In Conversation With Paul Macalinden re Lab Raps on 5th April 2025….
Join me at 12pm on Sat 5th April when I will be in conversation with Paul MacAlindin about our Album of The Week – Lab Raps!! Hip hop meets trad !
Commissioned by orchestral conductor Paul MacAlindin aka The The Glasgow Barons, the result is “an eclectic, ground-breaking 12-track album” Scotland On Sunday containing songs about addiction and recovery, Puirt à Beul (Gaelic mouth music) and more. It was recorded in two sessions with two groups: MOG, Sweet Rogue, and Freestyle Master were accompanied by Roo Geddes, Neil Sutcliffe and Ewan Hastie meanwhile Evie Waddell, @SVG, and @AjForty7 collaborated with @Lewis Banks, Zach Ronan, and Dan Griffin
The project is also in partnership with @FREED UP CIC, the recovery community event provider. Director Donna Boyd worked alongside Paul MacAlindin suggesting hip-hop artists to participate. Two of the tracks, Recovery Stolen (track 9) and Testify (track 4) are about the rappers’ experience in recovery from drug and alcohol abuse. On 28 March 2025, for the first birthday party of FREED UP, a performance of the next LAB RAPS album featuring MOG, CCTV and Eugene, takes place at Edmiston House, Ibrox.
Lab Raps is released via The Glasgow Barons on 28 February 2025 listen watch introductory video featuring rapper Freestyle Master, Roo Geddes (fiddle), Neil Sutcliffe (accordion) and Ewan Hastie (double bass) talk about the project. Produced by regeneration orchestra The Glasgow Barons – Lab Raps is an innovative and experimental project in which the Scottish hip-hop community joins forces with musicians from classical, jazz and folk genres. Commissioned by orchestral conductor Paul MacAlindin aka The Glasgow Barons, The Scotsman has already described it as “an eclectic, ground-breaking 12-track album.” From Puirt à Beul (Gaelic mouth music) to songs about addiction and recovery. The rappers and instrumentalists are: MOG, AjForty7, Evie Waddell, Freestyle Master, SVG, Sweet Rogue instrumental musicians: Roo Geddes (fiddle) shortlisted 2025 BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year, Neil Sutcliffe (accordion) and Ewan Hastie (double bass), BBC Young Jazz Musicians of the Year, Lewis Banks (saxophone), Zach Ronan (accordion) Dan Griffin (bass guitar).
ABOUT: Lab Raps first appeared in The Govan Music Festival and Govan Footbridge Festival. The Glasgow Barons is a regeneration orchestra. Based at The Pearce Institute in Govan, they focus on bringing Govan to life through a variety of music performances and projects. They have been helping make music in Govan since 2017 and coordinating collaboration between the classical and hip-hop worlds since 2018, commissioning Steg G’s four albums, The Air in Between, Live Today, Surface Pressure and Demons. Artistic Director Paul MacAlindin has orchestrated three of these albums for rappers to perform live with the orchestra.