Legendary US rapper Busta Rhymes says he first saw interracial relationships while visiting Preston, Morecambe and Blackpool as a child
and live on Freeview channel 276
Rhymes, whose real name is Trevor George Smith Jr, is known for teaming up with Maria Carey on I Know What You Want, and rapping on Don’t Cha by the Pussycat Dolls.
The 51-year-old grew up in New York, but as a child, his mum would send him and his younger brother to see family members living abroad “so we wouldn’t in the hood finding mischief in Brooklyn.”
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In the early 80s he spent two summers living with his aunt in Morecambe and attended Skerton Community High School while he was staying in the area, as well as a local karate group.
Last week Busta spoke to BBC 1Extra’s breakfast show about that time in his life.
Presenter Nadia Jae said: “Can we claim you, Busta? You’ve schooled here, you’ve schooled in the UK!”
Busta said: “Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that’s a fact.
"I learned how to smoke cigarettes here, I learned about interracial relationships here.
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Hide Ad"Yeah, I’d never seen a white and a black person go together until I came here...When I was 11 years old, that’s the first time I saw that in my life.”
Nadia said: “In Lancashire? That’s crazy.”
He added: “Yo, it was a culture shock for me, in an incredible way”.
The revelation has been met with pride by Lancastrians on social media, and others commented that he pronounces place names with a Lancashire accent.