Crunchy beats, drug chat, and righteous, coarse-mouthed anglophobia: these are Kneecap’s bread and butter. It’s only really been a matter of months since the anti-imperialist Irish rap trio (comprising Mo Chara, Móglaí Bap, and DJ Próvaí) shot to international fame – first gently, via an acclaimed comedy biopic, and then rapidly, thanks to a headline-making legal battle over terrorism charges – but already there is a sense that we know exactly what to expect. Fenian, the latest Kneecap album, delivers on all anticipated fronts. It’s an angry, irreverent, and bluntly political listen. And utterly frenetic to boot.
The legal charges against Mo Chara (real name Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh) – predicated on claims that he waved a Hezbollah flag onstage during a gig – were dismissed by a judge last year before the case made it to trial. “This entire process was never about me, never about any threat to the public and never about terrorism... it was always about Palestine,” the rapper said last month, when the government lost its appeal. Unsurprisingly, there’s been no changing course: on Fenian, the group are as full-throated in their support of Palestine as they are damning about Keir Starmer’s government.
