Under the Radar: Freestyle Master

Hip hop, traditional music and jazz combine to impressive effect on two new songs from Freestyle Master, write Olaf Furniss and Derick Mackinnon

Freestyle Master has been embedded in the burgeoning Scottish hip-hop scene for years, collaborating with Steg G, Solareye and most recently writing a couple of tracks for the cool collaborative compilation album Lab Raps. Produced by the Glasgow Barons and recovery community event provider Freed Up, it sees musicians from the classical, folk and jazz worlds join forces with hip-hop artists.

Freestyle Master features on two tracks on the album. On Testify (Improvised Freestyle 1), he raps over a jaunty instrumental accompaniment provided by Roo Geddes (BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year finalist) on fiddle, Ewan Hastie (BBC Young Jazz Musician of the Year) on double bass and Neil Sutcliffe on accordion, and he appears with the same musical crew on the nostalgic Rewound (Rewind Mix).

Among the other artists featured on the compilation are Evie Waddell and AjForty7, both previously featured in this column, and Sweet Rogue, whose track Recovery Stolen charts the rapper’s experience of recovery from drug and alcohol abuse. Listen at https://www.glasgowbarons.com/

Olaf Furniss and Derick Mackinnon run music industry seminar and social night Born To Be Wide visit www.borntobewide.co.uk

Off Axis Tours CIC is an artist-to-artist, community interest company, on a mission to make the live industry fairer for musicians. Off Axis enables bands and solo acts to build a nationwide fanbase by swapping gigs and touring the UK. They offer a transparent model, where artists keep 100 per cent of profits, showcase at festivals and benefit from expert mentoring. Get tickets or join at https://offaxisgigs.com