Corona in the City

Imane and Tur-G are real role models for young people but they also have their own role models who are there to help and support them. For Imane that’s her mum Melissa, and for Tur-G it’s his brother Meo.

Tur-G: ‘Meo is my brother and he introduced me to the scene.’

Tur-G was first introduced to hip hop op at the age of four when he walked into his brother Meo’s bedroom who was making music with his friends.

Tur-G learned a lot from his brother during those early days. The seed was planted from a very young age.

His first video clip Miljonair had 1 million views when he was just 8 years old. In those days, 1 million views on YouTube was still an unachievable milestone for a lot of people but Tur-G managed to do it.

He was awarded his first gold record when he was 15 years old with more than 6 million streams representing sales of 40,000. He achieved this with his track Beyoncé.

Eventually his brother Meo took over the management of Tur-G and together they established the music label JET music. JET is short for Young and Talented (in Dutch).

Besides being his manager, Meo is also Tur-G’s big brother and confidant. Since their crew is professional as well as informal and brotherly, it is inevitable that they sometimes clash, although any argument never lasts long.

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Imane also has a good relationship with her mother with whom she can talk about anything. Imane and her mother regularly talk about society, corona and their local area. They exchange ideas about topics such as: ‘What is meant by vulnerable young people? We come across this term all the time but what exactly does the word vulnerable mean? At first we would talk about young people who did not have equality of opportunity and how this was only getting worse with the pandemic. Around Christmas we would often talk about young people who were at risk of becoming caught up in unrest and since January we’ve been having interesting discussions about young people who are (or have become) mentally vulnerable during this pandemic,’ says Melissa, Imane’s mother.

The conversations with her mother about mental vulnerability were prompted by the death of Pepijn Remmers. Pepijn was at the same school as Imane and his death started a wider discussion in the community about the mental health of young people as a result of corona.

Imane’s mother is a real support to her as well as her coach, conversational partner and someone who inspires her. Her mother is extremely modest: ‘I am just her driver’, she jokes. ‘My mother calls herself my driver, but I call her my life coach’, responds Imane.

by Anouar Ennali