Power in truth for Offaly hip-hop performer

If the promise of his early projects are any way to gauge the potential of what might still be to come, then hip-hop artist Shane Gorry could well be Offaly's musical powerhouse to celebrate in the not too far-off future.

Performing under the moniker of Shane G, the Tullamore man has turned to music to turn his life around, pouring his soul into his words and beats as a way to deal with some of life's hardest challenges.

And in the process of resurrecting himself by way of battling back from addiction issues, Shane has also harnessed his talents to bravely use his own experiences as a way of helping to promote the subject of men's mental health.

Once upon a time - and it's a time that's still not so very long ago - even the thought of Offaly producing a hip-hop artist of any note would have been laughed off as quickly as the notion of any performer in that genre being courageous enough of spirit to address something as serious as mental health in their work. But things change. And Shane G is living proof.

Hip-hop is probably often viewed as one of life's last bastions of unabashed braggadocio. Now, Shane G is hardly a man for whom confidence is in any short supply. But what you'll hear in his work is something deeper. These songs are drawn from no shallow well of MTV or reality TV shaped, gilded, scripted visions of 'gang-life' or anything similarly fake.

These songs are real-life, because they're his life. And make no mistake about it, that kind of authenticity is perhaps the key element necessary in the making of a true artist.

In tracks like 'Searching', and 'Man Just Cried' (which features Last Singer Standing finalist Tony Cunningham), or 'It Is What It Is', you find yourself captivated, almost hypnotised, by the sound of a man who is not ashamed to let his own voice be heard, both in terms of his verses being bona fide representations of his lived life, and those stories being shared in his own Offaly accent. There's always power in truth. And in witnessing someone speak and share their own truth, there is a profound power indeed.

And this, more than anything else, will prove to be the most magnetic factor of the Shane G story as his music meets the world.

And speaking of truth, a fact often overlooked by hip-hop's detractors is that it is - first and foremost - a means of communication, of connecting. And like country music when both are done right, it's simply about storytelling.

Going back to Shane's involvement in promoting men's mental health, it's clear that the willingness to lay his own soul bare is something that exists in more than just his songs. 'Man Just Cried' is also the name of a podcast Shane has recorded, on which he is joined by that track's featured vocalist Tony Cunningham and Kieran 'Wally' O' Loughlin from Portlaoise.

On the podcast, all three men openly discuss their own personal struggles around their mental health, how they have learned to face and deal with those issues, and the stigma that still exists around mental health, especially for some men.

The first two episodes of Man Just Cried are available on Shane's YouTube channel, with further episodes coming soon.

Shane G is emerging as an artist with a story to tell, and in the process, he's emerging as a man with a story to tell too. And both are powerful. Both are truthful. And both are human to their core. They're stories worth hearing too. So listen up.

~ You can enjoy Shane's music at SHANE G MUSIC on Soundcloud, Spotify, and YouTube, and follow him under the same name on Facebook and Instagram.