Climbing the Tower
Finding your way to a ‘good life’ as a young person in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.
This text, and the rap connected to it, integrates personal experience with stories and narratives that come from research interviews, and therefore is representative of the experiences of many care leavers. It should not be considered as an evidence of the writer.
Scan here to listen to the rap before you learn about what it means.
Hi my name is and I am a resident of the Isle of Dogs, which is a peninsula, a small piece of land surrounded by the River Thames in Tower Hamlets, east London.
The Isle of Dogs is home to Canary Wharf which is a rich business district and can look posh. However, its controversial aspect is that this privately owned area is surrounded by poverty.
I myself am a care leaver (someone aged 18-25 who has experienced the care system) and have decided to work with other care leavers on a citizen science project to research some of the main problems with the system that affect people’s physical health and mental wellbeing.
In my experience, and those of my fellow citizen scientists, problems can vary within the care system. Young people can struggle with their wellbeing in a variety of ways - physical health, mental health, and in my experience particularly financial wellbeing is an issue. Personal wealth and personal health are tied together.
Being in poverty can be a risk factor. This is a communal problem we share. Young people getting into illicit activities because they don’t see a route to success or don’t have aspirations to begin with.
Are there enough opportunities for young people to find a positive future? Not just for care leavers but for everyone - this is important.
I myself grew up around the opportunity of music from a very young age, as both of my brothers are fluent in playing the guitar. It was only natural for me to delve into writing, getting imaginative about how I use language to tell stories I feel are important.
As I got older I took an interest in poetry and always wanted to expand my English literature skills, interpreting different perspectives in one's own words was always fascinating to me. I started to get involved in lyricism from age twelve to thirteen.
And it stuck as a skill ever since. Seven years on I decided to show my research on this citizen science project through writing a little script describing the reality I see of living in east London as a young person . The interviews that took place during this project inspired me to write what you will see on the following pages. The struggles people faced financially is immense and took a huge toll on their health in all kinds of ways.
I hope you enjoy the following…
Often people that sell drugs get involved in that lifestyle when they’re around sixteen. They leave school and young men in particular are seen by others as vulnerable and are taken advantage of - being groomed into things. It can happen younger though like twelve or fourteen.
Once you reach an age where money becomes a trend or a basic want, some young people want to see quick money and think drug dealing is the way to go, but have very little idea of how deep, hard and risky the ‘trap’ is. The trouble is things are becoming really expensive - the cost-of-living crisis. Fortunately, I was lucky to have people in my family working legit jobs so when I lost my way a little bit it was more
about the greed of wanting a lavish lifestyle than anything else. However, some people in Tower Hamlets struggle with basic necessities so they feel forced to do illicit things to pay rent, bills and buy basics like groceries.
It is only later on that young people realise the risk of the trap. One person I interviewed for my project, who is now doing well, said that it was only when they realised that what they were doing could lead to ten or fifteen years that they “decided to leave the past where it is and focus on what is in front of [them] today”.
It’s not just mental and physical wellbeing that this lifestyle can affect, but your spiritual wellbeing also. In many religions drugs and alcohol are strictly prohibited. Being the person that ruins another person’s mental health and physical health by supplying will slowly impact your spirituality, leading you down a path to make even worse decisions.
Drug dealing is a problem for both sides, the user and the supplier, and once you’ve left that lifestyle it’s good to do good deeds to balance yourself out to a good mental state.
Mum looks me in my eyes and I can see her tears drop, Saying “sonny please stop you don’t wanna get locked”, Free M soon, touch ends, can’t lie, it’s been long.,
Shiii now I’m thinking ‘bout them lifers. Is the money worth the 20 years that they’re riding ?
Think about the truth.
Until my last breath I’ll always be chasing myself to be better than average. Working with in the rap you can take huge losses getting taken advantage of by others, so any cash that I’m making now will be replace that which I lost.
Yes bad things happen that are out of your control but you can’t let it control you. Don’t wish any bad on anyone - leave it in God’s hands.
I’ve matured now but many aren’t careful and don’t manoeuvre through life in the right way, not knowing how to meet the right people and who to stay distant from. You need to learn how to keep away from negative energy.
If you’re involved in something illicit then that isn’t just got to impact you, but other also. In my opinion the good deeds you actively decide to do this will come back to your life positively.
A lot of people aren’t as mature as others so be careful how you manoeuvre in life always keep new people as clients and stay distant from friends. more about keeping yourself away from negative energy and people. if you’re involved in something that
isn’t just going to impact you but others too, in my opinion the good deeds you decide to do will impact your life strongly in a positive way.
Once people know you make money it easily attracts fugazi (fake) people. Stay away from users or people that don’t have aspirations and make your own path.
But I’m just tryna reach the top, and until my time stops,
I’ll be chasing my gwop. any cash that i lost, I’ma charge it to the game.
Loss of heart endured pain, Me and you we ain’t the same, Now I’m steady switching lanes. money
For some young people the money made stood outside in the cold can be wrongly seen as worth the struggle.
This is what poverty and lack of other options does to people. Being able to spend someone’s rent bill on something like a jacket is considered an achievement - a good jacket is what success looks like when you’re thinking short term.
I feel like, and I’ve heard in my research, that a lot of young people are demotivated because they find themselves surrounded by negativity. Getting involved in illicit things means time and energy - time and energy that could be spent on doing something new or developing their skills. They’ve got skills but need to transform how they use them, into something positive, so they can actually see a future.
It can often feel like we’re part of a ‘lazy’ generation, succumbing to desires and lacking in discipline - the easy route is the one commonly taken. Young people should be supported to have achievable, positive goals, maybe getting into a trade like the food industry or construction - these will always be needed and can provide stability.
Young people need to be supported to open their mind. It is being narrow-minded or not believing you have options that can lead to the trap. Young people already have skills but they don’t know it, or don’t have the confidence to network or explain themselves. As they get older skills that they don’t realise they have can be valued for legit careers, and believing this is key to being hopeful for the future.