After Kanye West released a song called Heil Hitler and still got booked for three nights at Wireless festival — cancelled soon after the announcement — last year’s furore around Kneecap’s support of Palestine seems almost quaint. Still, their new album Fenian, named after a derogatory term for Irish Catholics, finds the Belfast trio coming out fighting.
Carnival details rapper Mo Chara’s court case after being accused of displaying a Hezbollah flag. He compares suppression of Palestinian solidarity with the Troubles: “The fenian in me thinks it’s quite clear to see. The Brits are at it again, repeating history.”
You can hear the righteous anger in Palestine, even if you can’t understand the words (it’s in Gaelic and Arabic from Palestinian rapper Fawzi), although there’s no mistaking the message of Liar’s Tale, a rave anthem in which they accuse Keir Starmer of being “Netanyahu’s bitch” alongside some more unprintable insults.
Meanwhile, the ominous Occupied 6 goes back to violence under the British presence in Northern Ireland. “You’d be taken out of your bed in your UB40 pyjamas by three men in woolly balaclavas,” they rap, before things get much, much worse.
It isn’t all deadly serious. Over a skittering electro beat, Big Bad Mo laughs at the fuss around what amounts to two rappers and a former teacher seeing what they can get away with, with Chara pointing out: “As soon as you’re outraged, we’ve won.”
Headcase details the story of a local bad boy with limited opportunities — “double shots and trouble’s all he’s got” — while An Ra is a portrait of the United Kingdom so insulting as to be preposterous. “Very grateful for sharing your culture with us. Jimmy Savile and HP Sauce,” goes a typical line.
Before the court case, Kneecap were a rebellious cult concern known chiefly for taking a pop at the DUP and rapping about the Troubles from a safe distance. Now they’re an international cause célébre and the anger, confidence and sophistication on this returning album, which takes in rave, rap and a touch of Eighties electro, makes you realise: if the provocation was a ruse, it has worked wonders. (Heavenly)
★★★★☆