Three hip hop singers who like to rap about hunting and life in the shires have released their debut record.

Community League take their inspiration for the music, which is more commonly associated with songs about gangs and gun crime, from growing up in the Oxfordshire countryside.

MC Tom ‘the Wize’ Wiseman, from Bampton, and Tim Burley, from Wantage, also known as DJ Thundercat, both 25, have known each other since they attended Bampton Primary School together.

During his time working at Oxford’s Pizza Hut restaurant, in the High Street, Mr Wiseman became friends with co-worker and part-time producer, Joe ‘Jokes’ Froud, 22.

The group then formed a collaboration, with Mr Wiseman providing the lyrics, and Mr Burley and Mr Froud providing the ‘beats’.

Mr Wiseman, who is currently teaching English in Mexico, said: “Hip hop started with people making what they could out of what they had, often not a lot, and the rap told the stories of their lives and their surroundings.

“Likewise, I gain my inspiration from my surroundings, my interests, my studies and my experiences.

“For example I have a song called War & Piece, Wise’s Gambit, which is the official song of a chess tournament. I have a song about fox hunting and I even have a song about Alan Partridge.”

Mr Burley agreed: “Obviously our music is going to be different to what you normally associate with hip hop, as we’re from the Oxfordshire countryside.

“We don’t talk about guns and crime. Tom just writes what he knows about.”

The three friends initially produced and sold home-recorded cassettes of their work to their friends, before they hit upon the idea of using the Internet as a way to work with an American producer and MC.

After five years of bouncing ideas, music samples and lyrics, from their bedrooms, back and forth across the Atlantic Ocean, the group have completed their debut EP.

The seven-track offering, called Community Spirit, which features tracks such as Shire Knights and Hunting Country is on sale online at communityleague.ecrater.com for £4.99.

Mr Wiseman said that he hoped the subjects in his lyrics would not be lost on hip hop fans.

He said: “The golden rule of hip hop used to be ‘keep it real’, but as time has passed, and hip hop has become big business entertainment, the truth is there’s far more fantasy than reality in the mainstream.

“Sadly, the majority of the lyrics are about selling drugs, killing people and being rich.”