My track 'One in Fifty'

To coincide with International Stammering Awareness Day last week, rapper Kitch released his new song One In Fifty about his journey with stammering. Here he tells us the story behind it and what message he hopes people get from it.

One In Fifty is about my story from having a stammer, to now becoming a rapper. It dives into the different stages of my life and how my stammer affected me during each stage. 

The first verse starts off from when I was 10 years old, struggling in school, and it leads onto when I was 18, and finding rap as an outlet. The second verse is all about the discovery of rap and how it shifted my confidence and gave me a purpose. 

Finally, the third verse is from my present day perspective, no longer seeing my stammer as holding me back, but more importantly giving back to my community and inspiring young people to find their own voices too. 

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Caption

Kitch

How it came about

The song idea came about from me and my producer having a conversation about the current UK rap scene, and how we think the art of storytelling isn't as prevalent as it used to be. 

This gave me an idea to share my story. I made a similar song called Miracle back in 2018 which led to me being featured in a BBC documentary (watch it below), but I haven't been performing that for many years, so I wanted a new song about my story that I can perform with today.

How I got into music

When I was in school I had a lot of built-up aggression because I couldn't express myself verbally. One of my councillors gave me a notebook to write down how I was feeling instead of taking out my anger on someone or a wall. 

I always loved hip-hop as a kid so instead of just writing how I felt, I would try to make it rhyme. I then became obsessed with rhyme schemes and patterns, and did loads of research into rappers like Rakim and Eminem. But even then, I never thought of being a rapper until years later. This was just a natural alternative to expressing myself. 

What I hope people will get from One In Fifty

I wanted to write this song to show young people, and anyone who's struggling to find their voice, that there is always a way out. We always see the 'happy ending' in films, but I believe it is important to see someone from your community or similar up-bringing going through a similar adversity, and coming through the end of it.  

Although, like I say in the final verse, my stammer is still something that I have to deal with, I've just become better at managing it.

But the message I hope listeners get from One In Fifty is to not let your stammer define you. Embrace what makes you different and use that as fuel to pursue wherever your passion takes you.

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