Rapping gran Joy Philippou AKA Joy P from Dartford, Kent. See National story NNRAPPER; A little old lady is hoping to take the world by storm thanks to her performances - as the world's oldest RAPPER. Nonagenarian rapper Joy P is hoping to make it into the Guinness Book of Records as the world's oldest rapper. The pensioner, who has appeared on the X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent, is being considered for the title after entertaining hundreds in her hometown of Dartford, Kent. Joy Philippou, a half-Spanish-half-Russian doctor of philosophy, moved to the town five years ago and uses rap as a way of engaging those at risk of becoming embroiled in crime.
A little old lady is hoping to take the world by storm thanks to her performances – as the world’s oldest RAPPER.
Nonagenarian rapper Joy P is hoping to make it into the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s oldest rapper.
The pensioner, who has appeared on the X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent, is being considered for the title after entertaining hundreds in her hometown of Dartford, Kent.
Joy Philippou, a half-Spanish-half-Russian doctor of philosophy, moved to the town five years ago and uses rap as a way of engaging those at risk of becoming embroiled in crime.
Joy said: “Rap is actually poetry but it’s aimed at a certain section of the community, mostly youngsters between 18 and 25.
“It’s the language of the young today.
“If you have something you want to communicate and share with them, if you say it in normal language – especially if you’re an older person – they don’t want to hear.
“But if you say it in rap they prick their ears up and become interested, so I started putting my ideas into rap so that I could communicate with them.”
Her rapping career was inspired by her time as a religion teacher at schools in Sussex back in the 1970s, where she found it difficult to engage with a class of “hoodlums”.
Even the head teacher struggled with this class of troublemakers, but Joy then realised that music and rhythm was the way to go and found plenty of success.
She said: “They didn’t want to hear me when I preached to them, but when I started doing this spiritual rap they said they would listen.
“Not everyone wanted spiritual rap, so I then started doing rapping about topical things like pollution, crime, or whatever.
“Later I was asked to go to other schools to rap during assemblies and I was finding that it was a way of communicating with younger people.”
She added: “Some of these people are not as privileged as others and their life seems to take a direction that is undesirable to society and not beneficial to themselves.
“The point is showing that there is another way and they can live a fuller life.”
