The RAP Party @The London Library: Fugees/The Score (In person)
30 years ago, one of the greatest albums in hip hop was released. Combining lyrical dexterity and poetry, with soul and R&B, groundbreaking internal rhyme patterns with Haitian and Jamaican musical influences, Fugees released The Score. Peaking at No.1 on both the Billboard 200 and the R&B/Hip-hop album charts, it became one of the best-selling albums of all time. The singles ‘Killing Me Softly’, ‘Fu-Gee-La', and ‘Ready or Not’ helped the group - Wyclef Jean, Lauryn Hill and Pras - achieve worldwide recognition.
What might eloquent voices from contemporary poetry and spoken word movements have to say about hip-hop’s past, present and future? Come find out at award-winning poet and playwright Inua Ellams’ exhilarating live literature phenomenon, the RAP (Rhythm and Poetry) Party, a nostalgic, no-clutter, no-fuss night of hip-hop-inspired poems and favourite hip-hop songs.
In collaboration with SONY Music, incredible contemporary poets will share new verse and fresh perspectives in response to the timeless journeys, questions and reflections of The Score. Our stellar line-up includes: Crispin Best, Nadeem Din-Gabisi, Aniefiok 'Neef' Ekpoudom, Simeon Farrar, Hasti, Adam Kammerling, Theresa Lola, Keri Mosuro, Laurie Ogden, Riwa Saab, Binta Yade and Inua Ellams, plus music from DJ Sid Mercutio.
Twelve writers + a DJ = the best night out you’ll ever have in a library – or anywhere, for that matter.
'A truly fluid literary event not just mingling poetry and music together seamlessly, but also bringing different tribes of poets: ages, races, gender, styles together. You will be moved in your heart and in your head.’— Roger Robinson
Crispin Best was born and lives in London. He has performed his poetry for audiences in New York, Chicago, Berlin, Madrid, Melbourne, Edinburgh, Reykjavík and at the Serpentine Gallery in London. His first pamphlet was published by Faber & Faber in its New Poets series, and his second, ok, was published by If a Leaf Falls Press.
Nadeem Din-Gabisi is a storyteller working across music, poetry and visual arts, channelling his experiences as a British born, second-generation immigrant of Sierra Leonean Krio descent. His debut album Offshore is out now on Moshi Moshi and has been featured in NPR, Worldwide FM and The Fader's list of Best New Albums, The Observer’s ‘Ones To Watch’ and included The Quietus and Electronic Sound’s Best Albums of 2025.
Aniefiok ‘Neef’ Ekpoudom is a writer and storyteller from South London whose work documents community and culture in contemporary Britain. His debut book Where We Come From: Rap, Home and Hope in Modern Britain (Faber, 2024) is a social history of British Rap. He has won a British Journalism Award and been named Culture Writer of the Year at the Freelance Writing Awards.
Inua Ellams is a Nigerian-born, UK-based poet, playwright and performer who has written for the Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre and the BBC. His latest play was an adaptation of Chekhov’s Three Sisters set in Nigeria, staged at the National Theatre. The Actual, his fifth poetry release and first full collection, was published in 2020 by Penned in the Margins. He is an Ambassador of The London Library.
Simeon Farrar is an artist/fashion designer by day and a poet by night. He manages two fashion brands, Simeon Farrar, and the streetwear label Black Score, where his love of words, music, popular culture and social justice all collide. He appeared in the BAFTA winning Life and Rhymes show on Sky Arts and has featured at many spoken word events around London.
Hasti is a poet and writer living in South East London. They are the recipient of the 2023 White Review Poet’s Prize and the 2022 Queen Mary Wasafiri New Writing Prize for Poetry. They have published pamphlets U with Reference Press and Agitations & Birdsong with Bleet! zine. Their debut pamphlet young, dumb and full of poems is out now with Little Betty.
Adam Kammerling is an award-winning poet, interdisciplinary artist and educator. Seder, his debut poetry collection was a finalist in the National Jewish Book Awards and is currently touring the UK as a spoken-word/dance theatre piece. Other performance work includes Shall We Take This Outside, which toured nationally, and Inside!, a piece of poetry/rave theatre commissioned by Centrepoint and the Saatchi Gallery.
Theresa Lola is an award-winning poet and artist. She has performed at the ICA, Royal Albert Hall, and Jazz Cafe. Her second poetry collection Ceremony for the Nameless was awarded the Derek Walcott Poetry Prize. The book explores memory, collectiveness, growth, and the constructed self. A poem from her first collection 'In Search of Equilibrium' is studied in the UK’s GCSE syllabus.
Keri Mosuro is a London-born Nigerian actor and writer, who grew up in Kent. She trained at RADA and was a member of the first Old Vic Theatre Makers cohort, as well as the National Theatre’s Young Producer’s course. As a writer, she is part of the Obsidian Foundation which champions the voices of Black poets globally.
Laurie Ogden is a Northern multi-award winning writer and performer. A former Roundhouse Resident Artist and Barbican Young Poet alumna, her debut pamphlet Humaning was published by flipped eye. Her work was longlisted for the Bruntwood Playwriting Prize and shortlisted for the Women's playwriting prize 2025. Laurie is co-editor of online poetry magazine And Other Poems.
Riwa Saab is a cross-disciplinary artist who works with space, sound, and words. Through braiding together the crafts of theatre, poetry, and music, she interrogates how art puts people and our relationships at the centre of the political narratives we inhabit, while particularly exploring the diasporic experience of building cultural bridges, unpacking generational and familial baggage, and creating space for pockets of joy.
Binta Yade is an Australian-raised, UK-based international poet and performer working across spoken word and live performance. Born and bloomed on Gadigal Country in Sydney and rooted in the Senegalese and Italian diaspora, she writes from a life lived across continents. Her work weaves ancestral memory with present-day truth, crafting intimate, politically resonant performances that invite audiences into moments of reflection, connection, and becoming.
Sid Mercutio is a London-born DJ and producer whose sound spans house, garage, hip-hop, R&B, 90s-inspired grooves and nostalgic chart topping hits from the 70s, 80s and beyond, all seamlessly blended into contemporary rhythms. Having spent part of his youth in Nigeria, his music carries a diverse range of influences, combining deep grooves, rhythmic intensity and melodic textures into a signature musical journey.
NB This event will take place in person at The London Library. Please see our Event Access Guidelines before you arrive. Doors (and the bar) open at 6.30pm for a 7pm start. It officially ends at 9.30pm, though we may keep you dancing a little longer!
Books by the speakers will be available to buy at the event and online from our partner bookshop Hatchards.
This is a standing event but there will be chairs available in the room.
