1Xtra S2021E05 - Welcome to Hackney with Ivorian Doll

We're all influenced by our surroundings but, for musicians and artists, the environment they're raised in can have a huge effect on the work they make in later life – whether they realise it or not!

In this new documentary looking at just how the places artists are raised influence their work, rising UK rapper Ivorian Doll introduces us to the London Borough of Hackney, the place that made her the artist she is, and where she discovered her talent for music.

Revisiting key parts of her childhood including her old school, Ivorian Doll (whose name is derived from her family's roots in Ivory Coast plus an early obsession with Barbie Dolls) takes us on a tour of the streets and estates she remembers from her youth. She also catches up with her good friend – and another British female rapper raised in Hackney – Paigey Cakey. They discover the effect Hackney Empire had on their younger years, and how this venue with its roots in the Victorian Music Hall of the old East End, helped set them up for their own careers in the entertainment industry.