Lethal Dialect is set to star in a Hot Press YouTube special tonight, kicking off at 8pm.

The man also known as Paul Alwright returned to his original rap persona for his 2020 album Lethal Dialect LD50 Part 3. The album had been started some 10 years earlier, intended as the slightly more hopeful third part in a major trilogy. But a change in direction saw the record being delayed, and delayed again. The seismic upheavals of 2020 made it seem like the right time to revisit the themes which had surfaced on the first two Lethal Dialect records.

Lethal Dialect LD50 Part 3 was widely acclaimed.

“What was meant to be a goodbye to an era of oppression has morphed into a record of stark, beautifully crafted rap, backed by lo-fi beats and minimalist guitar,” Tanis Smither reflected in Hot Press. And there was more of that feeling elsewhere, as Lethal Dialect's resonant talent was finally more widely recognised.

Having collaborated with major figures like Damien Dempsey and Maverick Sabre, and provided support to hip hop legend The Game, Lethal Dialect was in effect among the founding fathers of the modern Irish rap scene. But he has never lost sight of the need for the music to speak on behalf of – and to support the interests of – the disadvantaged and the deprived.

Other dates in the Button Factory Series include:

Mon 4th of January - Blackbird & Crow
Mon 11th of January - Vernon Jane
Mon 18th of January - New Valley Wolves
Mon 25th of January - Thumper
Mon 1st of February - New Secret Weapon

This project has been part-funded by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht Sport and Media from the Live Performance Support Scheme.

Watch tonight's show on the Hot Press YouTube channel below: