Dave Hook (PhD) is a rapper, poet, song-writer and music producer. As a lecturer in Music at Edinburgh Napier University, his research focuses on hip-hop, rap lyricism, identity and performance, through creative practice. Winner of Best Hip-Hop at the Scottish Alternative Music Awards 2018, Dave has toured toured extensively throughout the UK and around the globe with critically acclaimed alternative hip-hop group Stanley Odd, and as a solo artist, Solareye. His music has been featured on BBC Radio and Television, RTÉ2, CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation), ARD Germany and many others. His written poetry has been published in a range of publications including Gutter Magazine, Neu! Reekie!’s #UntitledTwo anthology, and Forty Voices Strong: An Anthology of Contemporary Scottish Poetry.
All Sessions by Solareye / Dave Hook
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Day 2
16th October 2021
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17:00
Reading and Discussion: Is Rakim the most influential poet of the 20th century?
17:00 - 18:00There are those would argue that Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot were the most influential poets of the last century, revolutionising and freeing up the art of verse for all who came after them. But what about those whose poetry is written primarily to be performed, especially with music? Bob Dylan was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for “having created new poetic expression within the great American song tradition”. And then there’s the rapper Rakim, the God MC, whose complex and intricately woven lines, lyrical flow, and patterned rhyme schemes transformed his art form, directly influencing all who came in his wake, helping turn hip hop into the most commercially successful form of poetry on the planet. Scottish rapper Solareye/Dave Hook from Stanley Odd and Caroline Bird debate the merits of the above argument with video excerpts of the artists discussed.
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19:00
Headliner: Big Saturday Night
19:00 - 22:00Four lyrically explosive performers of poetry will prove to you that poetry transcends categorisation, that hip hop is absolutely poetry, and Scottish hip hop is absolutely world-class. This promises to be a raucous, uplifting headline show featuring force of nature and much-acclaimed performer and poet Salena Godden, Scottish Album Of The Year winner, Nova, plus fellow Scottish rapper emcees Solareye / Dave Hook of Stanley Odd and the mighty Empress, whose debut album Love Wins has been winning over all who hear it. Expect upbeat rhythmic excitations, deft flow, sharp social observations and maybe even some dancing.
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