Kneecap

Belfast-based trio Kneecap channels boisterous, satirical hip-hop that champions Irish republicanism and separation from British governance. Their rhymes, delivered in English and Irish alike, center on both pointed political dissent and the daily realities of life across Northern Ireland. Early attention arrived after Irish radio outlets pulled their opening single from rotation; the group followed that episode by issuing their first album, 3CAG, in 2018. More singles surfaced in subsequent years, among them the widely discussed 2019 track “Get Your Brits Out,” before the band enlisted producer Toddla T to shape the conceptual second album Fine Art, issued in 2024 and colored by rave, post-punk, and folk elements. A feature-length comedy-drama bearing the same name traces the group’s story.

The lineup comprises rappers Mo Chara and Móglaí Bap alongside beatmaker DJ Próvaí. The three came together in 2017, and their debut single “C.E.A.R.T.A.” (R.I.G.H.T.S.) drew directly from an episode in which Móglaí and an acquaintance were spray-painting slogans the night before a march supporting the Irish Language Act. When officers arrived, Móglaí fled while his companion was detained and declined to communicate in English. Although RTÉ initially added the track to its playlist, references to drugs and profanity prompted its removal, prompting fans to circulate a petition that framed the song as satire and observation while urging its reinstatement. The full-length 3CAG—“three consonants and a vowel,” local slang for MDMA—followed in 2018. Further singles arrived throughout 2019, among them “H.O.O.D.” and the concert staple “Get Your Brits Out,” which drew condemnation from the South Belfast Democratic Unionist Party. In 2020 the band released “MAM,” written for Móglaí’s mother after her suicide; proceeds benefited the Samaritans.

“Guilty Conscience” and the U.K. drill-styled “Thart Agus Thart” surfaced in 2021, succeeded by “It’s Been Ages” in 2023. Working again with Toddla T, the group unveiled “Better Way to Live,” featuring Grian Chatten of Fontaines D.C., as the lead single for their next record. Early in 2024 the fictionalized film Kneecap debuted at the Sundance Film Festival and captured the NEXT Audience Award. Heavenly issued the second album, Fine Art—conceived as a night at the fictional pub the Rutz—in June, with contributions from Lankum’s Radie Peat and former BBC Radio 1 DJ Annie Mac.