Darren McGarvey, who goes by the

stage name A stage name is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. Such professional aliases are adopted for a wide variety of reasons and they may be similar, or nearly identical, to an individu ...

Loki, is a Scottish

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

, hip hop recording artist, and social commentator. He was an activist during the Scottish independence referendum in 2014. He is from a political and performance family: his aunt is the former MSP Rosie McGarvey Kane.

Career

McGarvey was brought up in

Pollok Pollok ( gd, Pollag, lit=a pool, sco, Powk) is a large housing estate on the south-western side of the city of Glasgow, Scotland. The estate was built either side of World War II to house families from the overcrowded inner city. Housing 30,0 ...

on the south side of Glasgow. Between 2004 and 2006, he wrote and presented eight programmes about the causes of anti-social behaviour and social deprivation for BBC Radio Scotland. McGarvey worked with youth organisation Volition, teaching young people to rap. In 2012 he led a workshop as part of a PowerRap competition for schools, encouraging young people to explore important issues through music and language. McGarvey studied journalism at

Glasgow Clyde College Glasgow Clyde College is a further and higher education college, located in the Scottish city of Glasgow. It was created following the mergers of Anniesland College, Cardonald College and Langside College in August 2013. Merger timeline On 17 N ...

. In 2009, he was part of the Poverty Truth Commission hosted in Glasgow. In 2015 he had six months as ''rapper-in-residence'' with the

Violence Reduction Unit The Scottish Violence Reduction Unit is a Police Scotland initiative established in January 2005 (by Strathclyde Police) which uses a public health approach to target all forms of violent behaviour including street/gang violence, domestic abuse, ...

. In April 2016 McGarvey appeared in a documentary '' The Divide'' discussing his alcoholism and its impact on his life. In October 2017 he claimed a lack of support for working class or deprived communities from

Creative Scotland Creative Scotland ( gd, Alba Chruthachail ; sco, Creative Scotlan) is the development body for the arts and creative industries in Scotland. Based in Edinburgh, it is an executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government. The o ...

, the main body that funds Scotland's arts companies and artists. He also admitted he had not tried to apply for Creative Scotland funds. Loki's ''Poverty Safari'' won the 2018

Orwell Prize The Orwell Prize, based at University College London, is a British prize for political writing. The Prize is awarded by The Orwell Foundation, an independent charity (Registered Charity No 1161563, formerly "The Orwell Prize") governed by a boa ...

for books, with the judges saying it "was 'exactly the book' that Orwell would have wanted to win".

Works

Discography

* ''Government Issue Music Protest (GIMP)'' (2014), a science-fiction concept album with significant contributions from singer-songwriter Becci Wallace which enjoyed some critical acclaim. The album describes a dystopian vision of Scotland in the year 2034. * ''Trigger Warning'' (2017), a concept album through which he attempts to explore various issues, expressed as a story.

Bibliography

* ''Poverty Safari: Understanding the Anger of Britain's Underclass'', Luath Press, 2017 ** in German: Transl. Klaus Berr, ''Armutssafari. Von der Wut der abgehängten Unterschicht.'' Luchterhand, Munich 2019 * ''The Social Distance Between Us: How Remote Politics Wrecked Britain'', Ebury Press, 2022

Television

* Darren McGarvey's Scotland -

BBC Scotland BBC Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: ''BBC Alba'') is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland. It is one of the four BBC national regions, together with the BBC English Regions, BBC Cymru Wales and BBC Northern Ireland. I ...

- Darren 'Loki' McGarvey investigates the rise of poverty and inequality in Scotland * Darren McGarvey's Class Wars -

* Darren McGarvey's Addictions -

References

External links

Review of Poverty Safari
{{DEFAULTSORT:Loki Musicians from Glasgow Scottish radio personalities Scottish male rappers Living people Place of birth missing (living people) 1984 births Writers from Glasgow