding the kids. Because we are talking about the kids that are seen as bad: the kids that aren't engaging. These kids are hard to reach, but if we can get to them, then the other kids are not going to be so hard." |
| Drew knows what he is talking about. During a troubled childhood he was sent to the Tunmarsh Pupil Referral Unit in Newham: "When I was in PRU myself, growing up, I noticed there was a problem in society. That is why I first started writing hip hop music. I could see there was an issue in the inner city. | Drew knows what he is talking about. During a troubled childhood he was sent to the Tunmarsh Pupil Referral Unit in Newham: "When I was in PRU myself, growing up, I noticed there was a problem in society. That is why I first started writing hip hop music. I could see there was an issue in the inner city. |
| "I was making films and music that were trying to bring an awareness of this world that I knew was a reality, because I grew up in it." | "I was making films and music that were trying to bring an awareness of this world that I knew was a reality, because I grew up in it." |
| Some of the staff at Tunmarsh made such an impression on Drew that he has asked two of them to join the board of his trust. Their skills in handling children who do not want to engage will be crucial, he thinks. | Some of the staff at Tunmarsh made such an impression on Drew that he has asked two of them to join the board of his trust. Their skills in handling children who do not want to engage will be crucial, he thinks. |
| "I knew from people like the social workers I had at the PRU that there are people who are trying to change things. But the biggest stumbling block is the outside perception of this environment and the kids that come from it. It is really hard when people are constantly judging you." | "I knew from people like the social workers I had at the PRU that there are people who are trying to change things. But the biggest stumbling block is the outside perception of this environment and the kids that come from it. It is really hard when people are constantly judging you." |
| EOTO will work not only with The Hair Project, run by stylist Andrew Curtis, but with Box4Life in Leytonstone and Diverse Voices in Walthamstow. Other organisations are already joining up, although Drew is concerned to pick initiatives that share his ethos and yet can operate semi-independently. "Let me go and find these people and give them my support. Let me give them what they are lacking, which is infrastructure, management and business advice. Good accounting too, and good lawyers. Then we are away." | EOTO will work not only with The Hair Project, run by stylist Andrew Curtis, but with Box4Life in Leytonstone and Diverse Voices in Walthamstow. Other organisations are already joining up, although Drew is concerned to pick initiatives that share his ethos and yet can operate semi-independently. "Let me go and find these people and give them my support. Let me give them what they are lacking, which is infrastructure, management and business advice. Good accounting too, and good lawyers. Then we are away." |
| Aside from the projects Drew is to support, he aims to work closely with other larger organisations involved in the same kind of mission. The East London Music Academy, set up by his friend the DJ Will Kennard, of Chase & Status, and his brother, is a particularly good fit, he believes. | Aside from the projects Drew is to support, he aims to work closely with other larger organisations involved in the same kind of mission. The East London Music Academy, set up by his friend the DJ Will Kennard, of Chase & Status, and his brother, is a particularly good fit, he believes. |
| "They are an independent free school, so we are just looking to send kids to them. Will, who is part of Chase & Status, saw my Observer TedX talk and mentioned it to me. I knew him, but until then he had no idea I was doing this stuff." | "They are an independent free school, so we are just looking to send kids to them. Will, who is part of Chase & Status, saw my Observer TedX talk and mentioned it to me. I knew him, but until then he had no idea I was doing this stuff." |
| Drew has also been inspired by the work of Camila Batmanghelidjh's radical charity Kids Company, an organisation that offers sanctuary and emotional help to children who are not able to cope with school or home life. | Drew has also been inspired by the work of Camila Batmanghelidjh's radical charity Kids Company, an organisation that offers sanctuary and emotional help to children who are not able to cope with school or home life. |
| "They give the kids somewhere to live and build them up in a nice environment," he said. "They get them thinking like a normal person again and give them mentoring and counselling. But the problem Camila has got is that when the kids get to 18 she can't help them because they are an adult. Her priority is young kids who can't defend themselves, but she said the saddest thing is that she has to let them go. So I said to her, 'Fine, refer them to us'. | "They give the kids somewhere to live and build them up in a nice environment," he said. "They get them thinking like a normal person again and give them mentoring and counselling. But the problem Camila has got is that when the kids get to 18 she can't help them because they are an adult. Her priority is young kids who can't defend themselves, but she said the saddest thing is that she has to let them go. So I said to her, 'Fine, refer them to us'. |
| "Hopefully enough of them can take the experience and go and do something. To me, though, you are vulnerable up until the age of 21." | "Hopefully enough of them can take the experience and go and do something. To me, though, you are vulnerable up until the age of 21." |
| Drew's own time in conventional education was a waste of time. He felt marginalised and out of place. He is convinced some of the most talented children in our urban communities are being ignored because they do not relate to orthodox academic teaching methods. "We have got generations of kids that are completely disengaged. But just because they are not bright academically it does not mean they are not bright with more hands-on stuff." | Drew's own time in conventional education was a waste of time. He felt marginalised and out of place. He is convinced some of the most talented children in our urban communities are being ignored because they do not relate to orthodox academic teaching methods. "We have got generations of kids that are completely disengaged. But just because they are not bright academically it does not mean they are not bright with more hands-on stuff." |
| Returning to his former PRU has confirmed he is on the right track, both for those he can help and for himself: "The first time I went back to the PRU it was to audition some of the kids for Ill Manors. And the teacher there, who is now on my board, said, 'You don't realise how much you have done for these kids'. | Returning to his former PRU has confirmed he is on the right track, both for those he can help and for himself: "The first time I went back to the PRU it was to audition some of the kids for Ill Manors. And the teacher there, who is now on my board, said, 'You don't realise how much you have done for these kids'. |
| "When I walked out of there, I had this weird feeling I had never had before. I wanted to understand what it was and I realised it was a sense of purpose." | "When I walked out of there, I had this weird feeling I had never had before. I wanted to understand what it was and I realised it was a sense of purpose." |
| PLAN B ON… | PLAN B ON… |
| Excluded kids: "The kids that are hardest to reach are the gang leaders. Their parents are alcoholics and prostitutes. When I say that people sometimes go, 'Well, they can't all be!' Of course not, so maybe I need to be more specific. I am not just talking about kids who live on a council estate. I mean the ones that run the gangs." | Excluded kids: "The kids that are hardest to reach are the gang leaders. Their parents are alcoholics and prostitutes. When I say that people sometimes go, 'Well, they can't all be!' Of course not, so maybe I need to be more specific. I am not just talking about kids who live on a council estate. I mean the ones that run the gangs." |
| Jamie Oliver: "Even Jamie hasn't got time to run Jamie's Dream School and I haven't got time either, so whatever I set up needs to be able to exist without me. Jamie kicks out the people who have the wrong attitude and that is fair enough. What I am talking about is more difficult. It's the kids that are getting kicked out that I want. It is them kids. It is the ones that could turn round and smash your face." | Jamie Oliver: "Even Jamie hasn't got time to run Jamie's Dream School and I haven't got time either, so whatever I set up needs to be able to exist without me. Jamie kicks out the people who have the wrong attitude and that is fair enough. What I am talking about is more difficult. It's the kids that are getting kicked out that I want. It is them kids. It is the ones that could turn round and smash your face." |
| Acting: "I feel like I am always playing a version of myself in films, so I would like to do some character acting. I still don't know if I am a great actor or not. I know I can act, but I am comparing myself to the best people, like Ryan Gosling and Daniel Day Lewis. I am a million years away from actors like that, but if that is not the ambition, then what are you doing? I have got to choose the next role carefully so I can live it, rather than playing a policeman from the wrong side of the tracks, or a kid from the wrong side of the tracks." | Acting: "I feel like I am always playing a version of myself in films, so I would like to do some character acting. I still don't know if I am a great actor or not. I know I can act, but I am comparing myself to the best people, like Ryan Gosling and Daniel Day Lewis. I am a million years away from actors like that, but if that is not the ambition, then what are you doing? I have got to choose the next role carefully so I can live it, rather than playing a policeman from the wrong side of the tracks, or a kid from the wrong side of the tracks." |
| The riots: "Initially, I saw the riots as a bad thing. I thought they had probably set us back 10 years. And then I realised that now people have to believe it is a problem. Before, when I released my first album, the negative feedback I would hear was that I was fabricating the way life was, just to make money. But the kind of music I made was underground, so it never made me any money. That really used to get on my nerves, so I thought, 'Whatever you set out to do with your music and your film you haven't done yet, so do it." | The riots: "Initially, I saw the riots as a bad thing. I thought they had probably set us back 10 years. And then I realised that now people have to believe it is a problem. Before, when I released my first album, the negative feedback I would hear was that I was fabricating the way life was, just to make money. But the kind of music I made was underground, so it never made me any money. That really used to get on my nerves, so I thought, 'Whatever you set out to do with your music and your film you haven't done yet, so do it." |
| Education: "The problem with comprehensive schools is that everything is geared towards academic work. All the music rooms are shit. The lessons are shit, the courses are shit, the equipment is shit and it is the same with drama. It is all over-the-top, Shakespearean stuff. Yet we live in a world now where if you are going to make money you are going to make it out of film and TV and we learn Shakespeare in English anyway. I am not saying we should not learn it. There was a girl who was teacher's pet and she clashed with me. She ended up telling the teacher I was dominating the class and overbearing. I was singled out one day and it was kind of political. I was kicked out of drama and I ripped down all the posters. I am not proud of that. I was an aggressive young man and drama was the one place where I could do things. But now I know those people are watching. At 14 years old, I was right. I am not venturing into the unknown. They are talking about taking music and drama out of schools now. But rather than take it out, why not put some money into it?" | Education: "The problem with comprehensive schools is that everything is geared towards academic work. All the music rooms are shit. The lessons are shit, the courses are shit, the equipment is shit and it is the same with drama. It is all over-the-top, Shakespearean stuff. Yet we live in a world now where if you are going to make money you are going to make it out of film and TV and we learn Shakespeare in English anyway. I am not saying we should not learn it. There was a girl who was teacher's pet and she clashed with me. She ended up telling the teacher I was dominating the class and overbearing. I was singled out one day and it was kind of political. I was kicked out of drama and I ripped down all the posters. I am not proud of that. I was an aggressive young man and drama was the one place where I could do things. But now I know those people are watching. At 14 years old, I was right. I am not venturing into the unknown. They are talking about taking music and drama out of schools now. But rather than take it out, why not put some money into it?" |
| Fame: "People think your life has been transformed and it has been altered, because people now recognise you. Until you start selling records though, you are not making money and you can make mistakes and do stupid things like Justin Bieber has." | Fame: "People think your life has been transformed and it has been altered, because people now recognise you. Until you start selling records though, you are not making money and you can make mistakes and do stupid things like Justin Bieber has." |
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