Music duo cause a stir with hard-hitting song about home town

A catchy but thought-provoking rap song about Blackpool by a local music duo has gone viral – and caused some controversy as well.

The latest release by performers BloodNSoul is called ‘Dumping Ground’ and carries a hard-hitting message about the town.

Its honesty has been praised by many of the people who have heard it, and the song has proved a huge online hit – but some people believe it creates a negative view of the popular resort.

Lyrics include: “This is the dumping ground, where they hide what they can’t show, just a mile from the lights in the back row.

“You see the shine when the tourists come round. But I grew up in the shadow of this dumping ground.”

Blackpool South MP Chris Webb praised writer/performers YoungBlood and IamSoul, who both come from Blackpool, and hailed it as an example of the depth of talent in the town.

But he was keen to stress the town was not a dumping ground and did not want people to see it as such.

With the deprivation problems of the town frequently featuring high in the wrong sort of lists, the contrast with the town’s well-deserved holiday image could not be wider.

Rapper YoungBlood, whose real name is Jamie Hardman, has been performing for years and was highlighted as an emerging talent at a young age.

He and vocalist IamSoul – Blackpool man Dan Whittaker -worked on the lyrics together. The song also includes a video storyline about an escaped prisoner, played by influencer Joey, coming to the town and acting like a typical tourist on Central Pier.

YoungBlood, 33, from central Blackpool, said: “We’ve grown up here and we’ve seen how things really are.

“Sometimes it seems like the tourism part of Blackpool is more important than the people who actually live here.

“People do come to live here with their troubles and we’re already in a situation where it can take a year to get seen if you have mental health problems. Little things can become big things.

 “We’re not trying to create a negative view of the town. We’ve both had our struggles and our ups and downs—but we want to send out a message that people can create something positive from difficult times. Music is our way out.”

The pair auditioned for Britain’s Got Talent with an earlier song, Happy Place, but were turned down because they “didn’t fit the criteria.”

Ironically, the same song then became an online hit.

Now their latest song has proved an even bigger success on the iTunes Rap and HipHop chart.

Chris Webb , MP for Blackpool South says he never likes to see his home town being knocked, especially by outsiders, but spoke highly of the local duo.

He said: “This is a powerful track that describes one aspect of BloodNSoul’s lived experience and it’s important we never dismiss that. If that’s how he felt growing up in Blackpool, then we have to listen to that.

“There are lots of people here who’ve faced real challenges and that shouldn’t be brushed aside.

“But it also shows how powerful narratives about Blackpool are and how they can be internalised. When a place is constantly talked about as a ‘dumping ground’ it inevitably seeps into how people see themselves and where they’re from. That’s something we have to challenge.

He added “What really stands out to me is BloodNSoul’s talent. The fact that someone from Blackpool is creating music like this, telling real stories with this level of honesty and ambition, says a lot about what we have in Blackpool. We’ve got a huge amount of creativity in this town and that’s something we should be proud of. Being recently longlisted for City of Culture is recognition of that.

“Blackpool isn’t a dumping ground, it’s a place full of potential and people like BloodNSoul are proof of that.”