BBC Introducing is all about undiscovered and unsigned talent. This weekend an up and coming rapper takes centre stage at its Kent concert, as Jo Roberts discovered.

“I’m a bit posh and I’m white with blonde hair, so it doesn’t really make sense to some people that I’m a rapper.”

So says up-and-coming MC Ophelia, a former Tunbridge Wells Girls’ Grammar School pupil whose music and rap clearly makes sense to the musical talent spotters at the BBC.

Not only has her debut single Hit the Brakes been played on Radio 1 but she’s been chosen to feature among other promising musicians at the BBC Introducing in Kent showcase this weekend.

Her debut album Get What You Need features lyrics that give an insight into the fears, insecurities and, ultimately, bravery that Ophelia – real name Laura Thomas – has moved through to assert herself as a rapper against the odds.

“I often wonder whether I was born into the wrong culture!” she says.

“In 2010 I was road-tripping across America when I stumbled upon an African American hip hop night. I had already been dreaming since I was a teenager about wanting to make music, and I had written this rap about not really being what people expect a rapper to be like so I decided to perform it there.

“At first the organisers said I couldn’t do it and weren’t going to let me onto the mic, but they relented and when I actually performed everyone went mad! All these guys were saying, ‘You should be making an album!’ It gave me a lot of confidence and that was a big turning point for me.”

Laura, who used to be a waitress and topped up her earnings by selling her paintings, adds: “I decided that anything else was just a way of making money, but music was what I really wanted to do.”

That said, Laura is continuing to use her artistic flair to design merchandise alongside a friend, including bags and jewellery which promote Get What You Need and the Ophelia brand.

Style certainly doesn’t compromise substance in this case though. Laura’s stories, accompanied by moody, atmospheric basslines, tell tales of adversity in the form of self doubt, references to depression, a failed relationship, and the drive to succeed despite all of these.

She says: “All of my songs are based on personal experience. It’s really important to me to be honest in my music so that I can connect with people. I recently played at The Social in central London and a girl came up to me afterwards and said, ‘You sang all of my stories.’”

Laura now lives in south London but is a frequent returner to Tunbridge Wells, where her parents live and where the local connections run deep.

“My grandad, Ivor Thomas, was a reggae DJ at the Six In One Club in Tonbridge, and so we filmed the music video for Hit the Brakes there.”

Visit http://ophelia-music.com/

Laura performs as Ophelia at BBC Introducing in Kent showcase at Canterbury’s Marlowe Theatre Studio on Sunday, March 23 at 5pm. Tickets cost £8. Call 01227 787787.

Also appearing are Will Joseph Cook from Medway, Get Inuit from Sittingbourne, Tom Williams and The Boat, from Tunbridge Wells, and Shy Nature from Maidstone.