Meet Naveed: Sheffield’s answer to Jay-Z

If you’ve been anywhere on campus this week, you’ll have probably been rapped to by Law second year Naveed Hanif.

We met the man behind the outrageous wardrobe, meaningful lyrics and overwhelming charisma.

Gazing onto Glossop Road from the balcony of The View cafe, Naveed has taken five minutes out from his promotional schedule today to ponder what brought him here: “Rap music found me, I always thought it was bullshit when you heard that, but then it happened to me.

“And now? Girls want to be with me, and guys want to be me.”

‘Rap music found me’

Despite the clichés of rap, Naveed is on a more deep rooted mission with his current performances around Sheffield: “In America there’s hiphop that reaches out to the ghetto, but I wanted to make lyrics not about drugs and killing people.

“I wanted to make it for people who are 40-50 who can relate to it and like it.”

Some of Naveed’s latest feedback on Yik Yak

His debut “Gunna Make It” has acquired Naveed a very prominent fan base around campus: “The craziest thing happened in the Nursery Tavern, I performed my rap and a woman asked me to sign her breasts, I felt like a rockstar,” Naveed said.

This was followed by a standing ovation in a law lecture on Monday afternoon. Sammy Edris, also a second year, was brought to his feet at the performance: “At first I thought the rap was going to be a joke, but now I’ve heard it so much I cant help but sing along.

“I even respect his fashion with those sleeveless denim coats, pearl necklaces and his velvet jumper in his video.”

Naveed regularly gives his autograph to fans

Like all big names, Naveed has his haters. One girl in the lecture heckled “I didn’t pay 9 grand for this”, to which Naveed confidently replied “I’ll pay you it back some day”. As he so profoundly rapped, “others get jealous, I just tell them to disappear politely”.

Yet, Naveed is clear he wants his raps to not be frowned upon by the “haters” but rather embraced, as he believes they stem from his enthusiasm for motivational speeches: “Don’t care what people think, people will doubt you but they’re not the ones who make it for you, it’s yourself.

“My main dream is to be a motivational speaker, rap is just a hobby. Everything I do in life I always make sure it’s at it’s best, never half heartedly. Otherwise I won’t do it if thats the case”

Not only is he a modern day wordsmith and all round style icon, but Naveed has something a little more special when it comes to his fans: “I’ve got this psychic thing, I can tell how they’re going to react after my rap, you see them start smiling and slowly clapping.

“You can see the emotion in peoples faces. At least 50 people told me that they thought my rap would be shit and that’s what I could sense, yet afterwards they were so shocked it was good.”

So what’s next for the rising star? “I’ve been asked by some girls to do a rap on relationships, more of a story thats a rap about the process of meeting her and how she feels about it.

“I also might run for Britains Got Talent.”