A Glasgow rapper is to perform a show in Dundee based on his best-selling book to raise cash for a local charity.
Darren McGarvey, known as Loki, is hoping to boost causes across the UK through performances based on his best-selling book Poverty Safari: Understanding the Anger of Britain’s Underclass.
A charity show in Glasgow has already raised £900, which was split between Drumchapel Foodbank, Heat the Homeless and another local group.
He now hopes to raise several hundred pounds for the Hot Chocolate Trust, a youth organisation based in the Steeple Church in the centre of Dundee.
A registered charity, the trust works with young people aged 12-21. The focus is on supporting youngsters to develop their own opportunities by helping to build self-confidence and skills.
Darren said the purpose of the shows was to help the kind of groups that were there for him during his troubled youth.
He said: “These kinds of organisations helped me out when I was struggling. They have been involved in some key interventions in my life.
“I have experienced addiction and alcohol problems so I understand some of the things that people in these groups have been through or are going through.
“I believe the local charities are the real experts in communities. They don’t have the same support or finances as bigger organisations but they do such crucial work.”
His autobiographical account of a childhood in working class Scotland has been lauded by some of the country’s best known authors, including Irvine Welsh and J K Rowling.
It details his life growing up in poverty in Pollok and articulates the voice of people he considers to be misrepresented and misunderstood by many of those better-off.
The stage version of the book includes spoken word, rap, oratory and music and according to Darren is more “edgy” than his book.
He added: “I’ll use the shows to see how people react to different things and learn from that.
“I am planning on putting on a show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and seeing what pushes people’s buttons will be a big help with that.”
The Dundee show, put on by R&R Concerts, will take place on Friday January 26 at Conroy’s Basement. Tickets are £8.
