Pitch, Scotland’s international hip hop convention, returns to Glasgow with a line-up of speakers and artists celebrating the genre’s underground culture. 

The convention aims to provide artists and industry professionals at all stages of their career with the opportunity to network and embrace new talent from Scotland and beyond.

The two-day event will be hosted in venues around Glasgow’s uniquely creative East End including Saint Luke's, Many Studios and the Drygate Brewery on Saturday 19 - Sunday 20 August.

Selected from over 100 applications to perform live as part of the Pitch Scotland x PRS Foundation Showcase were the Scottish-based artists AjForty7, Eyve, JusHarry, P Caso, Queen Of Harps and Supermann On Da Beat, Northern Ireland rapper HYFIN and US artist Nesha Nycee.

AjForty7, Eyve, PCaso and Supermann On Da Beat will receive delegate passes and mentoring sessions as well as a £500 grant from the PRS Foundation, who are co-funders of Pitch with Creative Scotland.

Also featured this year is LaJoyce Brookshire, seven-time bestselling author and publicist to legends such as Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston and The Notorious BIG. Her recent book, Women Behind The Mic: Curators of Pop Culture Volume One gives a voice to 22 industry professionals behind the success of various hip hop icons. 

Glasgow-based artist Divine Tasinda will be spotlighted in the panel Celebrating Scotland. Her work earlier this year on the Netflix choreography competition Dance10 as one of the 100 chosen dancers from around the world established her reputation on a global scale.

Mae Diansangu, has been revealed as this year's curator and host of Pitch’s spoken word programme. The black queer artist from Aberdeen performs and writes in English and Doric and had their compilation of poems black lives, heavy truth’s featured as part of the National Library Of Scotland’s Fresh Ink collection.

Mobolaji Agoro, Pitch Scotland Festival Booker, says, ‘Pitch Scotland 2023 is our most ambitious year to date. With a focus on not only our sector in Scotland but also the International links we've been nurturing, we have created an engagement platform for artists and professionals. The number and diversity of applications received this year is a testimony to its success. 

‘On Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 August the Hip Hop Sector will come together to celebrate our music culture and our successes, and to face the challenges of growing as a sector. As Hip Hop turns 50, Pitch is looking ahead to ensure artists and professionals from Scotland make a profound impact worldwide in the decades to come’

Pitch 2023 will take place from Saturday 19 - Sunday 20 August at Saint Luke's, Many Studios and the Drygate Brewery, Glasgow.