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Kneecap (band)
Hip-hop group from Northern Ireland From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Kneecap are an Irish hip hop trio from Belfast, Northern Ireland, composed of Mo Chara, Móglaí Bap and DJ Próvaí,[1][2] the stage names of Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, Naoise Ó Cairealláin and J. J. Ó Dochartaigh, respectively.[3] They rap in a mixture of English and Irish. Their first single "C.E.A.R.T.A." (cearta is Irish for 'rights') was released in 2017, followed by their debut studio album 3CAG, in 2018.[4] Their second studio album Fine Art was released in 2024, and a biographical film about the group was released later the same year.[5]
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The group's themes focus on working class Belfast youth culture, Irish republicanism and Irish language rights. Their name is derived from the extralegal punishment attacks meted out by Northern Ireland paramilitary groups. They are also outspokenly anti-Zionist. In 2025, The Guardian described Kneecap as "the most controversial band in the UK".[6]
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Name
The name Kneecap comes the practice of kneecapping, a punishment of gunshots to the knees which Republican paramilitaries would inflict on what they described as "political" and "normal" criminals including drug dealers and others as a form of vigilante justice.[7] See Paramilitary punishment attacks in Northern Ireland.
History
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Their first single "C.E.A.R.T.A." was loosely based on Móglaí Bap's experience. On the day before the Irish Language Act march in Belfast, Móglaí Bap went out with a friend of his and spray-painted the word "Cearta" on a bus stop. The Police Service of Northern Ireland found that and arrested his friend, although Móglaí managed to escape. The friend only spoke Irish at the police station, and spent a night there, refusing to speak English. Following this incident, "C.E.A.R.T.A." was written.[8]
In late 2017,[9] their song "C.E.A.R.T.A." was banned from the Irish-medium radio station RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta (RnaG) for "drug references and cursing". Fans started a petition which garnered 700 signatures to put the song back on air. Kneecap defended the song as "a caricature of life in west Belfast" and "a satirical take on life for young people, particularly in West Belfast".[10]
The group's first full-length album, 3CAG, was released in 2018. The title references the drug MDMA: 3CAG means trí chonsan agus guta ('three consonants and a vowel'), slang for the substance. The group's name was the traditional wounding inflicted on alleged drug-dealers by paramilitary Irish Republicans. Móglaí noted that the irony is intentional, as they are "talking about things that would get us kneecapped".[11] The release was retrospectively described in The Skinny as "an irresistible collection of raucous hip-hop that fused the Irish and English languages with a wicked sense of humour."[12] It was retrospectively described in The Guardian as "self-aware and swaggering in equal measure as it flipped between nights on the town to the everyday reality of growing up in post-Troubles Northern Ireland."[13]
While Mo Chara and Móglaí Bap are from West Belfast, DJ Próvaí is from Derry.[14] He was a teacher until 2020, when he left his school after they were alerted to a video in which he had "Brits Out" written on his buttocks during a concert.[15]
In February 2019, they received condemnation from Belfast South Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) MLA Christopher Stalford after videos of the trio were posted online, showing them chanting 'Brits Out' at a concert performed in the Empire Music Hall in Belfast. The concert took place the day after the then Duke of Cambridge and the then Duchess of Cambridge had visited the same venue.[16]
In 2021, Kneecap released their single "MAM" as a tribute to their mothers; the song was acknowledged as a shift away from their usual style saying that they wanted to do something more "real". Mo Chara stated in an interview that they wanted to show that "we can 'roundhouse' you off the stage but we can also give you a hug afterwards. We wanted to do something a bit sentimental, we don't wanna just box ourselves in with masculinity all the time."[17] The trio also revealed on Instagram that Móglaí Bap's mother had died of suicide before the song was ready for release, and that all proceeds from the song would be going to the Samaritans.[18]
In early 2023, the group began filming a motion picture, also titled Kneecap, depicting a fictionalised account of their rise to fame. Released in August 2024, the film was directed by Rich Peppiatt with Michael Fassbender in a supporting role.[19][20]
In February 2024, the group was awarded a grant of £14,250 from the Music Export Growth Scheme, which was then blocked by the Department for Business and Trade.[21] Business secretary Kemi Badenoch said that the grant should not be awarded to "to people that oppose the United Kingdom itself."[22] The group filed a discrimination case against the UK government, winning the case and receiving the total grant amount in November 2024.[23] They split the grant to two youth organisations who work with Protestant and Catholic communities in Northern Ireland.[14]
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Film
The 2024 biographical film Kneecap, in which the band members play themselves alongside more experienced actors including Michael Fassbender, Josie Walker, and Simone Kirby, is set in the West Belfast Gaeltacht Quarter in 2019. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on 18 January 2024, being the first film in the Irish language at the festival.[24]
In August 2024, the Irish Film and Television Academy announced that they had selected Kneecap as their official submission to represent Ireland in the International Film Category at the 97th annual Academy Awards.[25] On 17 December 2024 Kneecap were shortlisted for two Academy Awards for the Best International Feature and Best Original Song with their song "Sick in the Head".[26]
Political views
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Irish republicanism
Kneecap are heavily associated with Irish republicanism, which advocates for the reunification of Ireland and opposes British rule in Northern Ireland. Kneecap refer to themselves as "Republican Hoods" and their fans as "Fenians".[27] Despite their republican themes, Kneecap says that republican paramilitaries would have given them punishment shootings (kneecappings) for some of the things they rap about. As is common in hip-hop, their lyrics and imagery are also hostile to the police; in 2022 they commissioned a mural in Belfast of a burning Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) vehicle.[28][29] They promote greater use of and support for the Irish language in Northern Ireland. Kneecap say they are anti-sectarian and want to foster working class solidarity among Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland.[4] Mo Chara said "It doesn’t matter who you are, where you’re from. Just because we rap in Irish and might not align with your political views — we can be friends with people that we don’t align with politically".[4]
Móglaí Bap explained "we’re political, but it’s very tongue-in-cheek. We wanted to take the seriousness and the sting out of it and incorporate elements of life that we as young people enjoy — like partying and taking Class A drugs. ... We’re political with small p’s".[30] Referring to sectarian divisions in Belfast, he said that "The two communities in the [Catholic] Falls Road and [Protestant] Shankill suffer from a lot of the same problems — food banks, poverty, suicide ... The wall, unfortunately, doesn’t stop these things going from one community to another.… I think a lot of politicians in the North would rather people focus on certain aspects of us to create division, but there’s a lot more that we have in common”.[4]
On 14 March 2025, the head of a statue of King George V appeared on stage during a Kneecap gig in Melbourne, Australia. It had been cut off by protesters during the 2024 King's Birthday.[31][32] Kneecap made reference to the cut-off head in an Instagram post, writing "Remember, every colony can fall".[31][32]
Israel-Palestine conflict
Kneecap supports Palestinian nationalism. They fly Palestinian flags at concerts and pledge to boycott Israel.[33][34] The Irish Independent reported that members of Kneecap have supported politician Clare Daly for her stance on Palestine.[35] They have links with a volunteer gym in the Aida Refugee Camp in Bethlehem, having helped raise funds for it and promoted it on their Instagram; further, in 2022, Irish writer Manchán Magan released a cover of Kneecap's song "C.E.A.R.T.A" to raise money for the gym.[36][37]
During their set at the April 2025 Coachella Festival, Kneecap displayed the messages "Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people" ... "It is being enabled by the US" ... "Fuck Israel / Free Palestine".[38] This was widely covered by US news outlets, further raising interest in the group.[39] Sharon Osbourne led calls for their visas to be revoked for alleged "hate speech", and the band were sent death threats. Kneecap replied, "Statements aren't aggressive, murdering 20,000 children is though".[40]
Shortly after their Coachella appearance, counter-terrorism police in England began an investigation into the band, after videos of two Kneecap concerts were reported to them. In one video, from November 2023, a band member says "The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP".[41] In the other video, from November 2024, Mo Chara chants "up Hamas, up Hezbollah" while draped in a Hezbollah flag. In February 2025, the group tweeted an image of a member reading a book of statements by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.[42] In the UK, expressing support for those groups is a crime under the Terrorism Act 2000.[43][44] A spokesperson for UK prime minister Keir Starmer said that people with such views should not receive government funding as Kneecap had done, and Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin said that the group should clarify their position on Hamas and Hezbollah, pointing out that Hezbollah had killed Irish peacekeeper Sean Rooney in Lebanon.[45]
In response, Kneecap issued a statement, saying "We do not, and have never, supported Hamas or Hezbollah. We condemn all attacks on civilians, always. ... We also reject any suggestion that we would seek to incite violence against any MP or individual". The band alleged that an extract of footage had been "deliberately taken out of all context" and that they had faced a "coordinated smear campaign" for speaking out about "the ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people".[46] The group also apologised to the families of murdered MPs Jo Cox and David Amess. DUP MP Carla Lockhart dismissed the apology as "forced", stating, "It very much screams of 'sorry because they were caught'."[47]
Over 40 musical artists have expressed support for Kneecap's freedom of expression and denounced the criminal investigation and cancelled gigs that Kneecap has experienced during the scandal. Damien Dempsey described Kneecap's members as "three young peaceful warrior poets".[48] English trip hop group Massive Attack supported Kneecap, stating that the criticism by "politicians and right-wing journalists" were "strategically concocting moral outrage over the stage uttering of a young punk band, while simultaneously obfuscating or even ignoring a genocide happening in real time (including the killing of journalists in unprecedented numbers)".[49]
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Reception
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Kneecap's logo is based on the balaclavas worn by paramilitaries during The Troubles. Band member Próvaí often wears an Irish tricolour balaclava in public.[28][29][50] The Guardian wrote that Kneecap's earlier work focused on merging Gaelic identity with hood culture.[28]
Journalist Malachi O'Doherty said Kneecap "have worked diligently at presenting themselves as worthless layabouts. There's a dishonesty at the heart of that" and "Maybe what their success suggests is that hood culture and provie [Provisional IRA] culture are both now parodied rather than preserved with any integrity."[28] Brendan O'Neill of Spiked concurred and has also questioned their authenticity: in a December 2024 article, he argued that Kneecap's radicalism is performative, with the band adopting republican imagery to entertain liberal, middle-class audiences. O'Neill stated "They're the cultural class larping as chavs, the Rachel Dolezals of republican chic" and argued that Kneecap only offer a sanitised, bourgeois-friendly version of resistance that flatters rather than challenges establishment sensibilities.[51] Tom Jones of The Critic wrote that the group "provide[s] an attractive combination of an edgy appearance without genuine transgression."[52]
Emer McLysaght of the Irish Times wrote that Kneecap "present an intelligent approach to social commentary and republicanism, more satire than sectarian. They punch up, not down. When they're not singing about more universal social topics like drugs, addiction and mental health, they’re taking shots at the RUC, the PSNI, Arlene Foster and the UK government. They approach issues from a class perspective and, rather than demonising Unionists and Protestants, they advocate for working-class liberation en masse".[53]
In 2025, The Guardian described Kneecap as "the most controversial band in the UK".[54]
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Discography
Albums
Singles
Other charted songs
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Notes
- "Sick in the Head" did not enter the Irish Singles Chart, but peaked at number five on the Irish Homegrown chart.[57]
- "Fine Art" did not enter the Irish Singles Chart, but peaked at number five on the Irish Homegrown chart.[58]
- "Love Making" did not enter the Irish Singles Chart, but peaked at number 18 on the Irish Homegrown chart.[59]
References
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