Hailing from Northern Ireland and having lived in Scotland for a few years, the Antrim rapper has first hand knowledge of both Irish and Scottish hip hop and sees the mixtape series as an opportunity for Celtic rappers and emcees to work together to reach an audience that they might not reach working alone.

Jee4ce has appeared as a live session artist on Radio 1 in Belfast and has gained airplay across the UK. Scruff Daddy asked him about how he got started in hip hop, the Irish and Scottish hip hop scenes and about the how the Celtic Underground Sessions came about.

How long have you been rapping and how did you get into it?

I think I was rapping before I even really new what rap was. Like I used to write little poems making fun of teachers in school or whatever and stuff like that. I was always into that sort of thing.

I remember when I was young I used to hear all these bands on the radio and I liked it alright but I could never really understand what is was they where actually saying. I don't know if I was slightly retarded or whatever but I could never understand the singing. Then I heard hip hop and because they were more or less talking in time to the beat I could understand every last word that was being said. Plus the fact that this was around the time of the whole Deathrow west-coast gangster rap movement so all they where talking about was guns and bitches and murdering each other, which at the time being a kid was the coolest shit I ever heard, ha ha.

It was like I found another world, so it was just a natural progression from there really. Being from Northern Ireland where there's not much of a hip hop outlet I got hold of anything hip hop related that I could and studied that shit. I soon realised there was a lot more to hip hop than gangster rap and here we are.

You describe your music as craic music. Is this a reaction to the "I'm the best, I'll stab you up" music that's out now?

I don't think its a reaction, more of a play on words. Like I'll make all types of songs. People in hip hop are usually classed as hardcore backpacker, underground or else the other extreme which is the more commercial sounding stuff. Me personally, I don't automatically hate something if it sounds commercial, or on the flip side I don't automatically hate something if it sounds too underground.

I have different tastes for different moods and I'll make any type of music as long as I'm having the craic doing it. Which is what its all about. I think a lot of acts out there tend to dismiss one or the other. The way I see it is if you can't enjoy or appreciate other stuff outside of the little bubble you're in, you're just holding yourself back as an artist. Its only music at the end of the day. People need to stop being so serious and sticking to certain imaginary rules.

How does the Scottish hip hop scene compare to the Irish scene?

From my experience Scotland has more gigs going on and more opportunities for artists to hook up and shit but in saying that its still really small. In Ireland more artists seem to have actual proper releases and things like videos out but not as many local gigs going on. It's weird because they're both similar and have equal amounts of talent but there's little differences like that, that stick out.

Do you think the two scenes can learn anything from each other?

Absolutely. I think it's more a question of if they are willing to learn from each other. It's just the hip hop mentality to do things your own way and fuck everyone else. It's not going to grow magically on its own, people need to support each other.

have you encountered any differences in the northern Irish scene as opposed to the scene down south?

Na not really. Irish hip hop is small enough as it is without dividing it into a northern and southern scene. I've done gigs in the north and south and to be honest the people just seem to be glad that there's other heads into hip hop they can relate to.

I know back in the day in Belfast, things like breaking and graffiti actually brought people from different communities together that would have normally wanted to kick the shit out of each other. But they where just happy that someone else was into what they where into! Its a beautiful thing. Ha ha.

How did the Radio 1 recordings come about?

I was getting airplay from Rory Mcconnell and and a few other shows for a few months. The live sessions they do is usually for bands to promote a new release or whatever but I got a phone call one day saying some band had dropped out of their session that night and if I could fill in pronto. So with no rehearsal time or nothing I just went to their Belfast studios and did it there and then.

The BBC have some weird censor rules though. Little things like I couldn't say "Bomb" on the air. Ha. I got a great response from it though, from all types of music fans all over the world. One of the policies Radio 1 stand by is to introduce new music to people and they actually go out of their way to find it, so it makes them look good for showcasing it as well as being good for the artists involved. So fair play.

Do you think the Celtic countries bring something different to hip hop?

I think they bring something people can relate to more in those countries. Like when you look at the mainstream hip hop that's popular here, whoever the latest American is rapping about his gun collection and being a pimp and all that. It's all well and good if you're in a club pished or out to have a good time or whatever, but there's no real substance to it. I'm not going to go home and put it on or dig it out in ten years time because of the lyrics.

I'd rather hear someone using everyday slang I'm familiar with and touching on a subject the odd time that I can sit back and be like, "Yeah, I know where he's coming from" or "Yeah, I've been in that situation." Even if someone is just chatting shit over a beat, there's something about the local accent over it that validates it. It just hits home more. Add that to the fact we can drink more than everyone else and you can't really go wrong.

Free downloads seems to be where the underground hip hop is at these days.Does this make it harder to make a living out of music or easier to reach new audiences?

The thing with free downloads is everyone is doing it now! And a lot of it is balls so its hard even to stick out from the rest. But it definitely makes it easier to reach new audiences. Which in turn equals more opportunities for gigs and that's the place for independent artists to sell music and connect with fans. If you do a good show you'll be able to shift a fair few cds.

I think unless you are doing something different the internet is only really useful if people know who you are in the first place. Everyone is doing the same thing. Look at MySpace. It's just advert after advert of shite!

What's the plans for the future?

To keep doing what I do. Working on lots of little projects here and there. I don't want to say too much in case it doesn't happen but I'm always doing stuff and you'll hear plenty from me. In the mean time check out the blog and MySpace Pages.

www.myspace.com/thebestmyspaceinthewholeworld