Scottish hip-hop

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Scottish hip-hop is the Scottish manifestation of the hip hop culture, comprising the five elements of MCing, DJing, beatboxing, graffiti and b-boying.

In the 1980s the elements of hip hop culture had spread to Scotland. Hip-hop and electro music reached Scotland and was adopted and developed locally by DJs and later MCs.

From the inception of Hip hop culture in Scotland, and possibly due to the universal nature of the element, break dancing has been popular. Scotland has had a number of strong breaking crews over the years, such as Glasgow City Breakers, Floor Freaks, White City Breakers and The Clan

In recent years the Flying Jalapenos are flying the flag for Glasgow, and representing Scotland nationally and internationally since their formation in 2001 are the Edinburgh crew the Random Aspekts. The Random Aspekts are reviving the scene in Edinburgh, representing in the United States of America, Japan, Australia and all over Europe. Most recently winning the UK University B-Boy Championships, combining with up coming Edinburgh crew, Psycho Stylez.

Psycho Stylez (www.psychostylez.com) is next generation of bboys to have arrived on the UK bboy scene - consisting of 9 members - BSwift, Bull, El Diaz, Harribo, Intrikate, Frenzy, Footloose, Floorescent and Phrenik . The up & coming crew have already represented on both a national and international level and strive to increase the standards and evolve. Already in the short time they have been on the scene they have won the Regional Conflict North Qualifiers, Welsh BBOy Open as well as members representing @ The Uk BBoy Championships.

Due to the underground nature of the graffiti element many artists have not been able to showcase their talents to a deserved level. However artist such as Glasgow’s Mak1 and Edinburgh’s Elph have managed to cross boundaries into the mainstream and have worked overseas in America and Europe.

Glasgow Hip Hop crews such as II Tone Committee Krack Free Media (Kryptic & D.J.Science), Steg G & the Freestyle Masta, Major Threat, built reputations as quality groups, as did Edinburgh Hip Hop artists including Blacka'nized, Scotland Yard Emcees, Reachout.

The country also has a strong history of DJ talent such as Aberdeen's Dee J A’la Fu playing far and wide overseas, DJ Plus One (ex-world DMC champ), Richie Rufftone (Scratch Perverts), DJ Krash Slaughta (II Tone Committee, Monkey Mafia), DJ Bunty and others.

Throughout the 1990s the popularity of hip hop culture spread outwards from the city to the coast, with groups appearing from further afield, such as All Time High and Speech Therapy. Contemporary Scottish hip hop is often overlooked due to the dominance of the English, and specifically London, rap scene. Contemporary Scottish acts that have managed to gain attention beyond the country's borders include such acts as Steg G and the Freestyle Master, Mr Jinx, Loki, Respek BA, Empafy and Eastborn.

The up and coming, new generation of Rap in Edinburgh includes the S.T.M Crew (Street Tech Militia). They're showing how diverse Scotland's Hip Hop scene is, with Ruff1 originating from the United States, Double S from Mauritius and D.mas from Spain.

S.T.M is trying to bridge the gap between Scotland and the rest of the UK with colaborations from SuperNovar (Mud Family), Big Ben (London) and Jee4ce (Northern Ireland), but also from European hip hop. Some european featurings include Khalja-Ras Clan (Biel/Bienne) and Mestary from Helsinki. Their first Album / Mixtape "The Militia Vol. 1" was release on O.D.G Records 1 January 2008.