He left school with just one GCSE. Now he’s a World Book Day ambassador, a Guinness World Record holder, a collaborator of Snoop Dogg’s, and one of the most joyful presences on this summer’s Latitude family line up. MC Grammar, the rapping teacher who turned literacy into a movement, is heading to Henham Park this July, and he’s bringing what he does best: making children fall head over heels for words.
His story begins not on a stage, but in a classroom, and before that, in a life shaped by the absence of the very thing he now champions. “I left school with only one GCSE,” he says, “so I know the impact that has on your life, when you don’t have words to explain how you feel, when you feel misunderstood and isolated.” When he returned to education as a teacher, that personal experience became his fuel. “I really wanted to be that character that let kids know that learning can be fun. It’s about connection.”
Music, he quickly realised, was the bridge. He tried out a rap in class. The kids reacted. MC Grammar was born.
The results followed swiftly. The school he worked at climbed into the top 50 in the country. Other schools took notice. He became a consultant, travelling the length of the UK and “literally sharing these ideas and resources” with around 200 schools at one point. From there, the stages grew larger, with school halls giving way to festival fields. As well as playing Latitude, he’s soon heading to California. “It is constantly just blowing my mind every day,” he says.
The recognition has been extraordinary too. He broke a Guinness World Record with 859 children rapping and reading simultaneously. He’s a National Year of Reading ambassador with the National Literacy Trust. He turned 10 Downing Street into a full-blown book-themed house party featuring “dancing, rapping, books, rhyming and just celebrating reading.” And when Snoop Dogg reposted his work, a collaboration followed, with the tantalising prospect of an official MC Grammar x Doggyland project still in the works.
“That’s a massive seal of approval,” he says. “It feels like you’re recognised by one of the goats. An icon.”
For parents heading to Latitude with children in tow, there’s also a timely reason to pay attention beyond the festival stage. This spring sees the release of what might be his most exciting project yet: a brand new book created with former Children’s Laureate and poetry legend Michael Rosen. The pair have written a book of Ridiculous Raps and Rhymes together, which Rosen himself described as “fizzy, wild, crazy and fantastic fun.” The collaboration feels like a natural collision of two worlds and is released this May.
Behind all the records and famous fans, there’s a sharply focused sense of purpose. The stats he cites are stark: one in three children in the UK say they don’t enjoy reading for pleasure; over a million don’t own a single book; reading for pleasure is at its lowest point in 20 years.
It’s a mission rooted entirely in his own experience. “I am that child who discovered books and it changed their life,” he reflects. “And now I am passing on that message.” For parents bringing their children to see him at Latitude, he has a thought that might stop them in their tracks. “You’re probably unlocking lots of memories,” he says. “There are two stories in a book: the one in ink, and the one that makes you think. It’s like a campfire. Books make you lean in. They’re like a glow.”
