Marginalised urban youth in contemporary Britain struggle to square their own aspirations, society’s expectations and the disadvantages they face in the course of their lives. As a consequence, their lived experiences often consist of competing narratives around entrepreneurialism, education and criminality. At different times, each of these different approaches to life will exert a greater pull; they can be practised simultaneously and jostle for attention. Mediating and articulating these concerns are grassroots music scenes: predominantly grime and rap. All too often, however, these diverse issues are studied in silos even where they fuse together at the level of lived experience and everyday lives. This research brings together experts in all of these fields to better conceptualise the lifeworlds and choices of marginalised youth.

The residential research workshop is an inherently multi-disciplinary project. It will involve presentations from academics who specialise in the intersection of street music forms and variously: entrepreneurialism, criminality and education/youth work. We will identify the most useful and salient contributions their specialisms have generated – synthesise them – and develop an approach to knowing about such issues that is more than the sum of its parts. The programme will further involve contributions from practitioners, ensuring that a policy development agenda that reflects ‘real world’ matters.

The outcomes of the residential workshop will go beyond an evolved and reinvigorated theoretical understanding of marginalised youth and competing opportunities (legitimate and otherwise). Through the development of an empirical research agenda we will advance practical solutions to social problems that have for too long seemed intractable. By grounding solutions in life as actually experienced rather than the assumptions of policy-makers, this research provides the opportunity for game-changing thinking to have a greater impact on practise at street level.