{"id":549637,"date":"2026-04-25T07:25:22","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T07:25:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/549637\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T07:25:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T07:25:22","slug":"kneecap-in-their-own-words-controversial-rappers-return-to-their-roots-for-documentary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/549637\/","title":{"rendered":"Kneecap in their own words – controversial rappers return to their roots for documentary"},"content":{"rendered":"

Belfast’s Kneecap<\/a> next week release their second album, Fenian which follows their critically acclaimed 2024 album, Fine Art and BAFTA and Sundance-award-winning self-titled biopic.<\/p>\n

It follows a tumultuous 12-months in which the Belfast trio<\/a> found themselves in the middle of a political maelstrom for vocally advocating for peace and Palestinian freedom at last year’s Coachella.<\/p>\n

They then performed one of the most talked about Glastonbury sets in recent years on West Holts stage and played to one of the biggest crowds ever congregated at the main stage of Electric Picnic in Stadbally.<\/p>\n

They also performed headline slots at Wide Awake, 2000 Trees and Green Man festivals, headlined two sold-out shows at 3Arena in Dublin and filled huge UK venues such as Wembley Arena and OVO Hydro in Glasgow.<\/p>\n

\"Kneecap<\/p>\n

Kneecap with Apple Music’s Origin Stories presenter Matt Wilkinson in Belfast(Image: Apple Music)<\/p>\n

Now the stage is set for the release of their new album, an accomplished piece of work produced by Dan Carey and featuring an uncompromising underground sound that their fans will love.<\/p>\n

Mo Chara, M\u00f3gla\u00ed Bap, and DJ Pr\u00f3va\u00ed <\/a>said: “They tried to stop us by branding Kneecap ‘terrorists’, with cancellations, with statements from the Prime Minister himself. We had all the motivation we needed…this isn’t a swift reaction, but a considered response to those that tried to silence us. And failed. We haven’t gone away. The Paddies are back.”<\/p>\n

To celebrate the release of the new album Fenian, Apple Music today presents the latest episode of a brand-new season of its Origin Stories, an audio series which sees the most exciting music artists revisit their hometown to explore how their musical journeys began, Irish Mirror reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The cover art for Kneecap’s second album Fenian(Image: Kneecap)<\/p>\n

Hosted by Apple Music 1 team Dotty, Rebecca Judd and Matt Wilkinson, who headed to West Belfast<\/a> with Kneecap<\/a> to return to Hawthorn Street and the surrounding community where their story began.<\/p>\n

The Irish language promoting rap trio reflected on recording their early music in a “hazy attic,” the political and cultural landscape of West Belfast, the rise of Irish-language youth culture, and how their breakthrough track ‘C.E.A.R.T.A’ emerged from protest movements.<\/p>\n

Joined by activist Ciar\u00e1n Mac Giolla Bh\u00e9in, the episode explores how Kneecap’s music intersects with identity, language revival and community pride, as well as their journey from local gigs to global stages.<\/p>\n

Here’s what Kneecap had to say about their controversial career so far…<\/p>\n

Kneecap on recording their early music in West Belfast…<\/p>\n

It’s a very significant street (Hawthorn Street), in regards to Kneecap, because this is where me and M\u00f3gla\u00ed lived for about eight, nine years, maybe. At number 51 up on the corner there, that’s where we’ve recorded ‘C.E.A.R.T.A.’ That’s where we wrote a lot of the first few tracks that we did.<\/p>\n

In a very hazy attic. We don’t live there anymore, so anybody listening in Belfast, don’t go near it. But, if they want to put one of them blue plaques up.<\/p>\n

Kneecap on rapping in the Irish language despite its limitations…<\/p>\n

On paper, it’s a really bad business model, if you’re trying to earn money, to rap in a language that there’s only 80,000 speakers daily. So by no means did we think it was ever going to be a career.<\/p>\n

Kneecap on growing up in West Belfast and the influence of politics…<\/p>\n

It’s obviously a place steeped in history as well, from The Troubles<\/a>. The Falls Road would have been definitely the worst area in maybe the north, obviously, other than Derry. It’s obviously very working class and what you have is a lot of people here who grew up in poverty, or whatever, and went through a lot. But, that also breeds the best kind of people. They’re obviously salt of the earth around here.<\/p>\n

I think around here is a good example of why the politics is involved with our lives and our music because it’s part of the fabric around here. If you look at the walls around here and the murals, the politics is everywhere, it’s not like we go out of our way to talk about politics, it’s just the common conversation around here when you go to the pubs. Politics is part of the conversation.<\/p>\n

\"Kneecap<\/p>\n

Kneecap recorded their new album with producer Dan Carey at the controls(Image: Apple Music)<\/p>\n

Kneecap on the group’s birth through starting their own Irish language music festival, and creating new Irish-language slang in their music…<\/p>\n

We started a festival and Pr\u00f3va\u00ed would have played guitar. He played every night because we didn’t have much, and headlined every night at the festival because there were no other Irish language acts.<\/p>\n

And it was out of that, the idea Kneecap was born because we felt like we wanted to represent this new identity of young people speaking Irish in the city. And I don’t think people knew that that was a thing. So, hopefully, Kneecap is normalised having it being seen in music, or in the movies and stuff.<\/p>\n

We obviously would get old words that existed in the Irish language and upcycle them. Is that the word? Recycle them … We were like, “You know what? There’s no word for this in the Irish language. Why should we break into English just to say that word? Why can’t we have our own word?”<\/p>\n

Kneecap on the group being formed following the Irish Language Act in 2017…<\/p>\n

The expectation within the Irish language community was that the state was never going to do anything. So, anything we want, we had to build it ourselves.<\/p>\n

So, we convened meetings. And then at the end of 2016, our good mate, Paul Givan, he’s a DUP<\/a> minister, and he withdrew a grant. He withdrew a grant from L\u00edofa, which would have sent working class kids to the Gaeltacht, kids from areas like this, who wouldn’t be able to afford it, were it not for this grant, to go to the west of Ireland.<\/p>\n

So, we immediately called a kind of protest outside Givan’s office. And when we went down, and the place was just packed.<\/p>\n

Kneecap on the creation of ‘C.E.A.R.T.A’…<\/p>\n

It was the night before the big protest and we were out allegedly spray-painting on the walls… spray-painting ‘cearta,’ because cearta means rights. Then two undercover police cars skidded across the road, and started chasing us. I actually wasn’t spray-painting, but I was actually training quite frequently at that stage, so I got away.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately the other fella wasn’t. He was skipping his cardio. So, he got caught. And he spent a night in the cell, a night in the clinker, because he refused to speak English. It’s inspired by that night, obviously with a little fiction sprinkled on it.<\/p>\n

Kneecap on their early success being fuelled by controversy and ‘C.E.A.R.T.A’ being banned from the radio…<\/p>\n

It was Raidi\u00f3 na Gaeltachta. Because most music in Irish was PC and whatever, I think when people saw us and it was like Irish language hip hop, all local politicians were sharing it without listening to it. And then they were getting phone calls from their PR team being like, “You have to take that down.” … So, the same thing happened with the radio basically. It was meant to go up, and then they actually listened to it, and then it got taken down. Somebody started a petition then, and that was the best thing that could have happened to us. It just took on a life of its own. Then we didn’t have to do any PR anymore. We didn’t really have to promote ourselves because outraged politicians were doing that for us.<\/p>\n

Kneecap on audiences engaging with their music without speaking Irish…<\/p>\n

I remember there were people in the audience, and they were singing to every fucking word of C.E.A.R.T.A. And then I was turning and trying to have a conversation with them in Irish, and they didn’t speak a word of Irish. So, they learned all that shit phonetically. They learned it all. And that’s something that’s continued.<\/p>\n

And that’s the difference with us and a lot of other groups is that even if you didn’t like the music or didn’t understand the music, there was that cultural pull, you know what I mean? And that we were doing it in our native language. Even if you didn’t speak Irish, people respected it.<\/p>\n

Kneecap on the global success of their film…<\/p>\n

Maybe it’s just our imposter syndrome about our own self-esteem and our own culture, but we thought that the movie was just about the Irish language, that it wouldn’t go any further than Ireland. Maybe that’s just our lack of belief in ourselves and our culture.<\/p>\n

But we went to Sundance and we’re watching it for the first time with an American audience. And it’s very colloquial, and it’s in Irish, and we wasn’t sure if it was going to go down well. And then frankly it won the Audience Award. And we soon realised that it wasn’t actually necessarily about the Irish language. It was an international story of identity, of language revival and culture, because the story of colonialism is a story of many countries all around the world.<\/p>\n

We met people from Basque Country and Wales and Aboriginal Australia who were going through the same process, so they’d leave the movie and they’d think… It would make them reflect on their relationship with their culture and their language.<\/p>\n

We thought initially, people always thought, “Why would you do it in Irish when it actually kind of hinders you to connect with people around the world?”<\/p>\n

But it actually worked the other way around. It ended up connecting us with people all around the world.<\/p>\n

Irish language activist Ciar\u00e1n Mac Giolla Bh\u00e9in on Kneecap’s community and sense of identity…<\/p>\n

People here are incredibly proud of the lads. Everyone feels like they have an ownership over Kneecap almost, that it’s been produced by this community. Everything that this community suffered and endured over many, many years, there’s certain things that we can be incredibly proud of. And the Irish language revival is definitely one of them and the lads emerged out of that revival. They’re from these streets.<\/p>\n

Kneecap on their mindset and philosophy…<\/p>\n

I think that’s a very important aspect of Kneecap, the people around here and the community.<\/p>\n

The best thing about Belfast is like, it didn’t matter if it didn’t work as long as you tried. You know what I mean? I think that’s something that we learned from the people before us. There’s no failure then, because if we get it halfway, then someone else would come and pick it up next time. And even if Kneecap didn’t work, we knew someone else would come along and finish the job for us.<\/p>\n

\"\"Join Belfast Live Social on TikTok<\/p>\n

Belfast Live Social on TikTok<\/a> will be jam-packed with food reviews, concert announcements, vox-pops of all the important questions and more – giving you handy NI-centric What’s On news at your fingertips.<\/p>\n

Be sure to give us a follow HERE <\/a>and comment the type of content you’d like to see from the team in the future. We are excited to share this side of Belfast life with our new followers.<\/p>\n

For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here<\/a> and sign up to our daily newsletter<\/a> here.<\/p>\n