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Rapper Giggs releases song with son after opening up about autism

Yasmin Malik & Riyah Collins
BBC Newsbeat
@vannibassett ML and Giggs sit on a sofa, ML leaning forward in front of his dad. ML wears a dark short sleeved shirt while Giggs wears a long sleeved white jacket with the hood up. They're pictured in front of a dark wall that's been graffitied. @vannibassett
Giggs jumped on the remix of Own Motion, which was written by his son ML

Rapper Giggs and his son ML have dropped a new track together that touches on their experiences of autism.

The pair say Own Motion, a remix of a song originally written and and released by ML, explores themes of struggling to fit in and having to do things differently.

Giggs says his son's openness about his autism diagnosis led the veteran UK hip-hop star to find that he also had the condition.

He recently told BBC Newsnight a lack of understanding when he was younger made him feel like he was "bad", and he didn't want his children to feel that way too.

"I was always getting in trouble," he told the programme.

"I always used to answer back, get kicked out of class every single day until I just thought: 'Well, I'm bad'."

The rapper says he took that message through life and that he ended up in prison twice before being "saved" by music.

'Stigma'

The track resonated with rapper Lickz, who also has autism.

She tells BBC Newsbeat she had a similar experience to Giggs at school.

"I did get sent out of class a few times for talking back or whatever," the 20-year-old, from Croydon, says.

"I was distracted and I wasn't focused on the lessons."

The Rap Game UK star wasn't diagnosed until she was 18 and says having artists like Giggs share their experiences helped her come to terms with her own.

"I was really upset because of the stigma behind it," she says.

"A lot of people feel like people that have autism are slow or they're stupid and because I'd never heard anything different it was devastating news to me.

"But then I learned more about it, I heard Giggs had it, people I look up to, so I was like: 'There's actually nothing wrong with having autism'."

Ethan Appleby A selfie of Ethan Appleby. Ethan has short curly brown hair and a short goatee beard. He wears dark rimmed glasses and a cream pullover. Ethan Appleby
Fan Ethan Appleby has autism and says it's "so powerful" when artists like Giggs speak about it

The track's also inspired people like fan Ethan Appleby.

"One of the lines in the song - I used to be ashamed, I used to hide it, but now I own it - is really cool," he says.

The 20-year-old also has autism and says it's "such a wide spectrum", so "it can be hard to figure out yourself and how you fit into things".

He says it's "awesome" for someone with Giggs' influence to publicly say the condition doesn't have to stop you from doing what you want.

"Music is so important for stuff like this," he says.

"It can be so powerful."

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