This is Hackney not Camelot, where Nicki Knightz<\/a> rocks vintage garms not shining armour. The London lyricist is one half of The Knighthood Society<\/strong>, a duo doing bits for alternative hip hop here in the UK. With a low, poetic style and uncompromised bars, Nicki\u2019s music is a very real reflection of her mixed-race experience. For The Uninformed<\/a><\/em> says it straight.<\/p>\n She rides for the misfits and the mistreated in a three-track EP that\u2019s not to be missed. \u2018India Arie\u2019 was even crowned Toddla T<\/strong>\u2018s Coldest Record of the Week back on release. From spoken word sets to bedroom booths, we sat down with the humble MC to talk through the roots of her project and much more. It\u2019s time you got informed. <\/p>\n \u201cSo The Knighthood Society<\/a> is essentially an aspiring label really. It started off being a group thing, we had five or six different people in the group and then in the few years it slowly became just me and Henny Knightz<\/a>. He\u2019s the producer and the person that founded The Knighthood Society.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDefinitely, definitely. For me anyway, I feel like I need to have a certain level of chemistry with the person to be able to fully express the things I want to express. Otherwise, sharing such personal, intimate things with someone you\u2019re not really cool with like that can be a bit tense, if you know what I mean.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBefore I created this project, obviously I knew I wanted to create a project, but I remember I was sitting down with Henny and he was like, \u2018What do you want to say on it? What story do you want to tell?\u2019. I wanted to tell the story of what being mixed-race means because often growing up, especially in the area I grew up in, (Hackney), it was like the mixed-race girl or boy was always something that was highly praised and in some sense quite fetishised. But for me, I never quite understood that because from my experience being mixed-race was quite challenging \u2013 pretty much like an identity crisis in some way. So For The Uninformed<\/a><\/em> was for the people that have no idea of what being mixed-race means. I wanted to tell people my story and I\u2019m sure a lot of other people\u2019s stories because from releasing it, a lot of biracial people have said that they relate to certain matters that are discussed on the project. So yeah, it was basically for everyone that doesn\u2019t know what it\u2019s like to be a mixed-race person.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI would say music for me is my preferred method, reason being, in day-to-day life if I\u2019m not really cool with a person, like I\u2019m not really comfortable, I don\u2019t really speak too much. If I don\u2019t need to speak I\u2019m not really like a speaker [laughs]. Never been the loudest person in the room, quite introverted, so music is definitely the medium where I\u2019m able to fully say the things I\u2019ve always wanted to say, you know? It\u2019s a lot easier to do it through that platform.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYeah so the \u2018India Arie<\/a>\u2018 tune, that\u2019s inspired by one of her songs called \u2018I Am Not My Hair<\/a>\u2018 which I basically grew up listening to. When I was going through my hair breaking and whatnot, and I was having difficulty managing it and my mum was as well, I used to listen to that song because it felt like such a massive thing at the time. At one point when it was breaking and falling out I didn\u2019t think I was gunna mentally or in reality get through that obstacle. So, I remember I found that song and it was like a comfort blanket. When I wrote the song in the studio it was like I\u2019d done the same thing that she\u2019d done essentially: talked about my whole hair journey and how freeing it can be when you just don\u2019t give a fuck in some sense. So it was only right for me to call it \u2018India Arie\u2019 because it was her that helped me at that time, like a homage track kind of.<\/p>\n\u201cI wanted to tell the story of what being mixed-race means.\u201d<\/h4>\n
Listen to For The Uninformed<\/a> now<\/h4>\n
\nFor those who don\u2019t know, what is The Knighthood Society?<\/h5>\n
With Henny producing most of your tunes, do you find close relationships make the best music?<\/h5>\n
![\"Album](\"https:\/\/reverbmusic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/d3623-for-the-uninformed.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nSo, For The Uninformed<\/em> \u2013 who are the uniformed?<\/h5>\n
Why do you think music is your preferred method of informing people?<\/h5>\n
\u2018India Arie\u2019 and \u2018Blacker The Berry\u2019 wear their references on their sleeves. How have different artists fed into the EP?<\/h5>\n