Hip hop star Akala spreads the word for charity

Hip hop artist Akala has pledged 10 per cent of the profits from his new album to The Reading Agency.

After mentoring a teenage writer for the charity, the star with a passion for literature decided it should be the beneficiary for funds from his latest CD — DoubleThink.

He is releasing the new work through Pledge Music — a scheme where fans sign up to order an album which is released when the target pledge is reached. A share of the profits will go to a designated charity.

Akala, 26, the younger brother of Ms Dynamite, said: "Like much of what I do, DoubleThink was inspired by something I have read, in this case George Orwell's 1984. I thought that The Reading Agency would be a great fit for this pledge campaign because their work is aimed at really spreading the gift of reading as far and wide as possible."

The Mobo award-winner from north London was the founder of The Hip Hop Shakespeare Company which works with "hard to reach" young people.

Miranda McKearney, director of The Reading Agency, said: "He, like The Reading Agency, is committed to finding new ways to inspire young people to love reading." pledgemusic.com/artists/akala