Bim Afolami, the MP for Hitchin & Harpenden, has revealed his musical tastes during an episode of a new podcast.

Taylor Swift, Jay-Z, and Fleetwood Mac turn out to be among his favourite artists.

The Pop and Politics podcast has just launched, and Mr Afolami was the MP to feature in its first episode.

During the episode, Hitchin and Harpenden's MP talked about growing up listening to African-American artists such as Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones, with the latter being "a hero" in his family's house.

While he said that he's "never really been into Afrobeats", Mr Afolami did out himself as a big hip-hop fan.

"I really find the American hip-hop exceptionally good. I find these guys so talented ... hip-hop has been under-appreciated in British culture for its lyrical and intellectual and historical and cultural brilliance, and excitement, and dynamism, and that's why I love it."

He pointed to the personal stories of top hip-hop artists as part of the reason for his enjoyment of the genre. 

Mr Afolami pointed to some of the early artists, talking about "how they were shut out of the mainstream music industry, and how that forced them to create their own vehicles that actually has made them a hell of a lot richer than the typical singers or white artists that were taken up by the mainstream at the time".

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The MP said that his own background as a black person who went to Eton and worked in the City was "a bit scrambling for people", with half thinking "you must be listening to hip-hop in Croydon" and another half thinking "you listen to classical music".

He criticised the perception that different types of music are for people from different backgrounds.

"I think [that] is deeply insulting but also alienating for a young black kid in Croydon who really likes listening to Bach and Beethoven, and thinks nobody is going to take him seriously because he's meant to be listening to something else."

Mr Afolami did say that he thought his tastes were "depressingly mainstream", before revealing his admiration for Taylor Swift.

"What I love about Taylor Swift ... is how talented she is, just the insane talent that she demonstrates, I think, is phenomenal.

"As a pop artist, her core pop music, her ability to write a really good pop song - there are very few people who reach her level on a consistent basis."

However, Swift isn't Mr Afolami's favourite artist. That title goes to Jay-Z, with his Watch the Throne album in collaboration with Kanye West being singled out as a particular highlight.

Mr Afolami said that watching them perform songs from the album live at the O2 Arena in London was "brilliant".

You can listen to the podcast in full on Spotify.