Dave Hook
dave hook

Dr Dave Hook

Associate Professor

 0131 455 6037

  D.Hook@napier.ac.uk

   

Biography

Dave Hook is an Associate Professor in the Music subject group.

A rapper, poet, songwriter and music producer, his research is concerned with music, identity and society, with a focus on rap lyricism and hip-hop culture through creative practice. His work concerns how the local, global and individual intersect, considering Scottish culture, creative practice, and new remixes and hybrids of cultural interpretation. His is also interested in autoethnography and artist-led research.

Recent publications include the ra/p/aper: ‘Kids rock Akademiks but they’re not academic’: hip-hop, academia and the liminal spaces between (2022); ‘Scottish People Can’t Rap’: the local and global in Scottish hip-hop (2021); and Growing up in hip-hop: the expression of self in hyper-masculine cultures (2020).

A Fellow of the Higher Education Academy since 2012, he leads undergraduate modules in music production, research methods and creative practice. His postgraduate supervisions include hip-hop historiography, pedagogies and autoethnographic approaches to research.

School

Research Groups

Research Areas

Esteem

Conference Organising Activity

  • Conference Organiser: EMEA Avid Learning Partner Summit 2017
  • Festival Organiser: Where Are They Now? Festival for Hull City of Culture 2017

 

External Examining/Validations

  • External Examiner - PhD - Michail Excharos (aka Stereo Mike), University of West London
  • External Examiner - PhD - Adam de Paor-Evans, University of Central Lancashire
  • External Examiner: BSc(Hons) Audio Technology, Glasgow Caledonian University
  • External Advisor: Periodic Programme Review for BA(Hons) Music, University of Salford
  • External Advisor for period course review: BSc Audio Engineering & Production, BA Music Production and BSc Game & Interactive Audio, Futureworks School of Media, Manchester

 

Fellowships and Awards

  • Shortlisted for Scottish Album of the Year, 2021
  • Best Hip-Hop - Scottish Alternative Music Awards 2018
  • Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy

 

Invited Speaker

  • Guest lecture on hip-hop, creative practice and academia
  • Challenging, interpreting and remaking youth culture(s) A short discussion about Scottish culture, hip-hop culture and the ways that local and global culture(s) interact.
  • Scottish Hip-Hop? Challenging, interpreting and remaking youth culture(s) - UCL, Centre for Global Youth
  • Is Rakim the most influential poet of the 20th Century? - Push the Boat Out International Poetry Festival
  • A Scots Gaitherin – a Scots language event, hosted by Creative Scotland, the Scottish Government and Education Scotland

 

Visiting Positions

  • Artist Residency 2020 - Cryptic art house
  • Writer in Residence: Edinburgh International Book Festival

 

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Date


14 results

Solareye at Sonica 2022 - Live Performance at sonic visual arts festival

Exhibition / Performance
Hook, D. (2022)
Solareye at Sonica 2022 - Live Performance at sonic visual arts festival. [Live Performance]. 11 March 2022. (Unpublished
Just as the Covid crisis first hit the UK, Solareye – aka SAMA-winning, Stanley Odd frontman Dave Hook – was putting the finishing touches to a new set of solo works, imaginin...

'Kids rock Akademiks but they're not academic': hip-hop, academia and the liminal spaces between

Presentation / Conference
Hook, D. (2022, January)
'Kids rock Akademiks but they're not academic': hip-hop, academia and the liminal spaces between. Paper presented at PANTHEON: Hip-Hop’s Global Pathways to Cultural “Legitimacy” (European Hip-Hop Studies Network Meeting), Paris, France
Presenting a ra/p/aper, demonstrating and arguing that hip-hop practice is hip-hop studies. Building on AD Carson’s artist-research in the form of mixtap/e/ssays (Carson, 2020...

‘Scottish People Can’t Rap’: the local and the global in Scottish hip-hop

Journal Article
Hook, D. (2021)
‘Scottish People Can’t Rap’: the local and the global in Scottish hip-hop. Popular Music, 40(1), 75-90. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261143021000040
Hip-hop is a global culture, where local representation is a core tenet of its ideological framework. Therefore, it provides opportunities to observe how a global cultural str...

Ground Control and Cloud Booths: Using Dante to break geographical barriers to music production

Book Chapter
Ferguson, P., & Hook, D. (2021)
Ground Control and Cloud Booths: Using Dante to break geographical barriers to music production. In R. Hepworth-Sawyer, R. Toulson, & J. Paterson (Eds.), Innovation in Music: Future Opportunities (89-105). Abingdon: Routledge
In January 2013 the authors became early adopters of Focusrite RedNet. The RedNet Dante-based audio-over-IP interfaces gave their studios and performance areas very flexible c...

Interview with Bella Caledonia

Presentation / Conference
Hook, D. (2020, November)
Interview with Bella Caledonia. Presented at Bella Chats
https://bellacaledonia.org.uk/2020/11/26/bella-chats-solareye/

Scotland's Surging Hip-Hop And Grime Scene

Presentation / Conference
Hook, D. (2020, October)
Scotland's Surging Hip-Hop And Grime Scene. Presented at Dumfries Music Conference, Dumfries [Online]
An artist-led panel looking at current sounds, and trends emerging in Scotland and how the scene is attracting national recognition.

Growing up in hip-hop: the expression of self in hyper-masculine cultures

Journal Article
Hook, D. (2020)
Growing up in hip-hop: the expression of self in hyper-masculine cultures. Global Hip Hop Studies, 1(1), 71-94. https://doi.org/10.1386/ghhs_00005_1
Recently, rappers Talib Kweli and Evidence discussed the conflict between rapper-identity and individual-identity as a person ages, with Kweli describing how a rapper’s person...

Scottish People Can't Rap: an autoethnographic discussion on the local and global in Scottish hip-hop

Presentation / Conference
Hook, D. (2019, June)
Scottish People Can't Rap: an autoethnographic discussion on the local and global in Scottish hip-hop. Paper presented at Elements: 2nd Annual European Hiphop Studies Network Conference
Scottish people can’t rap, they just cannae mate You’d have tae be half daft where I’m comin’ fae Weans are more concerned wi getting bevied underage Summer rain, half baked, ...

Lyric Clinic (in association with PRS for Music)

Presentation / Conference
Hook, D. (2019, April)
Lyric Clinic (in association with PRS for Music). Presented at Wide Days: Scotland's Music Conference, Edinburgh
Join leading Scottish wordsmith Dr Dave Hook (aka Solareye) and guests for a session about effective writing techniques, how approaches vary according genre, avoiding rhyme cr...

An autoethnography of Scottish hip-hop: identity, locality, outsiderdom and social commentary.

Thesis
Hook, D. An autoethnography of Scottish hip-hop: identity, locality, outsiderdom and social commentary. (Thesis)
Edinburgh Napier University. Retrieved from http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/1255222
The published works that form the basis of this PhD are a selection of hip-hop songs written over a period of six years between 2010 and 2015. The lyrics for these pieces are ...

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