Profile

Mark Coles profiles Pulitzer Prize winning rapper Kendrick Lamar, whose concepts and ideas are changing hip-hop culture.

Lamar won the award for his latest album Damn, which also collected five Grammy awards in January and is praised for lyrics which reveal the complexity of modern African-American life.

Growing up in the deprived city of Compton, California, Lamar credits his father with keeping him on the right path and providing the balance that some of his peers were missing. His album good kid, m.A.A.d city tells the stories of young black men trying to escape the negative influences surrounding them.

Lamar's lyrical journey explores violence, depression, religion and also the limits of fame and fortune, he's the rapper who says that helping the next generation find positivity and God is where it's at.

Presenter: Mark Coles

Karen Pierce is the UK's new Permanent Representative at the UN in New York, Britain's most senior ambassadorial post. She only started in the role three weeks ago and has been thrown in at the deep end with the chemical weapons attack in Syria.

Becky Milligan looks at the life of an unusual diplomat, who may now be facing her biggest challenge yet.

Producers: Arlene Gregorius and Ros Jones.

Daniel Ek, co-founder and CEO of music streaming service Spotify. Mark Coles tracks the life of the shy Swede transforming the music industry.

This week 35-year-old Daniel Ek became very, very rich when his company Spotify floated on the New York Stock Exchange - with an initial value of more than $26 billion.

It's a long way from his home in a working-class suburb of Stockholm where Daniel's interest in both music and computers was piqued at an early age.

He started his first businesses while a teenager, in between starring in school musicals, and earned his first fortune in his early 20s.

He launched Spotify in 2006 with business partner Martin Lorentzon, with a goal to 'save the music industry' at a time when illegal downloads were eating into profits.

Today Spotify has revolutionised the way we listen to music and last year Daniel Ek was named the most-powerful person in the music industry by Billboard magazine - but what does the future hold in store for the tech industry's latest billionaire?

CONTRIBUTORS

Tony Kinberg, Daniel Ek's former music teacher

Kina Zeidler, journalist and author of Det Svenska Techundret (The Swedish Tech Miracle)

Jonas Nordlander, co-founder & CEO of Avito and founder and former owner of Tradera.

Pelle Lidell, founder of EKKO Music Rights Europe and former executive at Universal Music

D.A. Wallach - musician, tech investor and former artists services lead at Spotify

Diego Planas, former Spotify employee.

Taking on Trump, horse trials and dancing dogs. Presenter Mark Coles explores the life of Stormy Daniels, the award winning adult film actress who's revolutionising the porn industry and has previously considered a career in politics.

Presenter Mark Coles

Nigel Oakes was a pioneer of 'behaviour dynamics', the art of influencing people. He set up a successful company, Strategic Communications Limited, which boasts clients from NATO to the UK government. But now he finds himself caught up in the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

He was born in 1962 into a world of privilege. Schooled at Eton, his father was a Major in the Irish Guards and once captained the British Ski Team at the Winter Olympics. Once Nigel hit London he began a music career even releasing a single.

But it was the move into marketing that set him on the path to success, we hear how mobile discos, the Royal Family and the smell of golf all played a part in the story of the man who can allegedly help win elections and end wars.

As RT's editor-in-chief, Margarita Simonyan runs a news network described by US intelligence as "the Kremlin's principal international propaganda outlet". Formerly known as Russia Today, RT risks being stripped of its UK broadcast licence in the wake of the Salisbury spy poisoning. So who is the woman at its helm?

Born into an Armenian family in Krasnodar in Southern Russia, Simonyan grew up in poverty, but her academic achievements helped her win a place on a prestigious exchange program to the United States. Arriving in New Hampshire just four years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the experience changed her life. Initially shocked by the excesses of Western capitalism, Simonyan soon found her feet and was even crowned 'Carnival Queen' of her All-American high school.

After returning to Russia, Simonyan started a career in journalism, becoming a household name after reporting from the carnage of the Beslan school siege. Shortly after, when she was just 25, she was handpicked to create the new Kremlin-funded international news network Russia Today. Controversy has dogged the channel, with allegations of pro-Kremlin propaganda and biased reporting, but all agree that under Simonyan's leadership the channel has given Russia a far bigger - and stronger - voice abroad.

Married with two children, Simonyan is known by her friends for her love of disco, Cossack folk music and traditional cooking - including boiled beaver's head. Mark Coles asks some of those who know her best what drives her - including her best friend and the American woman who offered to adopt her as a teenager.

Presenter: Mark Coles

Cycling hero Bradley Wiggins was accused by MPs this week of "crossing an ethical line" by taking medication that could have enhanced his race performance. Rising from a rocky start to become Great Britain's most decorated Olympian, Wiggins has lived a fascinating life including murder, mods and music. Can his reputation survive this?

Presented by Mark Coles

Produced by Jordan Dunbar and Beth Sagar-Fenton.

As the United Nations' Special Envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura is said to have one of the toughest jobs in the world. Edward Stourton talks to the people who know him best to find out what drives him and how he is navigating one of the most complex conflicts in recent history.

Born in Stockholm to a Swedish mother and an Italian father, de Mistura went to primary school on the island of Capri, where he was taught by Catholic nuns who instilled in him a strong faith and a desire to help other people.

Growing up in a privileged and aristocratic family, he went on to attend a prestigious Catholic secondary school in Rome, where friends say he knew from an early age that he wanted to work for the United Nations.

His diplomatic career includes stints in some of the world's trickiest war zones - from Sudan to Kosovo, Iraq to Afghanistan, and now Syria. He has a distinctive sense of style and is known for his charm and love of the finer things of life. We also hear about the 'linguistic acrobatics' and the wry sense of humour that have helped him survive in hostile situations.

Producer: Arlene Gregorius.

Black Panther star Daniel Kaluuya has already won BAFTA's Rising Star award and now he's been nominated for a Best Actor Oscar. The 28-year-old Londoner is up against acting giants Daniel Day-Lewis, Gary Oldman and Denzel Washington, having been shortlisted for his role in the satirical horror movie Get Out.

Raised by his Ugandan mother, who remains an inspiration, Kaluuya grew up on a council estate in North London. He first came to public attention as a teenager, when he wrote and performed in the hit television series, Skins. But he's been acting and writing from an early age, having won a play-writing competition when he was nine and impressed talent spotters when he was still at school.

Mark Coles talks to those who recognised and nurtured the young Kaluuya's talents, including his A level drama teacher Jo Fenton, the co-creator of Skins Bryan Elsley, playwright Roy Williams and the director of his forthcoming film Widows, Steve McQueen.

Producer: Arlene Gregorius.

Becky Milligan looks back at the extraordinary life of South Africa's new president. From humble beginnings, he became a lawyer, established the country's most powerful trade union organisation and was a key player in negotiating the end of apartheid. After losing out at an earlier attempt to become president, he turned to business and rapidly became one of South Africa's richest men - while also attracting controversy over allegations about his role during the Marikana massacre of striking miners. As he takes power, what really makes him tick?

Producer: Smita Patel