A new film about Dublin's hip hop scene is being premièred in the IFI in Dublin on Friday the 15th of November. Broken Song follows the lives of Finglas and Ballymun rappers and the struggles they face.

Is Ballymun finally kicking off the stigma of drugs and crime and becoming an arts centre of creativity and Ireland's new rap capital? I visited Ballymun to find out.

One of the main stars of the documentary Broken Glass singer Willa Lee who is born and bred in Ballymun says in the documentary ‘When I was sixteen I started to take tablets which led to the muggings, I used to sit on corners and wait for people to walk by and then hit them and take what they had. I honestly should have been locked up because what I did wasn’t right’

Claire Dix the Director of Broken Glass, said ‘I had no idea about Irish Hip Hop, I met them and they rapped and there was just something powerful about the lyrics... You don’t need a lot to create you, just need your head and eyes open’

Hip Hop artist Michael Peele says ‘We want kids coming up rapping, instead of taking drugs, write it down.’

Originally published Nov 14