Hip-hop artist, B Wise gives graduation address

Thank you for your generous welcome, Chancellor, Academic staff, distinguished guests, ladies and gentleman, and most importantly the superstars of the day, the students.

Before I go any further I would like everyone in the room to please give our graduates another massive round of applause.

I would like to start off by saying how humbled I am to have been invited to join you here for today’s graduation ceremony. It’s not only a great pleasure but a privilege to be here.

I want to congratulate each and every one of you for making it this far today. I know for so many of you, it’s been a long road to get here. A lot of peaks and valleys, a lot of late, sleep-deprived nights (most of which were probably spent in the library), a lot of anxious waits on final results and, of course –  one I personally do not miss – group work.

Graduation in all cultures is a rite of passage and as I look around the room I can see so many proud and accomplished faces. I have no doubt that the skills and knowledge each and every one of you have acquired from our Western Sydney University during the course of your studies, has prepared you and will continue to guide you, to become some of the brightest, and most forward thinking business men and women in the country and abroad.

Why I say abroad is because I firmly believe in thinking big and always aiming high.

So many of you here today are from the regions of western and south western Sydney like myself. I was recently told by someone in an interview “If you can make it in western Sydney you can make it anywhere” where they then followed by asking me, “How would I define a person from western Sydney?”

I responded: “A person from Western Sydney is someone that is automatically cultured. Different, unapologetic, unafraid of anything or any obstacles. There is a different level of respect one has for oneself and for their friends and their family. Everyone learns to get along as one.”

And even if some of you only travel out west to study, your time spent here over the years of your studies makes you aware and a part of this strong culture.

I think the key sentence to take away from what I just said is ‘being unafraid of any obstacles’ because that’s one thing in life there will be a lot of … obstacles, and challenges.

Personally speaking, I want to tell you about a challenge of mine. As you may of heard the chancellor read out some of my accomplishments, I want to stress none of those accomplishments were easy to obtain. In the early days, I was pursuing a career in music, the business side wasn’t always good.

There was a lot of free time and very little cash flow in between the time spent writing music. At that period I was still living with my parents. What most of you here will find and may agree with, when living with ethnic parents, telling them that you wish to pursue a career path in the arts, I had let my Dad know that I wanted to pursue a career in music, particularly rap music. It wasn’t the easiest convo, and I was given an ultimatum.

(Nigerian dad accent) “Look my friend, either you get a JOB OR enrol in UNI. You can’t just be living in this house doing hip hop all day long”.

I chose uni, and in particular business, the music business. Honestly speaking, a younger immature me thought I could bludge until my career took off. But what I came to realise was how much of a privilege it was to be here.

I know that today each and every one of you will leave here with your deserved qualifications, and go out and take on every challenge the world has in store, and you will overcome and grow.

I want you to remember this day with great pride, as it forever be your names in the concrete. Again congratulations to you all.

And if no one else will say it, I will, turn the hell up this weekend! Thank you.