George the Poet
Quick answer: A craft guide to George the Poet: rap-rooted verse, social analysis in rhyme and podcast storytelling that rewrote the form, plus where to start listening.
George Mpanga, performing as George the Poet, took spoken word somewhere it had never been: the podcast as long-form poem. Born in 1991 and raised on the St Raphael's estate in north-west London to Ugandan parents, he studied politics, psychology and sociology at Cambridge, and in 2018 launched Have You Heard George's Podcast?, which mixed verse, drama, music and documentary so originally that it won a Peabody Award and a stack of podcast honours.
He is also known for what he declined: an MBE in 2019, refused with a public explanation about empire and his family's history. For writers, his work is the standing proof that rhyme can carry serious social analysis without becoming either lecture or slogan.
Who he is
George came up through London's rap and grime culture before choosing spoken word as his lane, bringing the rhyme discipline with him. His early work includes the collection Search Party (2015); his defining work is the podcast, whose episodes braid autobiography, fiction, news and music production into single listening experiences, later explored further in his book Track Record.
His tradition is double: Black British music culture on one side and the public intellectual on the other. The poems ask structural questions, about housing, policing, media and opportunity, from inside the community being discussed, and his career itself argues that the estate and the university are not opposites.
The signature moves
Across podcast and stage, these techniques recur.
What you can learn
Set yourself his central exercise: take one statistic or news story that angers you and argue about it entirely in rhymed verse, keeping the tone conversational. The rhyme forces compression; the conversation register keeps it human. If your couplets start sounding like slogans, add a doubt or a complication the rhyme must absorb.
Think about audio as a form. Even if you never make a podcast, drafting a poem as a voice memo with pauses, emphasis and room tone teaches you what your lineation is actually doing. And watch his pronoun discipline: decide, in any social poem, whether you stand inside or outside the group you describe, and keep the grammar honest about it.
Where to start
Begin with the first two chapters of Have You Heard George's Podcast?, then the episode-length pieces about his neighbourhood's relationship with music and opportunity. His earlier YouTube performances, including pieces on media narratives about young Black men, show the stage-facing style, and Track Record extends the project into prose.
What poets can take from this
- Argue one statistic entirely in rhymed, conversational verse.
- Let a complication break any couplet that starts sounding like a slogan.
- Record drafts as voice memos to hear what your lineation really does.
- Choose 'I', 'we' or 'they' deliberately and keep the grammar honest.
- Compose with sound: silence, music and ambience are stanzas too.
Try it yourself
Find one statistic about your own neighbourhood. Write a rhymed poem that explains it to someone who lives there, moving from 'they' to 'we' at the exact moment the poem earns it.
Questions
Who is George the Poet?
George Mpanga is a British-Ugandan spoken word artist from London, a Cambridge graduate, and creator of the Peabody-winning Have You Heard George's Podcast?, which fuses poetry, music and documentary.
Why did George the Poet turn down an MBE?
He declined the honour in 2019, publicly citing the British Empire's treatment of his ancestors and of Africa. He explained the decision at length in interviews and his own work.
Where should I start with George the Poet?
Start with the opening chapters of Have You Heard George's Podcast?, which won a Peabody Award and multiple podcast of the year honours.
By the Writory editorial team, reviewed by working poets. Updated July 2026.
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