A former drug dealer who was groomed into a gang has told his story to inspire hope in the young people of Ipswich in danger of falling down the same path.

Speaking at an anti-knife crime event on Nacton Road at the Murrayside Community Centre, rapper and musical entrepreneur Curtis Blanc, 39, explained that he built a successful business after a life of crime.

Known by his stage name Tisrespect, he told young people in the audience he now has a record label with two recording studios in Ipswich and one in London despite being dragged into drug-dealing at a young age in west London.

“When you learn to love yourself regardless of anything then nobody can bend you or shape you or mould you into something you don’t want to be” he told the children listening to him.

He said he severed two and a half years in prison after being ambushed by police during a drug deal where he was carrying a £10,000 bag of cash.

“I did years in prison and when I came out I was homeless. I had nowhere to go with no family in Ipswich,” he explained before emphasising that if he could succeed from this position it was possible for anyone in the audience to achieve their ambitions.

He said he was talked into drug dealing by older men on his estate while he was a teenager. This escalated to involvement in organised crime on a national level.

The rapper added: “At the start I had no intention of being involved.

“I enjoyed basketball and videogames but over time with pressure I broke.”

The rapper finished by saying: “A lot of you young people have probably still have dreams. Sometimes life knocks that out of you, but don’t stop dreaming ever."