Kneecap have lifted the lid on the chaos, politics and undercover-police chases that shaped their early years, revealing how their breakout tracks were born in a “hazy attic” in West Belfast and fuelled by controversy from day one.
Speaking on Apple Music’s Origin Stories, the hip-hop trio said their entire sound was forged on Hawthorn Street, where two members lived for almost a decade.
Kneecap – comprising Mo Chara, Móglaí Bap and DJ Próvaí – said: “It’s a very significant street… because this is where me and Móglaí 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. 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.”
They admitted rapping in Irish was never meant to be a career move, admitting: “On paper, it’s a really bad business model if you’re trying to earn money, is 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.”
Growing up in West Belfast meant politics was unavoidable.
Kneecap said: “It’s obviously a place steeped in history… very working class… people here who grew up in poverty… But that also breeds the best kind of people… the politics is everywhere… it’s just the common conversation around here when you go to the pubs.”
The group say outfit was born after they launched their own Irish-language festival.
They explained: “We felt like we wanted to represent this new identity of young people speaking Irish in the city… We obviously would get old words… and upcycle them… Why should we break into English just to say that word? Why can’t we have our own word?”
Their political awakening intensified after the Irish Language Act row in 2017.
Kneecap said: “Anything we want, we had to build it ourselves… Paul Givan… withdrew a grant… So, we immediately called a kind of protest… and the place was just packed.”
Their breakthrough track C.E.A.R.T.A. came from a real-life chase.
They recalled: “We were out allegedly spray-painting… then two undercover police cars skidded across the road… I got away… the other fella wasn’t… he spent a night in the cell… because he refused to speak English.”
The song was later banned from the radio — a move that only boosted them: “It was meant to go up… then they actually listened to it… and then it got taken down… outraged politicians were doing that for us.”
Fans quickly learned their lyrics phonetically.
Kneecap said: “They didn’t speak a word of Irish… they learned all that shit… Even if you didn’t speak Irish, people respected it.”
The trio was caught up in controversy after Mo Chara was accused of displaying a Hezbollah flag during a London show in November 2024.
In March this year, it was decided that he will not stand trial on a terrorism charge after the High Court upheld a ruling that the case against him was brought unlawfully.
It led to protests outside courts by their supporters and cancelled concerts.
Despite the chaos, they say their community remains at the heart of everything: “Everyone feels like they have an ownership over Kneecap… they’re from these streets.”
Their philosophy is simple: “It didn’t matter if it didn’t work as long as you tried… even if Kneecap didn’t work, we knew someone else would come along and finish the job for us.”
The full episode of Origin Stories is available now on Apple Music and Apple Podcasts.
