One thing I like about blogging is it becomes like a time capsule for me. I can look back on what I have written before and it brings back memories of the time when I wrote it. I don't blog as frequently as I used to because sometimes I just don't feel inspired. There are things I want to write about but I am doing a lot of reading and researching so I don't just chat and waffle on emptily.

I have just celebrated my birthday and this time last year I had just touched down in London from New York on the morning of my birthday. I was suffering from Jet lag but still very happy because my 10 day visit to New York was so amazing. You can read all about it here This year however I have been laid out by the flu and all day I've been coughing and wheezing. I have a blocked nose and I feel groggy but I am still full of gratitude and thanksgiving. The love I received from all over the place was really touching. I sometimes wish I could have that kinda love everyday haha.



As always you have time to reflect on the journey so far especially when you are laid up with the flu and just lying around. In the last year I have done a lot of travelling doing workshops. Apart from being all over London in different schools, I've been to Lancashire, Luton (I did a workshop in a stadium again this year I was invited back you can read about it online here) I was out in Southampton and Blackpool at the end of last year and also in Colchester. I got into the local Colchester newspaper when I went to do a workshop there for first time in 2010 and got into it again, read about that here I also got interviewed by the MOBOs about music, it got published just after I arrived back from New York, you can read about that here. Earlier on in the year I got interviewed by Marcia Dixon for The Voice newspaper, that came out of the blue and you can check that out here. I also got interviewed by Francesca Bondioli of Empire Radio Magazine, it was one of the best interviews I've ever done and you can read it here



This blog is turning into one of those episodes of your favourite sitcom where they do flashbacks all through the whole show haha but it is good to look back. I made the decision to leave Premier and no more present "The Writer's Block" and "Hip Hop Sessions" I did this for many reasons. The main reason was I felt it was time. I am glad I got the opportunity to be a radio presenter there and I really learnt so much on the job. I wanted to learn a skill, gain experience and help the UK scene. It is something that I will do again since I now know what it takes to do it and do it well. I will miss all the wonderful and friendly people I met there. There are so many kind and amazing people that I got to know that I would probably never have known any other way. I will miss them.



During my time there I can say I brought exposure to music and artists that probably would have gone overlooked. I can say that because my ears are always to the ground and because I am aware of the history of the UK scene, the work I did on air had substance. I did this all for free on a voluntary basis because they didn't have a budget to pay me. (as far as I know all specialist shows are like that not just me doing the 2 shows I was doing) I understood that this was how it was going to be from the start but I chose to do it anyway because I really wanted to learn how to be a presenter and all the mechanics of broadcasting. It was worth it for me from that angle. Coming into my 3rd year of doing it I started feeling it wasn't helping me as an artist. I felt like I had hit a ceiling and there was no progression. I didn't feel free. I felt like it affected the perception of me as an artist which to me is my primary passion. Some people might say "well why couldn't you do both?" I did do both for the whole time I was there but I started noticing I was getting overlooked as an artist myself and not taken seriously as one who had already sought to establish himself as one. I was already Karl Nova the artist before being a radio presenter. This is why I released a mixtape in January called The Frustrated Artist It's just how I felt at the time. I explained more about that in the digital liner notes of the project



Now that I have left I have had people ask "what next?" or "how is life after leaving?" as if being at Premier was my whole life and not just 2 days a week. This brought it home to me that leaving was the right decision for me right now. Perception is powerful. In this business branding is everything. I mean I have been doing gigs where on the flyer they would put premier next to my name as if that defines who I am and I didn't like that at all. It got to a point where I needed to make a decision to move on if I wanted to get to where I feel I needed to go.



I have said before that the genre category labelling of christian hip hop, holy hip hop or gospel rap (or whatever it is called these days) is something I don't personally subscribe to so that was another factor. I am just at a point where these genre labels and titles don't define me anymore, to be honest they never really have. It has been that way before I even became a presenter on Premier. I guess because that world of music is one I am familiar with, I felt I could help and I still feel I can and I will still help out but I have grown and I just don't feel I can be confined to just that world only. I know it is an ongoing conversation going on right now over in America within the christian hip hop subgenre aka CHH but I just feel it is not relevant to where I am in my journey. In the bigger picture I just don't think this subgenre really matters unless you are one who needs it because of selling a product, basing your identity on it or wanting to belong to a tribe that uses it to feel significant. My identity doesn't depend on a subgenre and my mission is beyond it. It is easy to get caught up in a bubble and think it is the whole world when it is merely a drop in the proverbial ocean.



So as I enter my new year I will keep pushing forward with the main things I am about as an artist (new album album coming soon), a workshop facilitator with Student of Life a curator over at PLTFRM SE7EN and who knows what else is gonna happen? Watch out!



Here is a track I decided to release for free to mark my birthday it is called "The Gift" written and produced by me and in the song I say quite a few things. You can stream/download it as well as check out the lyrics below!