When I was in south Sudan, people used to rap in my village. But the rapping was more in the mother tongue, Nuer.

Young people are so brave when they go to fight.

A cold heart is my protection mechanism. I don’t really feel anything for anyone.

The wealthiest Sudanese don’t know what war is. Their children are safe in school.

The only foreign policy advice I heard from China was when they said to Sudan, ‘Don’t go back to war.’ That’s all they said. They didn’t push anything else.

I had thought about forgiveness more and more…I knew it wasn’t a light that could be switched on in an instant-it grew day by day, week by week, month by month-but something was changing inside...

As a child, I didn’t know what they mean by ‘to die.’ So I grew up in a place where people used to die all the time, but a child is not allowed to see...

A lot of child soldiers lose their minds.

What music does to me, it helps me balance my inner pressure so that I can deal with the forces outside that are trying to pressure me.

War destroys people’s souls. Most people focus on physical injuries, but the invisible injuries can take a lifetime to heal and affects the lives of generations to come.

I’m still a soldier, fighting with my pen and paper for peace till the day I cease.

In times of war, starvation, hunger and injustice, such tragedy can only be put aside if you allow yourself to be uplifted through music, film and dance.

Rap music is amazing, it’s beautiful. But the problem is the lyrics. The person who writes the lyrics – that’s the problem.

When you see a Sudanese walking on the street, there is a story.

There’s no pride in having been a child soldier.

Sometimes words are not needed, and the simplicity of expressing yourself through an art form is one of the best ways of communication.

When I first went to school, I was fighting all the time. The soldier mentality was still in me. I kept getting expelled. I found it hard to take instructions from anyone who wasn’t a...

I don’t know anywhere where the people are hungrier for education than South Sudan.

I would advise dancers, musicians and others in the entertainment industry to take up yoga, as it clears the mind and creates a sense of balance and stillness which is important for any performing artist.

In Africa, you know, if you’re poor, at least you can go to the forest and share some mangoes with the gorillas and monkey.

I am proof that one person can rise above any challenge, and if I can, then so will others if they are given the chance.

I was shocked when I came to New Orleans. I never knew there were beggars on the streets here. I didn’t know that there were poor people. I thought this was Heaven, you know?

I lost my childhood. I didn’t play football or video games. Or have birthdays or the love of a family.

Education is the only solution for peace.

I still have nightmares of dead comrades, a long time ago, talking to me. ‘Emmanuel, don’t forget about us, don’t give up, keep telling our story.’

For many Sudanese, it’s for strength they choose to be Christian rather than Muslim. My mum was a Muslim but she became a Christian later.

Knife crime and gun crime is poverty-driven, and poverty leads to insecurity.

If I sleep for more than half an hour, I get horrible dreams in which I’m firing a gun and helicopters are coming down.

When I listen to hip-hop, it’s like no big difference how people sing in my village, ’cause bling would be their cow.

I grew up in poverty. For 25 years I was fed on aid.

We lack role models who can inspire our young people to make change.

If you really kill, you don’t want to talk about it.

Only a coward will use a gun to protect and get respect for themselves.

I’m rapping in English but in an African way. I’m not trying to sound like an American.

Any child soldier has to go through a lot of love, care and understanding to become normal.

The first time I experienced war, I thought the world was ending.

When people know you’ve been a soldier, they judge you: you are a thief, a lost boy.

In Africa, music is for everything, Music was originally used for community. That was what music was for.

I’m constantly seen as a ‘foreigner,’ and I need my passport to prove my identity, to keep moving and to carry on my work.

Violence in Darfur is cataclysmic.

When you don’t educate the people, you’re crippling them. You are, you’re not giving them ways to survive.

Music – it’s the only thing that can enter your system, your mind, your heart, without your permission.

I’m kind of weird – I don’t get excited. Sometimes I fake that I’m excited just to make people happy.

What I always wanted to do when I was a kid was to speak out and help people which I continue to do afterwards.

I don’t take modern hip-hop as real. It’s entertaining, it’s fake, like James Bond.

Music moves my emotions because music loosens me up.