ONE of the best things about living here is that you can go down to Byres Road on a Friday night for a few quiet beers, and end up in the middle of a Polish hip hop night.

There probably aren't many cities where that could happen.

One minute you're enjoying a cold pint in The Butterfly And The Pig's West End outpost, the next you're caught up in the middle of the Polish 8 Mile.

There's a crazy beatbox version of The White Stripes' Seven Nation Army surging through the venue like a football chant, punters everywhere are dressed in the scarlet and white of the Polish flag, and there's a manic energy that you usually find at these kind of things.

It feels like there's a mild sense of danger in the air, but it's really just because hip hop fans are so passionate about their chosen genre, no matter who they're watching.

There's a lot of love in the room for Grubson, the young MC from Rybnik in southern Poland.

He's one of the country's biggest rappers, with gold and platinum records under his belt at the age of 26.

It's impossible to make out what he's saying (he keeps shouting "Polski" a lot) but I'm struck by the overwhelmingly positive reception he receives, and the fans chanting every lyric back at him from the floor.

We're more than 1000 miles from Warsaw, but for one night I couldn't help but feel like a tourist infiltrating the Polish hip hop scene.

It is moments like this one at The Record Factory, that remind me why Glasgow is so great.