Big Zuu: Rediscovering Faith as a Grime Artist | GREAT MOMENTS

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1:55Hello everyone, I'm Jamie Lang and this is Great Moments.

2:02Hey guys, hope you're well. I'm very excited for today's great moment with this absolute legend, Big Zhu. He's a TV presenter who first burst onto our screens in 2019 with Big Zhu's Big Eats and he's been serving up big energy ever since. Now, he was a joy to have on the show and I think you're really going to enjoy this great moment with him. so if you like this episode remember to go and click on the show notes and you can click on the full episode and there are so many more interviews that you probably haven't listened to yet so go and check it out okay here it is our great moments with Big Zoo

2:38To everyone your name is Big Zoo?

2:40Big Zuu: Yes Big Zoo But what's your Christian name? My real name What's your real name? So my real name is Zahair yeah Zahair but my teachers could pronounce it so they call me Zoo Hare so they call me Zoo Hare I was like you know what just call me Zoo Really? Yeah But my real name is Zaheer Hassan Zaheer Hassan But I'm named after my dad Are you? I'm a junior Zaheer Hassan Junior Mm-hmm So we're hanging And this is Because your story By the way I was just like I was checking out everything It's insane man Because your mum Left Well forgive me I got this from Sierra Leone Yes When she was four months Pregnant with you Yes Fleeed to the UK Mm-hmm Um and brought you up in the UK with no money, not be able to speak English, not be able to write, read anything, but then was this an unbelievable, powerful, strong mom.

3:33Big Zuu: Yeah. That is wild. It's mad still. She loves it. She loves it. She loves her story. Um, I feel like my mom, my mom was just a powerful woman and she comes from a very, very like mad upbringing. My mom's one of 14, like crazy family that just comes like Sierra Leone before the war was a beautiful place and you know the people the people are amazing people but the war definitely hurt them in a lot of ways so my mum having to leave her family and come it was tough but you know now she kind of appreciates everything that came from that so if the war never happened I'd never be here because your dad your dad's Lebanese right yes so are you you must be proud of your heritage yeah 100 % what's weird is that my dad's Lebanese but he was born in Sierra Leone and his parents were born in Sierra Leone so my dad really is just Sierra Leonean he just has Lebanese heritage so obviously we know about we know our family back home and we know our family in Lebanon but really my entire identity is Sierra Leone I just happen to be mixed race but like it's mad have you been back?

4:39Big Zuu: I go back every year every December I go to Sierra Leone really? and they love it when I touch down they're so excited because they know Bills are paid Fun is happening Let's go Rice Everyone gets rice What's rice? As in like rice? Just bare rice Yeah just rice Just straight up rice Rice is expensive bro Rice is expensive Back home in Africa Rice is expensive I thought rice was cheap Nah bro I mean you have cheap rice So in Africa A lot of the times People eat broken rice Okay Which is the rice That doesn't get sent out Like it's the Like It's like the rice That doesn't go Like make it Yeah So just bad broken rice like one will be long one will be short one will be like it's a bit weird they don't really eat good rice so when I touch down they know basmati is coming bare basmati bare fruit anything you want do you know what I'm smart about back home when I go back home a lot of it's about like provisionals whereas here we eat what we want we have what we want we can order takeaway today like anything we want we can taste the world back home it's a bit different like buying a lot of onions and a lot of tomatoes and hella chickens and a lot of rice for your family that's some real shit yeah but also when you have that juxtaposition right when you see like the two different sides it makes you appreciate also oh yeah that's that's why i always go back home i went my first time i was eight and it changed my life i was a little boy but it changed my life i was playing i was playing a game boy in my granddad's car and the whole road was standing outside the car watching me play this game boy just watching me play it i was like do you not want to play oh no we don't and play so why did i know you play and they just watched me play mario because they'd never seen a gameboy before i feel like not to that level of gameboy maybe they've seen like one in their life but not like a gameboy sp color with like yeah with the fresh mark like they was mad it was watching me through the window like this is mad like and i'll never forget that moment i was like raw like i thought my life was shit in england you know because my mom didn't really have a lot of money and we grew up single-payer background but then when i went to africa i realized ah you know what i'm all right yeah bro that's insane that's a real eye-opener yeah yeah one million percent i feel like anyone who comes from like a third world country can tell you like when you go back home you makes you realize that like i remember just like first time i had a shower like in cielo and like there's no hot water i'm like what's going on and then the electricity cuts out there's no electricity so you go put a generator you're like oh so i can't charge my phone there's all these little little things it makes you appreciate that and every time i go back it's a reset so i go every year to one see my family to to take a break but free to like reset my mentality like you go back there there's no uber there's no uber eats there's no delivery there's no everything is just like random like you have no control it's like life just is life and you get on with it and they all get on with it and see that's a good message man like someone's listening right now right who's like a big fan of yours who kind of is because i think we're all like especially in this like western like society that i think it's like everything is so easy yeah yeah instant instant instant instant the whole time if you want food you can get it if you want to get drunk you can get it if you want to order something you can get it and actually that then makes us complacent and like not appreciate things so that's a really great way as a message to to like younger kids it's like actually no you need to go and experience something like that and see actually what real life is like makes you realize how lucky we are yeah especially especially i think energy is the most important thing that you realize in terms of cologne is like electricity is not a it's not a god-given right like to have electricity cologne has a really bad problem with electricity.

8:30Big Zuu: Sometimes you might be lucky, you might get it for three hours a day, you might get it for six hours a day. There was a blackout for two months. There was a blackout in Spain for like one day, the world went mental. Like in Ceylon, that's continuous. Two months, my dad had no electricity. My dad's telling me, yo, bruv, like, what do you do? That means no fridge. That means a lot of things, like bare things that we're just so used to having, that means they don't work. So like, I'll be at like my granny's and like you'd be like watching a film and it cuts you're like fuck's sake bruv like you know what I'm saying and then it's like and then the generator has no fuel so then you gotta go get fuel for your generator and then then you gotta run it and there's so many little little things but then you realise like life can be worse sometimes the generator cuts and the electricity cuts and all you can do is sit in because it's so hot you just gotta sit in a balcony and just talk do you know what I mean do you know what I mean I tell you what you don't realise how many hours are in a day until everything's taken away trust me 24 hours is a long time yeah and I think and the thing is obviously don't get me wrong Ceylon is filled with beauty and amazing things and there's a lot of wealth there there's a lot of people who have continuous electricity have continuous generator but I don't come from a background like that like my family are are doing alright but a lot of them don't have a lot of money so sometimes When the electricity comes, light don't come, is what they say.

9:56Big Zuu: They light don't come. And then the light's here and then you know you enjoy it. And then when it goes, just carry on with your day, bruv. I like that. Whereas if it was in England, you would be calling Scottish Power going absolutely mental. Scottish Power? Yeah. Or one of them. I don't know who else is there. There's Scottish Power, the octopus or something. You'd be calling them, man. Going mental. Excuse me. I've been in my house for two hours. My TV's not working. I can't turn on light I can't use the bathroom I want to ask you one more thing Zoo talk about your faith oh man it's been interesting bro because I wasn't really open about being a Muslim and stuff people knew I was Muslim but I never really spoke about it but then I did this doc called Big Zoo Goes to Mecca and it kind of changed my life like I'm not the most religious person in the world I don't practice Islam every day I am But I'm very, like, I am pious.

10:51Big Zuu: I believe in God a lot. And I don't know, man. It's been tough because I feel like I represent Muslims in the media. My name's Zaheer. I have a beard. It's clear, isn't it? I'm one of them. I'm one of you. But I also come from music, which is also considered haram. Music is not allowed in certain aspects. Explain that to someone who's naive. So in, to people, Haram means not allowed, basically, essentially. Yeah. It was forbidden. So music is considered to be Haram. Why? Because? Because there's so many teachings and things about it. Yeah. I can't get into it too tough because I'll probably get like, I'll probably get someone just giving me a lecture, which I don't need right now.

11:39Big Zuu: No, I get that. But no, but it's fine. I'm not, I'm not, I'm not worried. What I will say is there's passages in the Quran that say anything that takes you away from Islam is haram, essentially. So things that distract you. But then there's also things in music that obviously promote negativity. That's also the haramness in it. So there are forms of music that are halal, which are allowed. So basically anything that distracts you away from the Quran is haram. Yes, essentially, yeah. So it's quite a fundamental way you have to lead a life. Yeah. Because some people can, because the Quran is about interpretation.

12:17Big Zuu: Sure. So the words of Allah, which is the Quran, is what we live our life as Muslims. But then you have like, you have like hadiths, which are like stories that come from those times after. And those are interpretation as well. So someone can interpret that thing and say, well, you can't watch TV then. Because that's distracting you from the words of Allah. that's from your faith. Do you sometimes get conflicted then where you, now that you've done this show and you went to Mecca, which is amazing, and you sort of opened yourself up more and understood the faith more, do you then sometimes get conflicting of how you're meant to be?

12:52Big Zuu: I think not, because I'm always like, one thing I definitely know is that I can't change how I am. Like I can, I can like grow and become, become better, but like I am who I am. Like when I get home, like sometimes you have all these thoughts about what you want to do. And then you wake up and you just go straight back to what you're going to do. Like, no, I'm not going to eat that food ever again. I'm going to stop smoking. I'm going to stop drinking. I'm going to do this. And then you wake up tomorrow, you just have a cigarette and have a glass of wine. So, you know, sometimes you really want to change, but you are who you are.

13:19Big Zuu: And I feel like with me and Islam is that I've gone on this journey to try and become a better Muslim. But I fundamentally, and I come from, I'm a grime MC. Like I spit bars. I grew up smoking weed and drinking alcohol and talking to women, all things that are very haram. but I own those things and one thing about Islam is that it's about repenting and how God is merciful and how it's about how we're humans, we have our flaws, all monotheism is around that same thing that all God wants is worship and our praise for making us and in that he knows what we are, he gave us these things that make us bad like they just come from the like from the ground like from the sky like everything everything we have on this earth if you if you believe in god it comes from god so what humans have free will to decide what they want to do so it's kind of like we we're always going to make mistakes we're not we are flawed but as long as your intention is pure and you want to change you want to be a good person i feel like i feel like god will look past that so then if god will look past that then you can't really care what people think about you do you know i i grew up at my school you had to be had to go to church pretty much every night um i had church on sundays and because of that i'd like kind of like went away from it yeah but but now i think i think some sort of faith is really important yeah definitely and what i do now is like every evening and morning i pray don't know who i'm praying to because i don't know what i quite believe in yet but i pray for thanks and I'm grateful.

15:01And that has definitely changed my life. Oh man. 100%. It makes you more grateful. It makes you more thankful. It makes you sort of help with understanding about like everything perhaps happens for a reason, whatever it is. Yeah. It was kind of changing my life a little bit.

15:15Big Zuu: I mean, faith is beautiful, bro. And I feel like some people, some people overuse it and they, and they, there's a difference between like religion and culture. and that's the main thing people have to realise is that what's in the book and what is taught that's different to what you grew up with so if culturally you have these ideologies that I don't have doesn't mean that I'm a bad person because I don't follow what you think is right in your faith because that's what you grew up with I always say this like there's one thing I always say yeah there are different types of Muslims there are different types of Christians there are different types of Jewish people there's different types of Buddhist people there's different types of every religion but if God made us all then they didn't have a choice I didn't have a choice if I was born here and I have this ideology because I'm from this place this is what we think so I can't judge you for having those thoughts in terms of like I can't you're not you're not a lesser of a human being because you think this or you think that same way I might follow my faith in this in one specific way you're not better than me because you follow it in that way because you was born there that's how you was raised so someone's born in a random village and there's no religion does that mean they're going to hell because they don't they don't praise god no because they're born in that random village they don't know about god there like so you can't you can't i'm just very open about the fact that i i believe everyone has a right to believe whatever they want to believe in and if you were raised in a certain type of way that's how you are if you're an evil person and you believe in fucking mad shit, then obviously I'm allowed to judge you and say, yo, bro, you're a bit fucked up.

16:54Big Zuu: But if you understand the roots of people's thoughts, it always comes from what they're raised around. And if I was raised in a certain way, you have to respect that. Same if you're raised in a certain way. Same way you're, you know, you're saying you were told to go to church all the time and you kind of strayed from it. But now you've gone back to being faithful in a specific way. Don't know what we've been faithful to, but you know that you're showing love and you know that you're praying towards goodness. Someone that's super religious might turn around and say, nope, that don't care, I don't care, you're wrong.

17:21Big Zuu: You need to pray this way. You should pray in this direction. Shut up, bro.

17:45Business is booming, but you know what really helped? Zero. the accounting platform for small businesses. I used to think unpaid bills were just part of it. Ugh. But batch payments? Wow. Automated accounts payable? Even better. All in one place? That's a big one. And I can keep track from my phone while I get the job done. No bills in sight. What a life. Do right by yourself and your business and search XERO for your free trial. Conditions apply. Security program on spreadsheets, new regulations piling up, and audit dread? It's time for Vanta. Vanta automates security and compliance, brings evidence into one place, and cuts audit prep by 82%.

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