“An avocado flies in from another country. If we get a pig from down the road, it’s not mucking stuff up as hard”
Yeah, yeah, we know what you’re thinking: what the hell can two blokes in Brentford that rap for a living do about climate change?
They still love meat, after all. And until recently People Just Do Nothing star Allan ‘Seapa’ Mustafa, aka MC Grindah, committed a litany of climate crimes like buying loads of clothes he didn’t need on the regular. And until recently, his podcast buddy Hugo Chegwin, aka DJ Beats, drank water out of plastic bottles in his own home.
So unnecessary.
But when the duo heard that 89 per cent of young people care about climate change, but only 10 per cent are actually talking about it, they knew they needed to stop living up to their TV namesakes – and start doing something to save the planet.
“It’s something I care about but because I’m uneducated on the matter, I worry about talking about it,” says Seapa, 36, who feels the way climate change is covered by the media doesn’t help.
Getting doomy statistics “rammed down your throat on the news by some random white scientist” just isn’t working for him. “It’s just numbers, it doesn’t feel real,” he says.
So, in a bid to make himself more aware and start a dialogue people like him could actually understand, Seapa and Hugo decided to dedicate an episode of their Chatting Shit podcast to the climate crisis.
They got GenZ climate activist Francisca Rockey on the pod to talk to the guys about everything from how to use social media to fight climate change, to why young people are so disengaged. She tells them “outrage gets people talking.”
She also says that “relatability, judgement and feeling overwhelmed” are the main reasons young people don’t talk about the environment.
One topic discussed is food consumption and sustainability. Seapa was surprised to learn that being vegetarian isn’t necessarily always better. “An avocado’s gotta fly in from another country,” he argues. “Whereas if we get a pig from down the road, it’s not f**king stuff up as hard, you know what I mean? It’s blowing my mind…”
But fashion is where Seapa has committed to change his ways to reduce his own carbon footprint. “I buy loads of clothes but you could quite easily trade clothes with your friends, go to thrift stores, vintage shops – it’s not such a massive leap,” he says.
“It’s still fun to check out these shops and get clothes from there. That’s something that I could be working on.”
What happens if he weakens and starts pounding the plastic again, buying clothes from high street shops that aren’t committed to sustainability?
“I’m gonna have a poster of myself with c**t written above it and I’ve got my mate to punch me in the face if I ever step out of line. I’ve already secured that.”
He’s also been palming off clothes to mates to encourage wearing second-hand. “The other day I went through my whole cupboard and I got rid of 50 percent of my clothes, three of my friends just took all those clothes.”
What is his advice to other people who want to get involved but don’t know where to start? “It’s so overwhelming I don’t think we should set ourselves up to fail,” he says. “Do whatever works for you, we’re all different. The more you do little things the more you’ll educate yourself about it, the more you’ll be watching out for things. Do it at your own pace.”
While we’re on the topic of advice, does new environmental advocate Seapa have any advice for climate change OG Greta Thunberg, who was criticised recently for declaring “you can shove climate change up your ass” while at COP26?
“Swearing is just a word,” he says. “Unless there’s more gas from that word that contributes to the environment, it goes against nothing that she’s trying to say so it’s fine – I’d say Greta should be swearing more man, be yourself.”
So big gains are being made already… But what about involving music? What about those rumours about a PJDN climate change rap? Nah, not on the cards.
“You can’t save the world through rap,” he confesses. “Nah. I’ve tried, believe me.”
Grindah, DJ Beats and Francisca Rockey teamed up with Virgin Media O2 and Global Action Plan for the Chatting Shit climate change podcast, available on all good podcast platforms.
https://www.instagram.com/tv/CSrxfCXnQ4I/?hl=en
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