Sunday 5 July 2026 3:00pm to 5:00pm
King’s College
King's Parade, Cambridge CB2 1STDutch rapper Mula joins Cambridge PhD candidate Floris Bosscher to discuss how Mula’s lyrical repertoire discloses elements of inter-religious encounter and the realities of street culture among ethno-minoritized communities in Europe.
Mula Moes (photograph by Martijn Kuyvenhoven, 2025)—courtesy of the artist.
About
Distorted, misheard, or ignored—the religious voices shaping European street culture are often overlooked. Cambridge PhD researcher Floris Bosscher (Faculty of Divinity) invites us to pay better attention to the complexity of faith, identity, and moral life expressed through hip-hop and street culture in the Netherlands.
At this intimate event, a small live audience will hear Floris in conversation with Dutch rapper Mula. Together they will reflect on how Mula’s lyrical music captures elements of (inter-)religious significance, the realities of European street/road culture and the role of music and religion in escaping its darker aspects. How do religion, rap, and street culture co-exist and what tensions exist between them?
They will speak in Dutch to capture the nuance of Mula’s experiences, with live interpretation provided for Anglophone attendees.
Introducing Mula
Mula, the son of a Congolese Christian father and Moroccan-Muslim mother, brings a richly layered perspective on identity, belief, and belonging to his music. One of the biggest names in European hip-hop, his most successful track has amassed over 40 million plays—yet the philosophical depth of his lyrics remains largely underexplored in academic contexts.
A headline act at major festivals including Sziget (Budapest), Paaspop and Lowlands, Mula moves fluidly between audiences. Rooted in the ethnically and religiously diverse street cultures from which he emerged, his music resonates strongly with marginalised communities, while a reinvention in 2020 has seen him gain wider recognition among mainstream listeners.
Bosscher will draw on his background in journalism to shape the conversation. The dialogue is set to challenge one-dimensional portrayals of ethno-religious minorities in Europe, bringing complex lived experiences into sharper focus. It will be recorded in hope of sharing the conversation with online audiences at a later date.
Practicalities
This is an intimate event and audience numbers are strictly limited. Please sign up using the link above if you wish to attend. A waiting list will operate if the event becomes oversubscribed.
This event is supported by the Faculty of Divinity, Gates Cambridge Trust, Wolfson College, and the Cambridge Interfaith Programme. It is hosted by King’s College Cambridge.