Lins Honeyman talked to emcee, author and producer KARL NOVA about his continuing creative flow

In 2015 Karl's career would take another turn with the end of his spell as a radio presenter in addition to the release of the tellingly-titled 'The Frustrated Artist' album. "In the middle of what I was doing with PLTFRM SE7EN, I was a travelling creative writing workshop facilitator - that's how I earned my bread and butter and it was something I had been doing since December 2009," he explains. "I would go into schools and colleges and do hip-hop-flavoured creative writing and performance poetry sessions. At the time of the making of 'The Frustrated Artist', something happened whilst I was a radio presenter at Premier Gospel and I wasn't feeling happy in the role or sure if it was for me anymore."

He adds, "Another aspect of it was that I didn't really believe in the genre title of Christian hip-hop that was getting bandied about. People would try to describe my music as 'Christian hip-hop' and I would explain that, no, I was a just a Christian who happens to make hip-hop. I felt and still feel that the whole Christian hip-hop label is a bit contrived. As Jon Foreman from the band Switchfoot said, we should be Christian by faith not by genre and I've always held onto that. Out of my frustration towards all of this, I started creating the album that became 'The Frustrated Artist'."

With his tenure at Premier Gospel at an end, Karl was able to explore his true creative identity with less distraction than before. "When I left Premier, I was happier even though the gigs and phone calls died down a bit. A lot of people who used to contact me forgot about me because I was no longer on air to help them promote their music. I didn't mind too much because I was still travelling to places like Germany and Cyprus doing creative writing workshops and, at that time, I was working on what would become 'For Such A Time As This'. I was in a better place musically - I started to feel more comfortable in my own skin and I was making sounds that I knew would be great in front of a live audience."

Whilst making 'For Such A Time As This', Karl was also working on his debut book of poetry which would be published in April 2017. "The book and the album go hand in hand - if you put them together, the full title of the project is 'Rhythm & Poetry For Such A Time As This'," he clarifies. "The book has been shortlisted for a CLiPPA poetry award and I'm in the same category as some fairly heavyweight writers in the literary world so I'm really excited about that. First and foremost, I just see myself as a communicator whether it's through my blog, my music, my poetry, my Soundcloud podcast - Karl Nova's Oddcast - or anything else that comes along."

His ability to communicate via a range of different mediums means that his Christian faith inevitably comes through in his work and I ask him where that aspect of his life sits within his music in particular. "My faith informs the music I make," Karl states. "I was raised in church and I used to be in a gospel choir and an acappella quartet but hip-hop gives you so many more words that you can use in comparison to just singing. Because of that, I have more colours to paint with and, if you have lots of words, eventually you will communicate something of yourself to people.

"I used to think I had to be a gospel, rapping, preacher kind of guy because that is how the church I went to made me believe it should be done," Karl continues. "They made me feel that, if I wasn't evangelical and super-preachy with my music, then I wasn't doing it right or it wasn't legit. I've never believed that art was designed to be put in a straightjacket of religion or evangelism but, because I didn't know how to explain my feelings, I conformed. If you listen to my very first album, it was very church-like because that is how I felt I had to be but I've never really believed that my expression of art is limited to being didactic about my faith. There was an underground gospel rap scene in the UK at the time that was very strong about being bold with your faith, carrying the cross and such like and, whilst there is a need for that, it's not the only way to express your faith through music."

I argue that, rightly or wrongly for many church folk, the alternate to so-called Christian hip-hop is the kind of mainstream rap that talks about mistreating women, doing drugs and violence with expletives thrown in at every opportunity. "When I started doing music, my role models were never the gangsta rappers or those artists who were talking about hard street stuff and almost glorifying the dark side," advises Karl to show that there is most definitely a middle ground. "I used to always gravitate towards more positive and inspirational mainstream acts like De La Soul and Mos Def. Those were the people that I looked up to - they were still from the streets but were giving out knowledge and understanding and telling cautionary tales about not getting into trouble. When I got into Christ, the church told me that I couldn't even be like that and that I had to be like a hardcore preacher rapper. I couldn't see myself as that and all I really wanted to do was be an artist who looked at life through the lens of his faith whilst rapping about everyday experiences.

"When I started going into schools to creative writing workshops, I realised I couldn't go in with the hardcore evangelical raps that I had in my repertoire and I had to change my approach," he continues. "The US rapper Lecrae made his transition to the mainstream but he's still the person he was before - he's not talking about smoking dope or women or killing people. His music is still informed by his faith but it's just that he's not beating people over the head with a Bible, so to speak. I like that and I appreciate that - that's me too."

Outside church walls it appears there is still a suspicion about the kind of subject matter hip-hop artists may cover in their songs, as Karl points out. "When I go into schools and they find out that I'm a hip-hop artist, I know there are eyebrows raised. A lot of hip-hop today is very negative and stereotypically about violence and things like that. Now - I live in a neighbourhood where things like that actually happen. I came back to my house after a nice evening out one night and there was police tape all around the area. It turns out that someone had been shot in the head and people have been stabbed near where I live. I'm from the streets but I just tell my story from a different perspective - that's all."

For many rappers who possess a faith in Christ, the line between being true to Jesus and maintaining a relevance to the wider world is a difficult one to tread. "There are a lot of hip-hop artists out there who are wrestling with their faith," Karl comments. "I really understand what they're going through because the idea of being a black person and a Christian can seem impossible for some people because of how religion was used as a tool in the past for colonialism and transatlantic slavery. I've had to wrestle with all of that myself - could I really be a Christian and be a black British person? Am I able to still talk about issues that affect me as a black person in the UK and is being a Christian still compatible with all of that?

"What makes me hold on to my faith is the fact that Christ is on the side of people who are oppressed and put down - the very dregs of society - and that's where you would find Jesus in biblical times. Knowing that and seeing that thread throughout the gospels has kept my faith alive. 'For Such A Time As This' was made at the pinnacle of me wrestling with my faith and that's why, when you get to the end of the album with the song 'Thankful', I'm finally at peace because I still believe in the grace of God. Although I'm a flawed person who has messed up a lot, I believe that God is still with me. There is still of mustard seed of faith somewhere in my heart and hopefully you can hear that in the music."

In closing, I ask Karl what the immediate future holds. "Since the book came out, I've been on a Rhythm & Poetry tour and I've just got back from Switzerland last week. At the moment, I've been so inspired by meeting new people that music is just coming out of me all the time. I'm very excited about what I'm creating right now and I know that another album or EP is on the horizon. I know there are some more books in me as well and there will be more touring and more music videos too. I also want to mentor more people and pass on the knowledge I've gained as an independent artist.

"I'm just a real guy trying to make real music."