{"id":20108,"date":"2025-09-14T04:57:12","date_gmt":"2025-09-14T04:57:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/20108\/"},"modified":"2025-09-14T04:57:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-14T04:57:12","slug":"meet-the-cork-grannies-spitting-bars-in-knocknaheeney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/20108\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the Cork grannies spitting bars in Knocknaheeney"},"content":{"rendered":"

“You’re never too old to rap”.<\/p>\n

That’s the mantra \u2014 and one of the first recordings \u2014 of a talented grandmother taking Cork\u2019s local hip hop scene by storm with her age-defying performances.<\/p>\n

Sally Crowley is paving the way for an older generation of rappers at the Kabin Studio in Knocknaheeney.<\/p>\n

The studio shot to fame more than a year ago following a viral hit from its young musical collective the Kabin Crew. ‘The Spark’, which was performed in collaboration with the Lisdoonvarna Crew amassed over two billion views across social media platforms in 2024 and was longlisted for a Grammy award.<\/p>\n

Noting the positive impact of rapping in his community, founder of the Kabin Garry McCarthy from GMCbeats was keen to expand the project to cater for older aspiring musicians and has teamed up with Cork City Council\u2019s Musical Neighbourhoods and Creative Ireland.<\/p>\n

\"KabinKabin Crew Rappers and members Maureen Cullinane and Sally Crowley (front) Cara Cullen and Ellen Crowley (middle) and back row L-R Mark Barry, Alex Brady and Garry McCarthy at the Kabin Studio in Knocknaheeny. Picture by Noel Sweeney<\/p>\n

Sally is among Garry\u2019s most promising students and has penned a total of seven raps which she hopes can one day be released as part of an album.<\/p>\n

Sally, aged 60, has suffered her fair share of heartbreak. However, she never believed that rapping would serve as a much-needed outlet for her pain.<\/p>\n

It comes 21 years after her then teenage daughter Jessica developed a rare form of Parkinson’s, leaving her unable to walk or communicate. Now aged 38, Jessica lives in a care facility and takes comfort from listening to her mother\u2019s demos which include raps such as ‘You\u2019re never too old to rap’ and ‘You\u2019re grounded’.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes I wonder if she still recognises me,\u201d Sally told the Irish Examiner. \u201cThen I watch her listening to the raps and I see the glint back in her eyes. For that alone, it\u2019s worth it. She has always loved music.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The mother of two is keen to stay strong for her family including her other daughter, Ellen, aged 39, and grandchildren Patrick, Martin, and Chaniece.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople take so much for granted but even being able to turn over in your bed and scratch your own nose, I appreciate those things every day.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\u00a0Rapper\u00a0Rapper Sally Crowley performing at the Kabin Studio in Knocknaheeny, Cork. Picture: Noel Sweeney<\/p>\n

It was initially Sally\u2019s grandson Martin who inspired her rapping career.<\/p>\n

\u201cMartin was at an Easter camp with the Kabin where they were doing a showcase. Garry invited me to come see it with Ellen. He said he wanted Martin to come back and told me about an adult class they were running. I came back with a disc track and started attending the adult\u2019s group. I come from a musical family. My dad was in the Barrack Street band and my brothers were always musical.<\/p>\n

“I grew up with music but never performed. I never believed that rapping would be my path in life. I have written seven songs in the last two years, I am after making four demos and writing another one for Christmas. Everything I write I put a positive spin on.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n My message is not to let your age stop you from doing what you wany in life. People think they can\u2019t pursue their dreams because they never got that chance when they were young, but that\u2019s just not true. You\u2019re never too old to rap\n <\/p>\n

The experience has been extremely therapeutic for Sally who has performed at numerous gigs including the Blackpool Block party in Cork which took place last month.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Kabin gives me an escape. It helped me get out a lot of the feelings that I had buried deep inside of me. After what happened to my daughter Jessica I often felt guilty if I ever laughed or had moments of happiness or enjoyment. I suffered from anxiety a lot and Garry really helped me to express all that through music.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘I\u2019m not defensive anymore. I speak my real truth’<\/p>\n

\"\u00a0Rapper\u00a0Rapper Maureen Cullinane performing at the Kabin Studio in Knocknaheeny. Picture by Noel Sweeney<\/p>\n

At 80 years old, Maureen Cullinane from Ballincollig is one of the Kabin\u2019s oldest rappers. She learned about Garry\u2019s work through Hollyhill Library where she had been attending ukelele lessons. She is best known locally for raps such as ‘An Doras’ and ‘Sailing Away’.<\/p>\n

\u201cI could never picture myself rapping,\u201d Maureen said. \u201cI was watching how they did it in the Kabin and I wanted to know what this magic was. I had no problem speaking in public but rapping was a different story.<\/p>\n

“I could never have pictured myself rapping before. At 80 years old I thought I had achieved everything in life that was possible, Then I met Garry. He teaches people how to express their own humanity through rapping in a very subtle way.<\/p>\n

“He braided all the parts of my personality together so that I was strong enough to rap. I\u2019ve developed so much as a person because of Garry. A few years ago I would never have rapped or even have done an interview like this.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I\u2019m not defensive anymore. I speak my real truth. Truth and respect are the main elements of the Kabin. Best of all I have developed a career.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"“You’re never too old to rap”. That’s the mantra \u2014 and one of the first recordings \u2014 of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20109,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[79,93,61,60,278],"class_list":{"0":"post-20108","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-cork-news","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-music"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20108\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}