A young Lewisham rapper who penned an ode to the delights of McDonald's has been shortlisted for a BBC award that helped make stars of Adele and Sam Smith.

XL Records signing Novelist, real name Kojo Kankam, 17, has been selected as one of 15 acts for the BBC Sound of 2015 award which highlights the year's most promising artists. 

Previous winners of the award include Ellie Goulding, Jessie J, Adele and last year's winner Sam Smith.

Novelist, who became Lewisham's 9th deputy young mayor in 2012, was recently challenged by MC Izzie Gibbs to a rap battle. The battle was scheduled to take place outside Lewisham McDonald's, but Gibbs never arrived at the fast-food restaurant.

After the no-show from Gibbs, Novelist made a point of re-releasing his old song Lewisham Mcdeez, which features the lines: "I want large chips, yeah, and you know what, in fact forget the Big Mac, yeah, I want a Filet-O-Fish... I wanna sit down with my Filet-O-Fish bruv."

On hearing the news that he had made it onto the list, Novelist tweeted: "Thank you BBC and everyone who supports me."

He added: "We didn't even say 2015 was our year. The BBC said it for us"

The results of this year's award will be announced early next year.

This is not the first time Lewisham has had one of its own on the distinguished list. Lewisham born singer-songwriter and producer, MNEK, real name Uzoechi Osisioma Emenike, was part of the 2014 award list.