Tag: Jasmine Khan

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Local MC and hip hop artist SANITY releases new single, ‘Late Night’ – out from 30 June

Words by Jasmine Khan / Profile pic by Connor Pope

Starting out as a grime artist, cutting her teeth in the school playgrounds of Stockland Green, local MC and hip hop artist, SANITY, is releasing her new single – ‘Late Night’, out from 30 June.

(Click here to read SANITY’s lastest LOCAL PROFILE with Erdington Local).

An easy-grooving summer tune, ‘Late Night’ is far from her heavy 140 roots. Here SANITY’s musical style jives into a jazzier, melodic hip hop wave, following in the footsteps of ‘Grass is Greener’ – a track she released earlier this year.

Including features from Blue Lab Beats and MELONYX, SANITY’s latest release is the second track in an extended project showcasing the multi-genre musician’s artistic talents and recently refined jazz influences.

‘Late Night’ begins with rolling drum beats, a catchy snare, and tingling piano keys, caught up in a warm evening breeze. The along comes SANITY’s refreshing flow, like a cool sip of sweet lemonade.

She raps about motives at dusk, the recreational pursuits that typically tempt as the sun goes down; smoky flirtations and casual conversations are the blessings that keep the blues of monotonous working life at bay.

“If it’s hot girl summer, I wanna embrace it.”
“From am to pm, we can’t waste it.”

Underneath SANITY’s rhythmic rapping, there’s a lazy swing beat and complex piano chords saunter about, occasionally flouting their virtuoso, then humbly teetering off. Their end makes way for near perfectly placed summertime vocals courtesy of MELONYX.

Her voice is the kind that makes you get up off your deck chair and tipsily wind your waist, still holding a half-full cup of something crisp and full of ice.

There’s a gloopy breakdown, and you’re lost momentarily in the smell of BBQ smoke, perfume, and gentle perspiration.

Then the trumpets…? They’re divine.

As ‘Late Night’ progresses, SANITY’s jazzier elements heat up, building a crescendo behind lyrics that speak both to the carefree fun of a late summer night spent in good company and to deeper themes. The track reflects on what it means to be present in – to enjoy and have gratitude for – the moment we’re living in.

Put it on your summer party playlist, mix it with your drink, but most importantly, move to it.  

‘Late Night’ – SANITY ft. Blue Lab Beats & MELONYX

For more from Sanity visit hwww.sanitythemc.com or click here to read her LOCAL PROFILE with Erdington Local.

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LOCAL PROFILE: Sanity

Words by Jasmine Khan / Pics by Connor Pope

In recent years, Erdington rapper and musician Sanity has taken a step back. Celebrated for her performance at the Commonwealth Games closing ceremony on Australia’s Gold Coast in 2018, and more recently for her contribution of ‘Midlands Child’ to the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games On Record album, Sanity has now returned with a new song and lots to tell Erdington Local.

“When I was doing music at Stockland Green (secondary school), I was learning how to play the guitar, and my teacher, Mr. Scott, would spring it on me that I was doing lunchtime performances,” Sanity explains her first experiences of performing as a child and how it developed her confidence.

She continues: “I remember I used to do little rap ciphers and battles on the playground. As soon as kids see a few people gathered, they all come over. It didn’t develop my stage presence because, obviously, it was on a gravel floor. But it’s the performance-esc-type-vibe.”

Back in school, Sanity “was more grime music, 140bpm, super-fast, skippy, with a lot of braggadocious bars.” She was “repping it for the girls” and, for some time, went by the name ‘Young S’. However, after discovering graffiti tagging an identical alias across Erdington, Sanity realised the name wasn’t necessarily that creative.

“I started taking music a bit more seriously when I was 16, I realised I’m not going to be young forever. If I’m going to do music, I want an authentic name. Dizzy Rascal ‘Bonkers’ came on, and the line was, ‘Let sanity give you the slip’; I was like… ‘Sanity’ and it clicked. Some people think that ‘cos the name’s Sanity, it’s got some deep, intricate, initial meaning.”

And while her name-sake’s inspiration can hardly be considered drenched in meaning, for Sanity her musical moniker had to grow up a bit too – dropping the ‘Lady’ prefix so many knew her as.

“It actually aligns with the kind of music I want to do and the type of message that I want to promote,” explains Sanity.

“Five years ago, I wanted to drop the ‘Lady’ because it had that kind of grime feel to it, and that wasn’t particularly the genre I wanted to be in. My music, it touches on grime, and I started out with it, but I’ve also felt more connected to hip hop and alternative hip hop.

“I felt like the ‘Lady’ kept me boxed in and automatically made people think I was going to have a particular sound. ‘Sanity’ has a bit more openness and creative freedom. It opens the sound up a bit more. To me, it sounds a bit more unpredictable; you don’t know what you’re getting.”

The change in name marks the beginning of a new era for the Erdington artist, and Sanity admits after making music for over ten years, “dropping ‘Lady’ is almost like a rebirth. There’s more maturity with (her music) now, more growth with it, more knowledge behind what made it.” Progressing to a jazzier vibe too, Sanity is excited to discuss her recent release ‘Grass is Greener’ and her upcoming project that is set to be out in full by the end of the year.

“The whole project is centred around growth as a person, and of course, you can’t have growth without knowing where you’ve been. So, I pay homage to certain elements and vibes like faster flows that I’ve done before.

“It’s centred around the theme of nature and making something beautiful out of the most natural thing. It has this really earthy feel to it. It’s polished, but we also (in the mixing and mastering process) wanted it to have a bit of grit.”

The new sound has also brought new musicians into Sanity’s musical sphere, including a tour just before lockdown with Pee Wee Ellis – a saxophonist for the legendary soul singer James Brown. Sanity also appeared on the new album from the UK’s revered jazz saxophonist Camilla George, who in turn plays sax at the end of ’Grass is Greener’.

About her upcoming new music, Sanity continues: “It’s a bit more refined, coming with more live jazz instrumentation rather than samples as well, which is a great feeling. With ‘Grass is Greener’ it’s touching on this fresh start, and really just standing in my purpose and knowing all the things that I’ve done.

“I know sometimes as a human being you know you’re at a certain point, but you can also look at other people and be like: ‘It would be great to do this, and it would be great to have that.’ ‘Grass is Greener’ is about standing in your purpose and being happy, being excited for what you can grow into.”

It seems as though Erdington residents have another exciting piece of local art to look forward to this summer, and Sanity strongly emphasises, “There’s something for everyone on the upcoming project.”

Sanity intends to release a second single at the end of June, where she’s worked with a Grammy award-winning group, and you can catch her playing InterMission Festival in Birmingham at The Mill on 22 July 2023.

‘Grass is Greener’ – Sanity

For more from Sanity visit www.sanitythemc.com

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ELECTION NEWS: Secretary of State for Education outlines additional “£3000 tax free” for new Erdington STEM teachers, whilst on campaign trail with Conservative MP candidate Robert Alden

By Erdington Local election news team

During a visit to Erdington on Friday, 11 February, the Secretary of State for Education, Nadhim Zahawi MP, told Erdington Local:

“What I’m trying to do is make sure that where we need additional teachers, like Erdington, in subjects like STEM, we actually say: ‘Look, in your first five years as a new teacher, we will give you an additional £3000 tax free, if you move to Erdington, to help us on this endeavour.”

He added: “To deliver a great education you need great teachers, so another thing I’m doing is half a million teacher training opportunities, so anyone reading this who wants to become a teacher come forward. We have the best teacher training opportunities in the world, in my view.”

On the campaign trail with Conservative MP hopeful Robert Alden, the Tory frontbencher was speaking about his strategy to support education after the Coronavirus crisis – during a visit to the colloquially known Ghousia Mosque on Slade Road, Stockland Green.

Keen to see Robert Alden “join him on the green benches,” Mr Zahawi urged local voters to support the Erdington Ward councillor as he makes his bid for Erdington MP on Thursday 3, March.

The Education Secretary went on to promise that every child will have access to a tutor via The National Tutoring Program.

He told: “We’ve listened to schools, and we’ve put in almost £600 million allowing schools to access their own tutors and I want every parent to ask their schools – are you getting that tutoring for my child when they need it?”

Cllr Robert Alden, who also the leader of the Birmingham Conservative Party, wanted the once Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for COVID-19 Vaccine Deployment to see first-hand the impact of the mosque’s outreach work and local support programmes.

Alden explained: “I want to thank the mosque for all they’ve done during the Covid pandemic, supporting the local community.

“They’ve done a brilliant role here, making sure the community was looked after during one of the worst events in our lifetime.”

Nadhim Zahawi MP added: “I know from what I’ve been hearing today that it was this congregation here, this leadership who made a real difference to people’s lives and the wider community.”

But education was a clear conversation point throughout the visit, a subject “close to my heart” for Mr Zahawi, with Cllr Alden emphasising the importance “everyone gets that chance to get on in life.”

Robert Alden added: “That’s what we’ve seen from the government, they’ve invested over 8 million, just in the last year, in pupil premium funding locally. We need to make sure that no one is left behind as we recover (from the pandemic).

“I know from my own experiences as a school governor locally, just how important it is that you have that family atmosphere in a school, that community feel.

“That’s what we very much do where I’m a governor, and that’s how I’d almost want to be as a Member of Parliament – making sure that we as a community take all the children with us, to give them the best education possible.”

While praising the British education that he had received as an 11 year old immigrant “who couldn’t speak a word of English”, the Education Secretary warned: “That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be complacent, we should improve.

“That’s what Bobby (Robert Alden) is going to do, to help deliver that, if people elect him as their Member of Parliament.”

Erdington has a diverse community, and its new Member of Parliament will need to be a strong voice in Westminster for people from a range of ethnicities and cultural backgrounds.

When asked about issues of Islamophobia within the Conservative Party, specifically Conservative MP Nusrat Ghani’s recent resignation, the Education Secretary said:

“There is no room for islamophobia in the Conservative Party.

“There are, sadly, in society, incidents of racism and Islamophobia. I suffered from it when I was a kid at school. But we’ve got to make sure that wherever it is, we stamp it out.”

Cllr Robert Alden echoed his message: “There is no place whatsoever, for Islamophobia, both in the Conservative Party and wider society as a whole.

“What I’ve tried to do as a local councillor for the past 16 years is really reach out to all communities, to be able to support them, to make sure they have a voice and to get them the help that they need.”

Addressing both the issues of education and community cohesion, Imam Ghulam Rasool added: “I think if you look at the moment faith is very vibrant, so I think an agreed syllabus for young people should be in place, plus in those places where they aren’t providing GCSE RE, they should be inviting faith leaders.

“We need to build a sense of cohesion and get the community understanding to build tolerance and to break down any kind of intolerance.”

Erdington will elect its next Member of Parliament on Thursday, 3 March.

The 12 candidates contesting the Birmingham Erdington seat are: Cllr Paulette Hamilton (Labour), Cllr Robert Alden (Conservative), Dave Nellist (Trade Union and Socialist Coalition), Lee Dargue (Liberal Democrats), Michael Lutwyche (Independent), Jack Brookes (Reform UK), Siobhan Harper-Nunes (Green), Thomas O’Rouke (Independent), Mel Mbondiah (Christian People’s Alliance), Clifton Holmes (Independent), David Laurence Bishop (Militant Bus-Pass Elvis Party), The Good Knight Sir NosDa (The Official Monster Raving Loony Party).

For more on Cllr Robert Alden and the Erdington Conservatives visit www.erdingtonconservatives.org.uk