Microphone of peace tours schools and youth clubs

Xidus Pain was presented with the microphone while in the United States in September

A rap artist and MC has said he feels "very blessed" to be taking a microphone crafted from melted down firearms on a UK tour.

The Microphone For Peace has been touring schools and youth centres in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough as part a worldwide journey.

Xidus Pain, director of Beat This CIC (community interest company) in Peterborough, was handed the mic while in New York in September.

He said it was intended to bring "people together through something that was formerly negative, to turn that into a positive".

The project aims to transform tools of violence, into tools of voice, dialogue, and truth

The microphone was designed by The Workshop School in Philadelphia and was made by Humanium Metal in Sweden.

Pain is the director of Beat This CIC, a social enterprise which uses music and technology to help people of all ages and abilities to develop skills and express themselves through music.

"I felt very blessed to have [this] opportunity because there's thousands of musicians within the UK and I was entrusted to have the microphone," he said.

He said the tour had received "a great reception" when he visited schools in rural Cambridgeshire to educate students on "the true aspect of hip-hop" as part of Black History Month in October.

"It's just giving people the opportunity to understand more about hip-hop which is self-expression," he said.

He referenced other hip-hop and rap artists from the East of England, including Dirty Dike and JayaHadADream.

Romsey Mill music mentor KD said it was an honour to host the Microphone of Peace

The microphone was brought to Romsey Mill in Cambridge, which has a recording studio.

The charity supports disadvantaged and vulnerable young people in and around Cambridge, as well as in Northstowe and Hampton in Peterborough

Music mentor Karl Lewis - known as KD - said it was "massive for the young people to hear the story behind the mic [and] how it was built [and] what it was built with".

He added: "[It's] a massive, massive symbol for these young people that might be involved in street stuff to turn to music, use your talent - you don't need to be outside doing these silly things - so it's a massive massive honour to have such a piece of art here."

After the microphone completes its worldwide tour, it will return to the United States to go on display at the Hip Hop Museum in New York, due to open next year.