A greater significance has been placed on the flourishing UK hip hop scene in recent times, but it's becoming increasingly difficult to ignore an infrastructure blooming on our very own doorstep.

The concept of Irish hip hop is still an amusing one to the movers and shakers of the Irish music industry, but the inevitablility is that it's happening with or without corporate permission. With the influx of international live acts and the already vital turntablist scene, as well as the active B-boy and graffiti-art communities, the hip hop lifestyle is becoming more and more of a viable option on these shores, far from the wigga-with-attidude reputation it seems to hold in certain quarters.

Not since the hey-day of Scary Eire have we seen such a groundswell of Irish live acts. Creative Control, Third Eye Surfers and Homebrew are becoming familiar names, for now just exciting warm-up groups for their US counterparts. But in the future, who knows?

Previously, international hip hop acts more often than not bypassed Ireland on their European tour schedules, but times are changing and Dublin, Belfast and Cork are suddenly becoming more attractive pitstops. Declan Forde, booker with POD/Mean Fiddler, is clearly someone with a lot of faith in the potential of a burgeoning hip hop nation. Promoting international acts such a Mark B & Blade, Ugly Duckling, the Pharcyde, Jeru The Damaja and a showcase night for the much loved Rawkus Records stable, Forde is tapping into an audience previously neglected by live entertainment.

"I suppose because Ireland has no real history or cultural legacy with hip hop, it's taken time for it to develop over here," explains Forde.

"Also, the fact that hip hop has been a predominantly American-based genre means that the artists were less accessible to Ireland. And it's only now that people are really taking notice of the UK scene, which I'm sure has always been there, it's just never been nurtured before. But from what I can tell, the artists definatly want to play here, and the more they play here, the more our home-grown structure can develop.

"Without meaning to get into clichés, hip hop is seen as a 'street' thing because it has usually been about the artist writing about his/her imediate environment from his/her point of view. For that reason it's very culture-specific and maybe that's why it has taken up to 20 years to be fully adapted by people from this side of the Atlantic."

Another promoter, Ross Killeen of RSR Promotions, can see the evidence developing in the club scence. The final of the RSR College DJ Battle features two of the most exciting young scratch DJs in the country, SPlyce and Tu-Ki.

"I think a lot of people are into hip hop and any time a good act comes in, it's always packed and there's a lot more crowd involvement in hip hop than a regular club or concert. As far as Irish live acts go, Creative Control are gonna kick-off; they're excellent. There's alaso a great scene in Belfast that's been happening up there for a while. Years ago, hip hop people wouldn't really come over here. Dublin's taste is a lot more eclectic now."

The aforementioned Creative Control have been generating serious excitement by word-of-mouth and low-key tape releases. A straight-up Dublin trio of beats, rhymes and cuts, they could well be the recording act to lead the way. Their 19-year-old producer, The Expert, has a strong handle on what may or may not happen with Irish hip hop.

"There's a generation coming up together now of 18 and 20 year-olds and this is the start of something new, acts like us, Homebrew, Exile Eye, Relevance, Danz, Davy Splyce, D-Low, Glen Brady and others. The equipment is getting cheaper, and there a lot more bedroom producers now. That was the main problem. It takes dedication. There's a lot more graf artists, B-boys and DJs on the scene but there's not that many bands, probably because it's so expensive to set-up. And the other problem is getting records pressed. The music industry over here sees hip hop as a gimmick. Hopefully that'll change."