When Irish Guys Are Stylin'

If you think there's no such thing as Irish hip-hop, take yourself off to the first annual Irish Hip-Hop Throwdown in Boston next week. Featuring famous hip-hop acts from both Ireland and the U.S,. it's a guaranteed sell-out and it's shaping up to be one of the biggest Irish themed music events of the year. CAHIR O'DOHERTY reports.

ON Friday December 7, the Irish Hip-Hop Throwdown in Cambridge, just outside of Boston, will finally introduce Irish hip-hop to America. A first of its kind show, it features the talents of headline hip-hop acts like Sullee (a/k/a Bobby Sullivan), star of VH1's recent The White Rapper Show, and Ireland's Rob Kelly, one the most prodigiously talented Irish rappers in the world.

Quite simply, the music is amazing and its time has come. If you still need to be convinced that Irish rappers are a force to be reckoned with, just listen to the first 30 seconds of Kelly's track "Dropkicked." A duet with Irish American rap artist Slaine, the track builds on a hornpipe jig plucked from the soundtrack of the South Boston gangster epic The Departed, and it's every bit as passionate and compelling as the film itself.

Not many badass MC's can claim they grew up in Co. Wexford, though. In person rap star Kelly, 29, sounds more like a friendly Irish country lad than a menacing seen it all thug from the South Bronx.

But it's when Kelly raps that the magic happens (and take my word for it, magic really does happen). Because Kelly isn't just a wannabe chancing his arm on a few slender tracks, his sound is as rich and rewarding as any mainstream rapper in the nation.

"The people who buy my work are Irish Americans, and their support means everything to me," Kelly told the Irish Voice. "I'm very interested to see how the American audience responds to my live work."

One of the most distinctive things about Kelly is that he hasn't taken on a bad boy rap name, or changed a thing about himself, because for Kelly it's the music that matters. Everything else is just window dressing.

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