The Scottish Power  Power Rap competition was lanched by the energy provider in association with the National Theatre of Scotland to encourage children to explore important issues through music and lanuage and to support the National Theatre of Scotland latest production Glasgow Girls which took place at the Citezen’s Theatre on 31st October -17th November. To enter this competition, schools and community groups were asked to compose a poem or a rap on a topic which they were passionate about or felt strongly about such as; family, friendship, bullying, free-time or multicultiurism.

Mrs Bakers S4 class entered ….. and won. Madelaine Baker, Principal Teacher of English and Literacy at Lourdes Secondary School said” The Scottish Power Power Rap competition was a fun and interactive way of engaging the pupils to think about important issues facing today’s society.” Mrs Bakers said “It feels quite overwhelming to have won the competition. When our class entered we never belived we could win – we didn’t even think we had any rapping skills so to find out we had won was a huge surprise and I feel very grateful for this opportunity.”

Lourdes pupils prize was a rap workshop with community artist Darren McGarvey aka Glasgow rapper MC Loki, which took place on Thursday25th October. In Darren’s one hour- workshop the Lourdes Secondary pupils from Glasgow  were treated to a masterclass. The pupils wee coached in how to express themselves through the medium of rap, tackling tricky subject matter and learning how to communicate their feelings through verse.

Lourdes pupils were put through their paces during the intensive workshop, and their talents for writting  adn performance shone through in the short time allocated to them. Darren was impressed with the children’s eloquence and willingness to share their feeling s with their peers. Darren aka MC Loki showed the Lourdes pupils what a professional rap artist he is by performing his own rap about his home city of Glasgow, some pupils then performed their own rap with encouragement from him.

Darren said,that from an early age he enjoyed writting poems and his father was the one to encourage him to put his poems to music. The rapper told us that he writes about “his own feelings,his environments and his own experiences.”

Darren was very impressed by the young people from Lourdes who performed their own raps and he said they were “extremely talented.” His advice to other rappers and musicians is “Try to be yourself, write a lot, practice and try to surround yourself with others with similar intrests.”

Rebecca Tierney in S4 said of the masterclass “It was a wonderful experience” and Evan Murray and Ryan Porteus in S3 said”I want to do it again .” Pupils like Laura Mansley,15 were inspired by what they learned and were given  a deeper understanding of rap and the positive aspects of the medium.

“Before the competition I didn’t really like listening to rap music, I didn’t really care about it but now I understand how to write rap and how it inspires people, I appreciate it more.” She also said “I learned that when you’re writting you should imagine yourself in the place which inspired you to write that particular piece of work, if you also apply that to rapping you can make the rap sound better to the audience.

“Laura performed a rap about her experience at a,live concert and how exhilarating it is to watch a band you love perform on stage.

“Rap offers  kids an alternative education and positive means of expresion.” Said Darren at his workshop with the children.

Thankfully,the pupils of Lourdes Secondary School and their rapper coach MC Loki are proud that rap is not just fast cars, bad words and bling.Along with their rap workshop,Lourdes pupils had the opportunity to watch a performance of the Glasgow Girls at the  Citizen’s Theatre which is based on a true story of the powerful pro-asylum seeker campain which was led by the real-life Glasgow Girls who driven by a fierce sense of justice, came together to fight for the life of their friend.