The rebellious rise of rap group Kneecap

Last April, inside a sweaty tent pitched in the Californian desert, three musicians projected a message onto the stage during their performance at Coachella. White capital letters on a black screen spelled out: “Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people”, followed by: “It is being enabled by the US government who arm and fund Israel despite their war crimes”. Chaos ensued. Videos taken by festival-goers went viral, while Coachella organisers immediately edited the livestream. In the days that followed, other festivals quickly dropped the group from their line-ups, while several media channels seized the opportunity to quickly whip up rage and pass it out like candy floss. Weeks later, it seemed like the scandal had been gobbled up and forgotten- that is, until the British counter-terrorism police opened an investigation.

But let’s rewind: who exactly are we talking about? The musicians are Kneecap, a trio of rappers from the North of Ireland. They broke out in 2017 with their single C.E.A.R.T.A, a gritty and satirical rap written in the Irish language that comments on the lives of young people in West Belfast. Since then, Kneecap’s popularity has continued to soar, resulting so far in two albums, a semi-biographical film, and a worldwide tour. Their work is characterised by their unapologetic political views on topics such as on Irish unity and British colonialism, as well as their bilingual song-writing through which they advocate for Irish language rights. All of this is coated in a heavy layer of their trademark tongue-in-cheek attitude.

Coachella may have been ready to host a hip-hop group who criticises politics on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, but they were not prepared for these artists to actually be political once they arrived on American soil. The pro-Palestinian messages at the festival and the subsequent media hysteria in the US provided the British authorities an opportunity to dig up some dirt on the group. Unsurprisingly, they couldn’t find a way to punish the trio for bringing attention to an ongoing genocide. Instead, they waded through the archives until they found footage taken a couple of years previously of one of the members, Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, waving a Hezbollah flag. Sure, waving that flag was not a great look. But would that footage have ever been excavated by the police, resulting in a subsequent court case against Ó hAnnaidh if Kneecap hadn’t publicly shamed the US government at Coachella? Probably not. 

In another universe, Kneecap’s career may have been derailed with this smear campaign. But unfortunately for the prosecution, this controversy has bolstered rather than destroyed the trio’s popularity. Some festivals may have dropped them, but others have been quick to snap them up. If Ó hAnnaidh is found guilty, I doubt it will prove to be a fatal bullet to Kneecap. There are too many people watching this saga unfold who can see who’s really holding the gun- and it isn’t in the hands of three lads from Belfast.