Irish hip hop

Irish hip hop is the response to the hip hop cultural movement that originated in New York City in the 1970s which, at that time, was most popular with members of the African-American community. In the 1980s, breakdancing and graffiti were the first elements of hip-hop to find their way to Ireland and, around the same time, an underground scene of hip-hop music began to emerge.

1990s

In 1993 Irish hip hop came into view, with the two main artists at this time being Marxman and Scary Éire.

Marxman

Marxman were two Dubliners (Byrne, Lunny) and two British Jamaicans (Phrase, DJ KI), who brought out the album "33 Revolutions Per Minute" on Talkin' Loud in 92' which exercised Irish traditional music within a hip-hop framework. It featured collaborations with contemporary trad guru Dónal Lunny (father of group member Oisin Lunny), Sinéad O'Connor ( who has also worked with McLyte on the track "I want (your hands on me)"),DJ Premier (who produced "Drifing" ), trad group 'The Storm' and several others. They gained notoriety for the track "Sad Affair," about Northern Ireland, which was banned by the BBC for featuring lyrics such as "a six county state is a bastard state, so why o why can not we all integrate". This was followed by the 'Cynic' EP in 1994, which cut down on the traditional influences and included some mellow instrumental tracks influenced by Massive Attack). After this came the 'Time Capsule' Lp on the More Rockers Label which included some of the EP tracks and some more, and was received without too much fuss.

Since then the group have branched out doing other work, including intro music for Teilifís na Gaeilge, running their 'Pawnshop' label, and Oisin Lunny's soundtrack work, as well as recording under the name 'Minatone' on Howie Bs Pussyfoot Label. Hollis Byrne, a very early pioneer of graffiti in Dublin (who wrote under the name of SUT-ONE (Supreme Urban Terrorist)), did a legendary 'piece' in the North Strand in 1987 which inspired many of today's writers from the area. After recording and releasing their two Albums "33 1/3 Revolutions Per Minute", "Time Capsule" and a mini-LP "Whassint For The Cynic" the band called it a day in 1995.

cary Éire

Scary Éire were pioneers of hiphop in Ireland. They have toured with U2 (as did Marxman), and opened for acts such as Gang Starr, Beastie Boys (who they also toured Europe with), House of Pain and Public Enemy. They had a track "Lost for Words" on the 1993 album 'Planet Rap' from Tommyboy, and recorded a debut album which included production from Howie B, Tricky, Cutmaster Swift, DJ Mek and Sam Scuttery-Eye, nut were then dropped by Island Records, who kept the rights to the album but did not release it. In 1995 Scary Éire reappeared on London independent label 11 Records and released "Dole Q/That's no good to me" on 12". The former song is about their various encounters on dole day and the latter a rugged, frenzied cypher. In March 2007, the group released "The Scary Era" album - a collection of songs from the pre-celtic tiger years which had been 16 years in the waiting.

DJ Wool aka Glen Brady

Irish Hip-Hop failed to break into the mainstream until the 1998 release of 'Optic Nerve'(EP) by Exile Eye. Third Eye Surfers brought their own sound to Irish Hip-Hop with their critically acclaimed album 'Filthy Folklore' which was released in 2001 and was produced by DJ Wool aka Glen Brady. Band Members DJ Wool, Lisa Dee, Big Al, Richie C and MC Poetic, quickly received recognition on the Irish Hip Hop scene and, having been labeled as the hottest new thing, followed their album success with a 12 vinyl 'Third Eye Mindstate', which landed them a Best Newcomer Award at the Smirnoff Dance Awards in the Temple Theatre, Dublin. Touring all around Ireland, Third Eye Surfers began to build a solid fan base, supporting such names as Public Enemy, Jurassic 5, The Pharcyde and Sugarhill Gang. The band called it a day in 2002. DJ Wool is now a founding member of New York based PunkFunk electronic outfit The Glass and is signed to Stretch Armstrong's Plant Records. He and The Glass are constantly touring the world and releasing records and remixes by the likes of REM, INXS, Just Jack, Howie B, Ghostface Killah and more.

Messiah J & The Expert

Messiah J & The Expert are a rapper/producer duo from Dublin, Ireland, originally part of three-piece Creative Controle with DJ Mayhem. Their first release under the name Messiah J & The Expert, the single 'First Place', came out in September 2003, quickly followed by their debut album, 'What's Confusing You?'. They have, over the years supported Public Enemy, The Streets, Gangstarr, De La Soul, Jurassic 5, Wyclef Jean, Buck 65, The Pharcyde, El-P, Jeru The Damaja and others. In March 2006, they released a 12" featuring New York rapper, C-Rayz Walz, entitled 'When The Bull Gores The Matador' on their own label, Inaudible Records. This was followed in September 2006 by a release of 'Something Outta Nothing' and in October 2006, they released the album, 'Now This I Have To Hear', which was nominated for a Choice Music Prize in January 2007.

The Irish Undaground

“The Irish Undaground” began as an eColumn on "http://www.irishhiphop.com" which presented articles written by "Kounter Kulture", dealing with certain aspects of the Irish Hip-Hop scene. The Irish Undaground has now taken the form of an Irish top ten music chart.

References

External links

* [http://www.irishhiphop.com/ Official home of Irish Hip-Hop]
* [http://www.rapireland.com/ Rap Ireland]
* [http://www.shakeymusic.com/index.html/ Official site of irish rapper Shakey]
* [http://www.messiahjandtheexpert.com/ Messiah J & The Expert Website]
* [http://www.whitenoise.ie/index.html/ Official site of Irish beatboxer White Noise]
* [http://www.bboyireland.com/ Bboy Ireland- Official site of Irish bboy (breakdance) resources and tuition]