You’d be hard pressed to find someone in the UK who hasn’t heard of Kneecap. Last year it was impossible to watch the news without the Irish rap band making an appearance.
Whether it was Mo Chara being dragged to Westminster Magistrates’ Court on charges of “displaying a flag in support of Hezbollah, a proscribed organisation” (a case later dismissed as unlawful, while Kneecap have said they “do not, and have never, supported Hamas or Hezbollah”), or the band’s Glastonbury gig which was so busy that the festival had to close the stage, 2025 will forever be remembered as Kneecap Summer.
But how many of us had our interest piqued enough to go and give their music a listen? I did, and let me tell you, I couldn’t believe my ears. This is what we’ve all lost our heads over? This is… well, utter rubbish.
An unholy three-way marriage of hip-hop, EDM and what to me sounds like parody music à la The Lonely Island or The Midnight Beast, Kneecap’s music is utterly out of step with the politically switched-on, intellectual, informed young lads I’d come to know through headlines. This isn’t the inspired, complex protest music I’d expected; it’s lager-lout chanting to half-baked beats. Surely this isn’t the music all the politicians have got their knickers in a twist over? It’s barely listenable!
Take “Get Your Brits Out”, a bouncy dance number that samples the BBC News theme tune and is illustrated with a cartoon of the late Queen Elizabeth II wearing nothing but her jewels and a bra (I won’t insult your intelligence by explaining the pun). Now, I’m far from insulted by this attack on the British – I just wish the song itself was as strong as the staunch republican message Kneecap stand by. And let’s not get into the absurdity of “Rhinoceros Ket”.
Terrorism charges against Mo Chara – Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh – were dismissed earlier this year (Photo: Charles McQuillan/Getty)I didn’t, therefore, have high hopes for their third album, Fenian, which is released today and has received rapturous reviews from various music publications. And I was in fact lulled into a false sense of hope by the opening four tracks. “Smugglers & Scholars” is a dark, swaggering, foreboding song, drawing a line between Ireland’s history of rebellion and Chara’s recent brushes with the law, while “Palestine” (which features Ramallah-based artist Fawzi, who raps in Arabic) is an urgent, angry polemic. “Occupied Six” and “Cocaine Hill” are almost brilliant. Have Kneecap finally become the band the headlines advertise?
Not quite. The juvenile “your mum” jokes and primitive production are all still there on Fenian. The title track reverts to their old gimmick of turning choruses into football chants, ready for the crowd (who may or may not engage seriously with the band’s political message) to shout along to at their raucous live gigs. “An Ra” is a toothless satire of British culture, taking aim at such stereotypes as our love for fish and chips and, curiously, Ant and Dec. Given how far Kneecap are willing to take their protest, calling Keir Starmer “Netanyahu’s bitch” on single “Liars Tale” seems particularly childish.
When I told my partner I was writing about how much I didn’t like Kneecap‘s music, he told me I was “showing my age”. And as rude as that sounds, perhaps he’s right. The audience the band are gathering aren’t bothered by the fact that their music sounds like a drum machine being thrown down the stairs; they think lyrics about getting “on the bag” and calling people C-words are funny and that old dullards like me simply don’t “get it”.
But the message of Palestinian, Irish and even Cuban independence is a grown-up, serious one and deserves to be listened to. We live in a world where our pop stars are terrified to say anything out of step lest they be cancelled – for their fearlessness in that respect alone, Kneecap are the most important act of the decade. What a shame the music doesn’t live up to their infamy.
‘Fenian‘ is out now
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