A rapper from Thornton Heath is using his lyrics to steer kids away from the knife crime epidemic which has recently plagued the area.

Proph, otherwise known as Bhishma Asare, has seen his friends fall victim to knife crime throughout the years.

He has seen the community he loves become "desensitised" to the issue.

Now he has released an EP in an effort to push kids in the right direction.

"You look at the music nowadays and it isn’t promoting anything but violence and crime," Proph said.

"When you look at knife crime it is on the rise, but I wanted to give a real insight into the area."

He says the music he has written is a walk through Thornton Heath, highlighting what's good about the area, instead of what's bad.

"The first song is all the sounds I’ve heard since I’ve been living here," Proph said.

"The whole issue of knife crime has been desensitised and it shouldn’t be normalised and that needs to stop

"The message that I'm putting out there - that everyone should be putting out there - is that if you put your mind to something you can beat any obstacles put in front of you.

"Everyone has the chance to progress and achieve, but not if we keep letting ourselves think that this kind of violence is normal."

The EP - Invisible Guidelines - is the rapper's first piece of work in nearly four years and he hopes it can make a difference to at lest one person's life going forward.

"I'm looking for something," Proph said.

"I'm looking for the solution to the problem."

Click here to listen to the EP