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WE OUT HERE

Fakie Presents: We Out Here Event Review

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Charlie Ceates from Cultured Vultures takes a look at We Out Here.

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Hip hop. Grime. Skateboarding. Fashion. Art. All the elements of the alternate lifestyle. Yet this only scratches the surface of Fakie Apparel’s first showcase: We Out Here.

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St Luke’s and The Winged Ox is a unique venue in Glasgow’s City Centre. A converted church, the place has seen all manner of events, ranging from gigs to weddings and debates. However, until the 25th of November, there was one kind of event that they and a lot of Scotland hadn’t seen before: a skateboarding showcase. Hosted by Fakie Apparel, it was a memorable evening filled with music and sports.

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Fakie Apparel was established in 2013 by Mark McMonagle when he was 17. Spawned from his passion of skateboarding, he always wanted to own a skate shop. Later on down the line, he would be joined by his brother Paul. Fakie Apparel planned this unique event because of a lack of similar events in Scotland. Picking the venue for its size – and maybe also because their grandfather was christened here when it was a church – the skateboarding team rounded up an A Team-esque group of skateboarders, DJs, hip hop artists and MC’s. As for the night itself, there was something a bit wild and rushed about the skateboarding set up. While the decks on stage and organization of the venue were on point, the skating pit that took up the majority of the hall was nothing more than well placed wooden planks, a few cases and a ramp, surrounded by barriers. There was a very MacGyver aspect about the setup, which added to the overall feel of the night. Shug Duncan, one of the Fakie Apparel skaters, was an mc throughout the night whenever he was rarely off his board.

Oddly enough, there was also a family friendly aspect to it. At some points in the night, the Fakie team invited members of the public to skate, including some toddlers who skated with more prowess than most people outside of the skateboarding scene will ever hope to achieve.

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With that being said, the night wasn’t all about skateboarding. There were also local hip hop and rap artists, most of which grew up with the McMonagle brothers or knew them through friends. The acts featured in the nights were DJs and Hip Hop artisits, including but not limited to GMO, Wee D, Becca Starr, and MFTM. Some of them were kind enough to give Cultured Vultures a few words on the event and a look into the Scottish Hip Hop scene.

GMO was the first act to step up on the stage. Originally from Coatbridge and eventually moving to Glasgow, some of his lyrics unusually take inspiration from him being a type 1 diabetic. When he first started out in the scene in 2015, his lyrics had an almost joking tone towards it, but evolved into a more serious perspective, and he raps with such heart and passion that anyone can vibe with it. He got involved with the event through friends of Fakie apparel. When prompted to comment on the evolution of Scottish Hip-hop, he described it as ‘pigeonholed to the rest of the world,’ and any time there seemed to be any development from it, nothing really came of it, something he wants to see a change in.

Wee D and Becca Starr couldn’t have epitomized Scottish hip hop more, drinking Irn-Bru in between songs. While hailing from different places, Becca from Elgin and Wee D from Coatbridge, the two click so well together and share a mesmerizing dynamic.  Wee D first fell in love with the venue when he went to a rock gig with friends, and was eager to come back for this event. Both had a lot of experience in the Scottish hip hop scene, talking about Steg G – who Wee D is signed to - being a big part in pioneering the culture during the 80s/90s, and that while Glasgow had plenty of weekly events for the genre, the problem was expansion beyond the city.

The last musical acts to talk to Cultured Vultures were I.D and Remark from MFTM. As well as performing at the gig, the boys were helping out with a documentary. While originally from Glasgow, they have been doing a lot of work down in London to bridge the gap between Scottish and English Hip Hop and Grime. I.D, who was originally from Townhead and moved to Waterloo, had a lot to comment on the culture, saying how it could only evolve, but while England hip hop and grime had a more solid structure about it, Scotland’s scene was a lot more vague, that for the scene to breakout it had to be caught at the right time, and to help in that aspect, one thing that should be down was to break down the barriers

As if the night didn’t already have enough to offer, Fakie apparel were able to fit in some art amongst everything else. Artists like Del Boi from Delboi Tattoos set up stalls throughout the venue, selling their art and merch, as well as donating prizes to the event for the competition that ran throughout the night.

We Out Here is the first event of its kind in Glasgow. A renegade, wild mashup of skateboarding, music, and art, it hopefully won’t be the last.

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Special mention to Calis DubNative for his help on this piece: https://www.facebook.com/urmilkman

Check out GMO and his EP ‘Butterflies’ on Spotify.

Listen to Wee D and Becca Starr’s music video for their latest song ‘ILLOGICAL’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kH94XhjVjsk

Check out ID and Remark’s track with Shogun ‘The Effect’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5Z34YhUXgA

Other Featured Acts:

TOGO: https://www.facebook.com/togofam/

Kid Robotik x King Meraki: https://www.facebook.com/Kidrobotikglasgow

MVCC: https://www.facebook.com/Amacc247/

Orry Caren: https://www.facebook.com/orryc

Big Shamu: https://www.facebook.com/bigshamu/

SubKonsious: https://www.facebook.com/SubKonsious/

P. Adams: https://www.facebook.com/PAdamsOfficial/

Toni Smoke: https://www.facebook.com/ToniSmokeUK/

In the heat of the summer in 2016 we hosted our first edition of ‘Level Ground’ our skateboard competition / street style fest.

Hosted by a local skateboarding O.G. Shug Duncan, the event took place in Kirkintilloch skatepark to spread the word of the extension to the park and to promote skateboarding in the surrounding areas. Throughout the day various competitions took place. We started the day with an open to all Skate Jam, followed by Best trick on new and old sections of the park. Rounding the competition up with a Tranny Competition and a good old fashioned game of S.K.A.T.E.

Entrance to the park and registration posts were marked by the Fakie mannequin Sam holding the Fakie flag. If you didn’t notice him then you would have noticed one of the Fakie Girls walking around with sign up sheets and info on how to get involved.

The 1st place winner received one of our laser engraved Fakie Apparel Whiskey Barrel skateboards made by Neil McKinley at Caleb & Taylor. Runners up also received prizes such as t shirts stickers and limited edition boards. This was the first of Fakie Apparels Annual Competition Series. Keep up to date with our upcoming events through the website or our social media pages, you’ll find us everywhere.