Spotlight On... Vagrant Real Estate

Dropping on St Andrew’s Day, Neither Collar Nor Crown features an incredible 25 Scottish artists – from established rappers like Bemz, Chef the Rapper and PAQUE, to pioneers of Scottish hip-hop such as Madhat McGore and Mog, and the distinct voices of trad singer Iona Fyfe and alt-pop talents Florence Jack and Katherine Aly. To understand how it all came together, we speak to Nick Cronin, aka Vagrant Real Estate, about the ideas, inspiration and identity shaping the album.

The record responds to outside perceptions of Scotland, turning them on their head with your own celebration of Scottish identity. What sparked that idea? 
It was an internal thing. A lot of the initial reactions I get are like, 'Oh, Scotland's rubbish, nothing happens up there, and it's cold' – especially being from Aberdeen! But I think that's not necessarily the case. If you take the time to explore some of the creative fields across the country, there's a lot to be proud of. [Neither Collar Nor Crown] is a hip-hop album, but I wanted to push that boundary and encapsulate all of this poetry and folk music that we have a rich history of.

You sample a lot of traditional Scottish folk and Gaelic music across the album – what inspired that? 
At the very start of the project, when I was just picking up vinyl records and digging through YouTube, it became a bit of an exploration for me. It’s music that you don't necessarily hear that much unless you're looking for it. There would be certain bits that would kind of catch my ear, or elements that I would be like. 'Okay, how can I kind of rework this to fit into the modern landscape?' I think there’s a lot of really excellent vocal tones in the kind of the choir and harmony pieces – they stood out to me, and I wanted to develop them further with modern musicians. 

What themes run through the record for you? 
It'd be very easy to have this album entirely marketed as like Scottish rap, but I've tried to have it where there’s universal themes – you don't necessarily need to be from the country to come away from it with something. The main feature is Jackill, who's also from Aberdeen. And I think throughout all of his writing there is a running theme of community perseverance and self-belief. That was something that came up a lot in the features. 

How did you bring so many different features together for the album?
When I was reaching out to artists, I would give them an idea of what the album was about, and I would look for their personal experiences – what it means to them being from Scotland, or even being in Scotland. I left it fairly open because I didn't want to corral them too much into writing what they thought I would want to hear – I wanted to see how they would approach it. As a producer, one of my favourite things is to create a canvas for people to voice whatever they want to talk about.

Neither Collar Nor Crown artwork by Chelsea Frew

What did you take from working with such a wide range of talented artists? 
Patience! I think just with the nature of the album, it was always going to take time to get over the line. With releasing this independently, I was afforded the time to get it where I wanted before putting it out. With Iona Fyfe, for example, I think it was like a year between initially reaching out and then getting the vocals, just because she tours so much. When she recorded her vocals, she was in her flat, recording them on like a Tuesday evening and had a 5AM flight to the States the next morning. It was just the one moment we were able to get them done!

You’ve been part of the scene for a while now – what do you see for the future of Scottish rap? Any thoughts on Kai Reesu's recent SAY Award win?
It's continuing to go up and up, there's been an explosion in different styles. People are getting more comfortable with the identity within hip-hop – but that's something that is just going to take time. In the next few years, there will be somebody who breaks through on a much, much larger scale. It’s great to see hip-hop continue to be recognised [by The SAY Award], and will hopefully spur on more of the next generation to explore the history and pedigree of MCs, DJs, producers and the like that we have here. Ultimately, I hope it continues to develop the legitimacy of the local accent, as has happened south of the border.

What do the next few months hold for you? 
There's a couple of music videos that we’re currently sorting out that'll be getting dropped at some point and then I've got another project that's pretty much ready to go – I'm waiting on a couple of last features with an MC that's down in England. That’ll be releasing in the first quarter of next year.

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Neither Collar Nor Crown is released on 30 Nov

Follow Vagrant Real Estate on Instagram @vagrantproducer

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