Ibby: The rapper who gave up fame for faith

Ibby was previously one of BBC Asian Network's future sound voices

Ibrahim Mohsen was tipped as the next big thing on the British Asian rap scene.

The 22-year-old, better known by his stage name Ibby, was working in grime music for over five years and gained a huge fan base.

With hundreds of thousands of hits online, Ibby had previously been one of BBC Asian Network's future sounds artists.

But, recently, he decided to give it all up.

Ibby says it was because he wanted to take his Islamic faith seriously, and so he could practice that the way he felt he needed to.

"There was a point I was earning £4,000 a month but I quickly realised that the money I was earning had no blessings," he tells BBC Asian Network.

"I couldn't feed myself with that money, I couldn't even give any of that to my mum.

"While I was trying to practice and make music at the same time, I realised that music cannot be in the same heart as the deen [faith].

"Music was diverting my ability to practice and be focused, for me it's the corruption of the soul."

For Ibby, it hasn't been entirely easy distancing himself from his music

Ibby says it's not just the making of the music that made him feel uneasy, but also the lifestyle that came with it.

"To really make it in this industry, you need to talk about what people want to hear. In this day and age that's just filth," he says.

"I tried to implement good in my rap but I was naïve."

Ibby, who is British Pakistani, says it's not been easy changing his ways, and distancing himself from his music has raised its own challenges.

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Ibby's currently working on developing his career in Nasheeds, a popular form of Islamic inspired poetry and songs.

He says that he wants to use the skills he's been given lyrically to make music that's halal.

"The next thing is to take the knowledge from the music industry and bring it to this new thing. I want to be known as the guy for that scene - the G.O.A.T of the game of Nasheeds."

Ibby also says he's trying to stop others from being distracted by the lifestyle that surrounds music.

"A young kid came to see me and said you're the reason I quit music, that's the reason a guy like me does this.

"For the youth, for the next generation."

Hear more from Ibby on Ankur Desai's show on BBC Sounds

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