Between 2004 and 2006, he wrote and presented eight programmes about the causes of anti-social behaviour and social deprivation for BBC Radio Scotland.[8][9] McGarvey worked with youth organisation Volition,[4] teaching young people to rap.[10] In 2012 he led a workshop as part of a PowerRap competition for schools, encouraging young people to explore important issues through music and language.[11]
In 2009, he was part of the Poverty Truth Commission hosted in Glasgow.[12] In 2015, he had six months asrapper-in-residence with theViolence Reduction Unit.[13]
In April 2016, McGarvey appeared in a documentaryThe Divide discussing his alcoholism and its impact on his life.[14]
In October 2017, he claimed a lack of support for working class or deprived communities fromCreative Scotland, the main body that funds Scotland's arts companies and artists.[15] He also admitted he had not tried to apply for Creative Scotland funds.
Loki'sPoverty Safari won the 2018Orwell Prize for books, with the judges saying it "was 'exactly the book' that Orwell would have wanted to win".[16][17][18][1]
In December 2022, McGarvey gave a speech on "Freedom from Want" as one of four Reith Lectures for the BBC based on US PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt's "Four Freedoms" 1941 State of the Union address.[19]
Government Issue Music Protest (GIMP) (2014), a science-fiction concept album with significant contributions from singer-songwriter Becci Wallace which enjoyed some critical acclaim.[21][22] The album describes a dystopian vision of Scotland in the year 2034.[7]
Trigger Warning (2017), a concept album through which he attempts to explore various issues, expressed as a story.[23]
