Hip hop stars team up for jazz collaboration at annual city festival

Stars of the Granite City hip hop scene are set for a live collaboration with jazz musicians at Aberdeen Jazz Festival.

As part of rap, hip hop and drill platform Hours Abdn, the Rhyme Lounge event will be hosted at The Blue Lamp tonight at 10.30pm

MC’s Gidd Gammz, Rabspitz and Mello Joe will perform sets alongside a live jazz band.

Aberdeen musicians Simon Gall (bass), Richard Glassby (drums) and Scott Cruickshank (guitar) will provide the grooves.

Founded in 2021 by city rapper Jackill (Jack Hughes) and producer Vagrant Real Estate (aka Nick Cronin) Hours Abdn has been the catalyst for the recent rise of the city’s hip hop scene.

Now they will push the boundaries with an exciting jazz mash-up.

Jackill said: “It will be improvisation and jamming with the band.

“It will be quite loose and will take hip hop back to its roots in jazz.

“One of the big influences on hip hop was jazz and blues, it’s where it all came from.

“The rappers will be able to direct the band a little and change things like beats per minute, but everything else will be loose.

“It is in partnership with the Jazz Festival.

“We did one with them last year that went very well.

“This time we have three MCs, three musicians in a live band and a DJ at the end.”

Jackill is an influential rapper and released his album A Day With The Jackill to acclaim in 2019.

The Track War Bells was released in January this year.

Hours Abdn was founded to foster the development of collaborations between hip hop artists and musicians in other genres.

Mello Joe will perform with a live jazz band.

Event organisers Nick Cronin, left, and Jack Hughes.