We’re all aware of those behind the mic in Ireland pushing hip hop closer to the place it deserves to be in 2017. A new wave of MCs and singers have breathed new life in to a genre that has fought against all odds to take its place as one of Ireland’s most exciting and multi-cultural movements.

We now shed light on those behind the scenes, the beats, the nights and the visuals who are just as vital to keeping the scene evolving over the comings months and years.

Mo K

Mo K has been championing Irish Hip Hop for over 15 years from starting out spinning hip hop on Vibe 99.1, a pirate radio station in the early 00s, to DJing for acts such as The Elements, Rob Kelly and Class A’z.

Now as a leading figure in the scene,  Mo regularly premieres the best of Irish rap on his 2fm and RTÉ  Pulse shows. He has kept an ear to the street and regularly champions not only the OG’s in the scene but also the younger crews coming up with his new cypher series.

Stevie G

In terms of hip hop in this country, Stevie G has been down since day one. Starting out DJing in the legendary Sir Henry’s in Cork, Stevie has gained a reputation as one of the corner stones of hip hop and R&B in Ireland.

Stevie continues to run hip hop nights and has had a hand in Cork city’s scene for decades. He has championed artists like GMC, Bony, Nash and even released the old school legend Tommy KD’s record ‘Karma’s a Bitch’ on his label, Anam Records. He also showcases the best of hip hop, grime, R&b and soul on his hugely popular show on RedFM, ‘Black on Red’.

Gavin Fitzgerald & Mark Hayes

Gav and Mark are two former school friends who came back in contact with each other by finding out they were both trying to make the same documentary simultaneously.

After combining forces, the two men behind ‘The Truth About Irish Hip Hop’ spent over a year and a half travelling across the country talking to every rhymer from Sligo to Sillogue Gardens to find out the current climate of the scene in 2017.

The documentary is a fantastic representation of Irish hip hop music from all angles, ages and sounds coming from the country today.

Choice Cuts

Choice Cuts are the blue ribbon bookers of hip hop, soul and funk in Ireland. Looking at the plethora of artists they’ve brought to Dublin, you can find anyone from Rakim to Roy Ayers, De La Soul to Danny Brown. After hopping around from The Village to The Button Factory they have set up home base in The Sugar Club on Leeson Street.

They consistently put Irish artists on for support duties and have everyone from the new school such as Jafaris to originators like DJ Mek grace their stage. Their next big hip hop gig in The Sugar Club is the legendary Pete Rock and CL Smooth.

MathMan

MathMan has been on the hip hop scene in Ireland for over a decade now as one of the main taste-makers and contributors to the community.

Whether organising the cypher series with Mo K, curating all Irish stages at festivals such as Forbidden Fruit, hosting events such as the infamous Boom Bap BBQ with former crew The Animators, or Beat Club (a producer battle series held in The Bernard Shaw), MathMan has helped nearly everyone in the scene prosper in any way he can.

He also is known for his stellar production, mainly for MC Mango who he also performs live with.

Staxx Lyrical

Dublin Digital Radio presenter Staxx Lyrical is relatively new on the Irish circuit but has quickly established herself one of Irish hip hop’s leading voices.

Blending great independent and classic rap tracks every Saturday 3-4pm on DDR, she also includes as much Irish hip hop as she can, not only on the airwaves, but also playing at gigs. Her regular interviews with Irish artists gives a much-sough after insight into the inner-workings of these rappers.

Dean Scurry

The Ballymun native has been instrumental in forging the careers of so many northside Dublin MCs. Starting out with Lunitic and Urban Intelligence and creating the platform for Workin’ Class Records, the home of Costello, DJ Moschops, Lethal Dialect and G.I. who have created some of the most memorable Irish rap albums of last few years.

His work with youth clubs and the Axis centre has seen the introduction of using hip hop to help social change and encourage young people in Ballymun to engage with music and art. He is still currently managing Paul Awlright, fka Lethal Dialect.

Other Voices

What started out as a showcase for Irish singer songwriters in 2003 has morphed into the premiere showcase of not just great Irish music, but also international acts.

Hosted in a church in the cultural hotspot of Dingle, Co. Kerry, OV has hosted some legendary performances from acts such as Amy Winehouse, The XX and Damien Dempsey. With producers Aoife Woodlock and Tina Moran keeping an eye on the music that is forward thinking they have included some amazing hip hop acts in recent years from both abroad and Ireland such as Lethal Dialect, Rusangano Family, Young Fathers, Kojey Radical, Damola, Rejjie Snow, NEOMADiC and plenty more.

Souletiquette

The Souletiquette collective have become a staple in the more wavy sounds in Ireland’s hip hop scene. DJ Scorpio, Rinkie, Mona Lxsa and other surrounding members have been running a label and radio show for over three years, pioneering producers, DJs and MCs who create a more abstract sound, from murky boom bap to trap soul.

They are regularly running nights and creating fantastic mixes that represent another side of hip hop in Ireland.

Mona Lxsa also works as the DJ behind rapidly rising vocalist Soulé.

The Academy

Abbey Street is lucky to have two pretty iconic venues in Wigwam (formerly Twisted Pepper) and The Academy. The former has always been known for envelope-pushing electronic music, but in recent years The Academy has stepped up to the plate as one of the best bookers of hip hop.

Bringing the likes of Flatbush Zombies, Earl, Angel Haze, plus many more to Dublin, and hosting a memorable headline show for hometown hero Rejjie Snow have been just some of the jewels in their hip hop crown. They also regularly give local artists support slots, boosting their burgeoning profiles.

With shows from the likes of Joey Bada$$, AJ Tracey, Saba, and their now monthly It’s A Movement live Irish hip hip night all on the horizon too, it seems they’re not slowing down when it comes to top end bookings.

Soft Boy Records

One of our favourite labels around, Soft Boy Records is spearheaded by producer and musician Kean Kavanagh and fan favourite rapper and producer Kojaque.

They’re pretty limitless when it comes to the type of music they sign and push, but when it comes to hip hop their ear is impeccable. Their next release is with Henry Earnest, and Kojaque himself is nearly finished with his next project.

Also, their merch promo game is incredibly strong…

Diffusion Lab

Joining forces at a drum & bass night in the basement of the Twisted Pepper, Ivan and Chris started out to create a production facility for young urban music in Dublin.

Joined then by producer and engineer Marcin, the trio went on to make Diffusion Lab one of the premiere labels in the country. With artists such as Soulé, Jafaris, Killa Yan and Rushes on their roster they have the eyes of the music business, not just in Ireland but also overseas firmly locked on the output of the label.

They have made their studio available to the cream of the young urban musicians in Dublin to give them a space to be creative and record their own records.

Annie Mac

Perhaps Ireland’s most successful export when it comes to radio, Annie Mac has one of the most trusted voices on the airwaves. When she says music is deadly, you know it’s probably going to be deadly.

That’s why when she spins an Irish hip hop record on air, it’s amazing for building hype around the genre in this country. She’s championed the likes of Hare Squead, she’s had Rejjie Snow in the studio, and more. Annie has gone beyond grassroots, but it’s good to have someone on our side pushing it to such a huge platform.

mynameisJOhn

You might know mynameisJOhn as the selector and beat-maker behind Choice Music Prize winners Rusangano Family alongside MuRli and God Knows. However, that’s not where his immense contributions to Irish hip hop ends.

He’s known for promoting other acts from the west of Ireland, recently bringing fellow Limerick heads Same D4Ence to Townlands Carnival, as well as selecting them for support duties when touring. Him and his Rusangano crew also have a sharp focus on the spoken word and thought provoking side of hip hop, working with Blindboy from Rubberbandits and Emmet Kirwan.

Plus on his Still Breathing mix series you’ll find anything from Kendrick Lamar and Led Zeppelin, to Rejjie Snow and Contours.

Tickets include six meat dishes, each paired with a taster serving of an experimental brew and a specially brewed GUINNESS X MEATOPIA beer will also be included in the price.

Tickets are available here now

Listen to our latest Conversations podcast below with Peter from The Open Gate Brewery and Mat from Meatopia UK to get an idea of what to expect.

drinkaware.ie

Body&Soul has gone from a wonderfully weird little festival, to an event that hold its own with the best in the country, while keeping its quirks and eccentricities. We caught up with one of the head bookers this week if you’d like an insight into how the festival came together click here.

They’re back in Ballinlough Castle, Co Westmeath once again this summer, taking over the old grounds for the solstice on June 23 – 25. Click here for tickets.

Mykki Blanco, Sleaford Mods, Vitalic, Optimo and Austra are just a selection of the international talent coming to the Castle this summer. However, it’s the local talent each year that you stumble upon that seems to leave a lasting mark on revellers.

In this new series we look at the homegrown artists performing at festivals, putting together a cohesive playlist of their best and newest tracks to get you in the mood for the summer of music ahead.

First up, we have the selection from the beautifully strange Body&Soul.

Body&Soul tickets are available now.

Any Irish festival-goer worth their salt will have attended Body&Soul in the past, and will know it’s a special experience. These gatherings have a lot of moving parts and take months upon months of planning. So we sat down with Jenny Wren, head booker of Body&Soul who chats with Hannah O’ Connell about the festival’s eight year history, its conception and much more.

Listen to it below and read some of the highlights transcribed too.

Tell us a bit about your background, how did you start off?

I was an art director for fifteen or so years, I lived in London for many, many years and that was my day job. I’ve said this before, my day job really kept me in shoes and records.

Music has just been one of those vocations I keep going back to. I was immersed within the dance scene as a consumer and once I fell out of that I looked for ways to access music through other mediums. Radio was a big thing for me. In London I was presenting a hospital radio show. When I came back to Ireland I started working on Jazz FM… Around that time friends of mine began discussing with me if I would manage a band. I didn’t have a clue how to manage a band but I was kind of helping people out.

Avril Stanley, we went to school together, was doing a healing area at the Big Chill in England and was approached by Electric Picnic to come back to Ireland and set up a healing area at the festival. So she did that year one and year two, knowing me and we swapped music as kids, asked me did I want to bring down some bands to a stage and here we are.

You’ve been ten, eleven years in Electric Picnic now?

I think twelve. I go on how old my kids are. My eldest son is going on eleven and I know I breastfed him down there.

You started to do this when you had quite young children?

Year one I think I was probably pregnant and didn’t realise it and year two I had baby Bo with me, he was just a few months old.

It’s very encouraging to hear that even though you were pregnant and had young children that you were still heavily involved in the music industry. It’s something that holds a lot of women back.

I hope it’s encouraging but it’s not necessarily easy. It really isn’t easy and if we could all just reach out to each other and swap a few babies around… We’ve just confirmed the lovely Joni for Body&Soul Festival who has just had her second child who is six weeks old. It is possible but it’s not to say it is particularly easy.

That really encompasses the ethos of Body&Soul… It’s not just music.

No, it’s not. What I do is part of an incredible tapestry and if that tapestry wasn’t there then the music wouldn’t be as interesting. We spend ages programming when an act should go on, the vibe of Friday in comparison to Saturday and Sunday, you want to get it right. The ethos is integral to what we do.

Was is a decision to break away from Electric Picnic, did someone approach you about it?

You know when you start doing something and there’s an energy there? You know you’ve got something and there’s a great team of people. There’s an impetus to keep going forward although you’re not fully sure of the future but the energy was right. We really had learned our trade at Electric Picnic and built something beautiful and it just seemed the right thing to do.

What was the transition like, from hosting an area at a festival that was already established to growing your own from the ground?

For me it was great, I just got bigger budgets but I’m not dealing with the stuff that the rest of the team is dealing with. Of course it’s very scary. I often get down on site and you’re so involved in the Excel sheets and your emails and then all of a sudden you look out the window and you see these little tents pop up and you think ‘Oh yeah, there’s people coming!’ It’s like when you’re studying for exams and it’s not until you lift your head that you think we’ve done this cool thing! Avril (festival director) would answer that differently. There’s huge financial pressure, finding the land! It’s not for the faint hearted.

How big is your team?

We’re actually pretty small. When you consider what’s put on at the weekend we really are a small team. Really the core team is about four or five people and that grows hugely as summer draws closer. On site we have a fantastic team of volunteers that come back each year.

What does a typical day look like for you?

Earlier in the year it’s a lot of headphones on and listening to stuff which is my favourite bit and around now you’re getting into a lot of admin which has to be done. There’s no real rhythm to a day because you can be bouncing between stuff but often you’re either chasing acts that you really want and responding to acts. There’s a hell of a lot of emails.

I’m sure there’s lots of people who look at your job and think it’s the best job ever. Are there unexpected aspects to your job and do you find it stressful?

I think I can get anxious about it. I often get that syndrome of that child who has been given money to go down to the shop to get sweets and you want those sweets but you can’t have them and it’s letting go of the act you could have got over the line. It is a cool job of course but you have to remember within ever job that are difficult elements like admin and Excel files. Particularly for me when I used to be a designer for many years using Illustrator and now I’m using Excel files it’s like I’ve gone to the dark side.

I think anything can look cool from the outside. I would not suggest somebody to get into this because they thought it was cool. I have no time to try and be cool, I think I gave up trying to be cool when I was about 8. You have to come from a place of honesty and you have to come from a place where it is a genuine vocation. Don’t get into it because you think it’s cool. Get into it because you absolutely love it, because it’s that driving passion.

Do you have a method to finding an act or a method to deciding who should go on the line up?

I always trust my gut. You know, to say I don’t look to the audience will sound like I’m pushing them aside however I think you can get very swallowed up in what people might want, trying to please people. You can’t necessarily please people and we have always come from a real place of honesty in saying this is what we have listened to and this is what we think is just fantastic and if you don’t like it then that’s fine. I have this real irritation and maybe it’s because I grew up pre-internet with ‘oh I like that, I like that’. You don’t have to like everything. You can have valid experiences getting really angry at a piece or music or getting upset at it but as long as it jolts the cells within yourself I think it’s done it’s job.

Everyone that we put on there really is coming from a very honest place. We’re not trying to bet that they’re going to be the next big thing, they’re just great artists. We try and make sure it’s considered and that there’s equality on every level as best we possibly can based within the three day window you have over an artist’s entire touring year and that there’s difference. We’re not just wheeling out all electronic or all any one thing and there are times when I will step away from an act because on the particular bill it doesn’t work or we’ve answered that sound so there is a bit of cooking involved. It’s very considered in that respect.

Not to take away from the amazing lineup this year and in previous years, but are there any bucket list bookings that you have?

Probably best not to speak about them because we’ll never get them. We’re a small independent festival and we don’t play with massive budgets and the budgets really work within the site. Every year I write down Kate Bush and every year I write down Björk to just put it out to the universe and maybe one day they will come and have a drink with us. One person that really stood out for me was Nick Cave. That was just… Wow. It didn’t make any financial sense but he’s just an artist, it was incredible. So to have him and PIL, they were another one. So there are people you aspire to but they may just remain on your pieces of paper.

Who have been your highlights over the past eight years of Body&Soul?

It is like choosing between the children isn’t it. I have already mentioned Nick Cave, for him I had to sit by myself and have a little drink of brandy afterwards. He was amazing. PIL were huge for me as well. I’ve been a John Lydon fan since as long as I can remember. There’s honestly been so many. It’s wonderful also to see fantastic Irish acts come in. You know year one they’re on a smaller stage and then to see them taking a stage, it’s really gorgeous. Just to be a tiny part of their story because there are lots of great Irish festivals that offer acts platforms and we’re just one of them but I like to think we offer them as good a platform as we can but just to be a tiny part of that story is great. It’s very cool.

You can access this year’s lineup and we’ve just released more names today and really one thing that stands out for me is the weight of the Irish influence and how incredible all of these artists are and how ripe they are for taking a stage anywhere and to be part of perhaps their journey, I think it’s amazing and not just the music and artists. These are people who are doing incredible work up and down the country all year round and to be able to bring them together for one weekend, that feels very special and it feels very humbling to be a part of it to be honest with you.

How important do you think festivals are in our culture and for our small country?

I think they are important. When I left Ireland I probably ran out of here screaming. I’m a very open minded person and I couldn’t handle the old Ireland and the small thinking and to come back and see all these incredible young people, I mean I’m not 900 but I’m a little bit older and to create an area for likeminded people of qualities and thoughts of varying ages from the little ones including my own kids amused looking at older dudes with glitter and fairy wings on and I think that’s really great because it reminds us all of how connected we can be and how fucking great we are. We have moved on from old Ireland and the weight of the Catholic Church, although we are fighting lots of stuff. We do offer a space over a weekend to leave your nine to five at the door and to come in and just get your glitter and your wings on if that’s what you want to do or not. Some people come to the festival and hang out in the healing area. It’s a village for the weekend where you can be who you want to be.

What do the next couple of weeks or months look like for you?

We’re fairly close to wrapping up the programme for Body&Soul Festival. I’m a little bit early this year. We have an area in Latitude in England so that will be underway and obviously we have Body&Soul Village at Electric Picnic. So from here on your crossing t’s and dotting i’s and making sure information is carried through correctly, and in some respects you’d be highlighting stuff for next year which sounds nuts. It’s very un-zen and not in the moment at all!

Is it weird for you that unlike other bookers you don’t get to relax after Body&Soul because you have to look towards Latitude and Electric Picnic?

I think other bookers are probably doing other stuff as well. I don’t think anybody is fully resting on their laurels. I do later in the summer. I need to step out of it and almost not listen to a thing for a week and be fully with the kids. You know from the beginning of the year while the full focus is the Body&Soul festival you are watching acts who will come through for the other things as well. I’m a terrible person for scribbling things on bits of paper and post it notes. It can be a little bit hard and it’s around now that you feel like you should be chilling out on a beach somewhere but it’s now that you need to grit down.

Do you book differently for Body&Soul at Electric Picnic compared to the standalone festival?

Yes and no. I think Body&Soul at Picnic is us but on a smaller level. We go for similar music, I suppose it is a bit different. I’ve never looked at it in an analytical way or stood back from it’s just kind of natural. I do think they speak differently I just know those voices well so maybe I’m able to slip in and out of it.

Where do you want to take Body&Soul? You’re moving into Latitude now, do you want to have sections in lots of festivals? What does the future hold?

There’s nothing set in stone. I very much like to get things right but it would be nice to look at partnerships that work with us and worked with how we do things but everything would need to be very considered because we are a small team and there’s only so many hours in the day and you don’t want to compromise. It would need to be very carefully done but there’s always room to grow a little bit. Body&Soul is obviously staying as is. Every year we do Body&Soul festival all the team take a lot of time looking back at how it worked on the site, the feedback from people. We don’t want to grow the size of the festival, certainly not. I know people from last year were questioning the size but I liked fifteen thousand. We never wanted to be a twenty five thousand, thirty thousand festival. It’s not what we want to do at all. Just that little bit bigger means you can run off and do your own thing for a while and still come back and meet people, still have that core thing going on.

It’s big enough to get lost in if you want but small enough to still meet people. So Body&Soul isn’t growing, it’s staying as is with just more work continuing within the site, within the infrastructure and within the smaller areas. There’s so many fantastic smaller areas and they’re a lot of the joy.