Top rap artist Testament tells Katherine MacAlister about his show, inspired by the work of 19th century artist and poet William Blake, which he is bringing to Oxford tomorrow night

Testament is an MC/rapper and a Guinness World Record-holding human beatboxer.

The 36 year-old has been beatboxing since he was 11 and rapping since 14.

In 2007 he went on to win the BBC Urban Music Talent Award and has since performed on BBC TV, MTV, BBC Radio 1, Radio 3 and BBC 1txra.

To interview him I therefore have to interrupt the hip-hop clinic he’s hosting to discuss his latest project – his remixing of the work of William Blake, the 19th century’s visionary poet and artist.

To Testament it’s a very straightforward collaboration and one he is performing at Blackwell’s tomorrow, to tie-in with the Inspired by Blake Festival currently running in Oxford.

But to an onlooker, hiphop and classic poetry might not seem obvious brothers.

“I got into Blake and hip-hop at the same time,” Testament explains, “I feel a real connection with Blake because he has so many parallels with British hip-hop, and is a real influence in the hip-hop scene. For the last four years I’ve been working on album Blake Remixed because he’s such an inspiration on my music.”

Developed into a show as well as an album, Testament aka Andy Brooks, will be bringing excerpts from both to perform tomorrow night. His set includes scratching, soundscaping, 3D projections, and a graffiti backdrop.

It’s not a conventional theatre piece but it’s being doing very well so far in theatres around the country and I find it very exciting,” he says.

So what’s the attraction? Well William Blake was a working class lad like me,” Testament points out, “so if he was alive today he’d be well into his hip-hop and punk.

“But it was the issues he cared about – justice, spirituality, dogma.... he didn’t look at the world through materialistic eyes. He was an empiricist and an urban city dwelling poet, like me, and stood up against key things like racism, so I’ve been wanting to do this project for years.

“But my real dream is to show that hip-hop can be a fine art form and has a really broad remit – some songs are poignant and sad while others are fun, from songs about abuse to party anthems. Lots of them also include some really beautiful poetry. I just want to expose that.”

More used to performing in clubs than bookshops, Blackwell’s will be an unusual venue. Does that bother him? “Well it will make a change from performing in rowdy nightclubs and at stand-up poetry nights but I’m used to performing in front of large audiences so I just hope everyone who comes connects with the work.

“Most people know Blake’s poems Jerusalem and Tyger Tyger, but there are always new ways of interpreting his work through different art forms.

“I just want to share his work so I hope the audience is a really good mix of people.”

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