Not only is he an Emmy-winning actor, but Riz Ahmed, 37, is also a highly regarded rapper. His first single — the satirical “Post 9/11 Blues” (under his Riz MC moniker) — was released in 2006, the same year he made his on-screen debut in Michael Winterbottom’s The Road to Guantánamo. Since then, the London-born artist has written a succession of raucous, rebellious records — solo (Microscope, his first studio album) and as one half of hip-hop duo Swet Shop Boys (Cashmere). He’s also appeared in equally subversive films, such as Chris Morris’s Four Lions and Mira Nair’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist.

© Photography Sharif Hamza

In 2016, things went stratospheric for Ahmed. A role in Jason Bourne was followed by a lead role in Rogue One, part of the billion-dollar Star Wars franchise. In 2017, he beat Robert De Niro (and became the first Asian and Muslim man) to win the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor for his role in The Night Of. He also squeezed in an appearance in Lena Dunham’s genre-defining Girls and in 2018 co-starred alongside Tom Hardy in Venom.

For his first musical release in four years, Ahmed has penned a powerful, potent break-up letter to Great Britain. Interjected with hip-hop, classic Indian literature, Pakistani superheroes and qawwali samples, the record also features spoken-word interludes from Oscar winner Mahershala Ali, writer and comedian Mindy Kaling, actor and activist Yara Shahidi and comedian and actor Asim Chaudhry. The Long Goodbye is a brilliantly executed, percipient concept, which manages to be hugely emotional, provocatively political and incredibly listenable.



Here, he discusses his latest album, its accompanying short film and his new movie, Mogul Mowgli.



This is your first music release since Englistan. What led you to make this record now?

“I started to get the itch last summer. I thought, ‘I’ve got to do this, I’ve got to say this. I want to make an album that’s my break-up love letter [to England].’ I’m going specific with my experience in Britain, but it’s true if you’re Muslim in India, Uyghur in China… It’s true if you’re Mexican in Queens, waiting for ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] to knock down your door. This is how it feels [for immigrants] everywhere.

“I only make music when I’ve got something to get off my chest, when something that needs to be said isn’t being said. So I wrote and recorded the album very quickly. It was on the tip of my tongue.”



The album explores the emotions of any break-up: disbelief, hurt, anger, fear. What did you want it to express about your feelings towards England?

“I wanted to talk about how it feels to be here [in England]. It feels heartbreaking, man. It feels enraging. It feels like it’s not real. When you’re in a relationship, sometimes you’re looking for someone else to validate you. And when you’re rejected, you internalise the idea that you aren’t worth anything. I’m feeling rejected by Britain, but I am fucking British. I am Britain. So evaporating that illusion of duality is really empowering.”



You’ve just co-written, co-produced and are starring in a film called Mogul Mowgli...

“It’s drawn from things in my and director Bassam Tariq’s life. We didn’t make it for anyone except us. The story is about a rapper who’s about to get his first big break. [He] gets struck down by an illness where he’s forced to confront himself as he is — without access to ambition, success and validation. Are you enough as you are? The film gets to this idea that I’m part of something bigger than just me.”

Riz Ahmed starring in Mogul Mowgli © Photography Pulse Films/BBC Films

So the film perfectly accompanies the album…

“There are people making albums about [shopping, smoking and cars] and that’s all good. But any story about who I am and what I experience in the world that doesn’t engage with [what’s happening] this year — it’s kind of dishonest. It’s my job as an artist to hold up that mirror.”

Where does the accompanying short film you made with Aneil Karia fit in?

“I wanted to frame the spoken word piece Where You From, with the urgency it deserves and to be clear that these are life-or-death stakes. I had a lot of people texting me after Brexit like, ‘Bro, we gotta pack our bags.’ It was the same after the [2016] elections [in the US]. Like, if you don’t leave now, will your grandkids curse you for not having left when you had the chance? It’s very political, but it’s personal. I don’t need to define myself in resistance to trauma and oppression. Yes, trauma is part of my ancestry, resisting is part of my DNA, but I have to believe I’m something more than that.”

You made a powerful speech to the House of Commons in 2017 about diversity in the film and television industry. How do you think things have changed for the British-Asian community since?

“We’re in a scary place politically. It transcends being British-Asian, because we all share the struggle of having enough space to be our full selves without fearing persecution. Things are getting more fucked up and things are getting better.

“We have Mayor [of London] Sadiq Khan, and I’m here chatting to you, and Dev [Patel]’s on the David Copperfield poster, and we have Asian women in parliament. It’s a confusing picture. Yes, there is oppression, there is struggle, but I don’t want to define myself by that. On one hand, The Long Goodbye is a political album, but what [it’s really] saying is that I am more than the conversation about representation.”

How did Star Wars change things for you?

“Star Wars fans know who I am now! I guess being asked to come into the spotlight tackled some of the imposter syndrome I carry. The more successful creatives I speak to, the more I realise that imposter syndrome is quite present, particularly for women and people of colour. You can feel really disconnected from who you are at your core. I grew up between different classes and different cultures. Shapeshifting is how I earn my living, so I don’t knock it. But it comes at a price where you’re not really sure who you are.

“Since [Star Wars], my work has been drawn from a very personal place. People, like me, survived through being able to craft and wear masks. We grow when we lose the shame that society has put on us for being who we are and we take the masks off. What I’m trying to do now is create from a personal, unapologetic, unmasked place.”



How do you find yourself outside of all that, outside of work?

“No idea [laughs]. Knitting? I guess just growing up. I admire so many young artists coming through because they seem to have such confidence in who they are. In terms of trying to get to my core self, part of that journey is hopefully the work I’m doing now.”



The Long Goodbye by Riz Ahmed is out on 6 March 2020



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