Mountains - for centuries they've moved us to poetry, inspiring great artists and writers. But rappers? Not on your Nelly, you might think, Mos Def a Ludacris notion. But then came Hiker Tim, perched at the pinnacle of the hike-hop hall of fame. Perhaps we're witnessing the birth of a new genre?
'My hike-shout-flow is sweeter than a post-hike swim', he reckons. Erm, quite.
'It’s a gift to me, I don’t just bag peaks lyrically, but literally... and the OS maps are scripts in which I’ve written your obituary.'
Far be it form us to argue, and frankly we wouldn't know where to start. So without further preamble, take it away Tim:
Is this a joke?
The man behind the project, Tim Dobson, refuses to be drawn, simply citing Poe's Law: Without a blatant display of humor, it is impossible to create a parody ...that someone won't mistake for the real thing [thanks, Wikipedia].
'For years, the University of Manchester Hiking Club had a tradition where a specific longstanding club member would write and present a poem at their AGM' explains Tim.
'In 2012 ...that club member was absent, and so people were egging each other on to write something. Originally, I parodied Dan Bull’s Epic Skyrim Rap, and included various bits of club folk-lore.'
'Sometime afterwards, I cleaned up the lyrics, rapidly recorded it, took various videos of me rapping.'
The video was shot in a variety of locations, from Sweden's Kungsleden, the Peak and the Lake District, to Kyrgyzstan, where one of the mountains shown is currently still unclimbed.
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