UK woman tells court her how her life was ruined when Kenya rapper moved next door

Daily Mail

With booming bass and heavy hip hop beats thundering through their walls 24-hours a day, the neighbours of Elvis Turasinze, an aspiring rapper, were less than impressed.

Now, after 18 months of noise, 15 visits from the council, one noise abatement order and one court appearance, Turasinze has finally switched off his speakers – but says he still doesn’t understand what he did wrong.

‘I just went to court with the truth, the truth being that I wasn’t causing no one a nuisance with the music,’ says Turasinze of the court appearance that finally put a stop to his music career. ‘I didn’t really get what they were talking about.’

‘We live in a commercial block of flats and they’re not brilliantly made,’ said one neighbour, who has asked not to be named because of what she describes as ‘intimidating’ behaviour on Turasinze’s part.

‘They have thin walls! ‘It was severe bass – the bass was quite bad and it was horrendous music. The way he portrays himself and the way he acts makes me think he is threatening,’ she continues.

‘Many times I’ve thought I’ll go up there and say something but then I think, what if he turns on me? How am I going to deal with that?’

Turasinze’s musical career began in his native Kenya, where his talent for rapping brought him a number one hit record.

But after moving to London almost four years ago, success proved harder to come by and Terrasense was forced to relocate his equipment to his Dagenham flat.

‘I’m into R&B, rap, dancehall,’ he reveals. ‘I’ve been through a few up and downs here and there, obviously got in trouble with the police and stuff, and I used to walk around in gangs of youths. I had a community studio and I’d go there and make music.

‘I saw that studio as a way to make me better. Then I g ot myself a job, worked there for a few months, made a bit of money and started buying my equipment.

‘Obviously, I needed speakers and I needed the mixer tape to normalise my beats and stuff, and I needed a microphone to record my stuff and mix it up.’

But for those living next door, Turasinze’s dedication to his music proved unbearable with vibrating walls caused by the bass and continual noise among the most irksome side-effects.

‘Sometimes it wouldn’t start until 1am so you’d think, hooray peace and quiet for one night, and then suddenly, it would start, and you’d think, what?!,’ complains his disgruntled neighbour.

‘ He was outside on his balcony one time and everything was quiet,’ she continues. ‘Then I heard him say, “F*** it! I’ll go acapella” and he started rapping to himself and his friends.’

Furious, she and other neighbours complained to the council and Turasinze received the first of 15 visits over the next 18 months. In total, Terrasense’s music had been complained about a whopping 82 times.

‘I really didn’t see the need to go to the council and start pointing fingers like they did to me,’ gripes an unrepentant Turasinze.

‘ These walls are really thick walls so I don’t see how the sound would travel from this room to the next. I don’t see how it would vibrate the room. ‘

‘Bass was a big problem, obviously, because it made my walls vibrate,’ adds his neighbour. ‘But I could hear his music in every single room of my home.

Passion: Elvis says that despite the setbacks, he will never stop making music because it’s the love of his life

‘Even in the bath, I could still feel the bass – even with my head under water. Even that didn’t block out the sound.’

After more than a year and a half of complaints and a noise abatement order that was repeatedly breached, Turasinze found himself in court where he was handed a three month conditional discharge and a £1,000 fine.

As a result, Turasinze was forced to shut down his studio and move it to his brother’s home in a suburban street a mile away.

‘Now he’s stopped the music, I’ve got a much better life,’ says his relieved neighbour. ‘Now I can go out, go to work, come home, relax and go to bed when I want. ‘

Turasinze, however, has no plans to give up his musical career, even if he can’t do it from home.

‘ I’m just going to keep coming and doing my music as I always did,’ he explains. ‘ It’s like I said, music is my addiction. It’s not going to stop ever.’

Elvis Turasinze appears in The Nightmare Neighbour Next Door, tonight at 8pm on Channel 5