In case anyone was wondering if the headline-grabbing Irish hip-hop insurgents Kneecap were backing down in light of blowback for their pro-Palestine beliefs, the band’s new video makes that answer clear: No.
Two weeks ago, the band officially released “The Recap,” a collaboration with British drum-and-bass producer Mozey that was first heard as a “bootleg” on Soundcloud in May. The group has now followed it with a video, which further addresses the blowback the group has faced during some of its recent live shows at the Coachella and Glastonbury festivals. (At the former, a sign reading “Fuck Israel. Free Palestine” appeared behind them.)
Over frenetic beats, the “Recap” single addressed criticism from the British government and Tory party leader Kemi Badenoch: “It’s Kneecap the Recap/West Belfast/Na na na/Disappear forever you Tories.” Referencing much-despised former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, they went on, “The writings on the walls/You like to think that you’re fooling everybody/But you’re not/Just like the iron lady/Your career is gonna rot/You’re just shit/Not in control.” The song ends with: “Onwards and upwards/Free Palestine.”
The video, directed by Finn Keenan, takes those lyrics to the next level. After opening with a barrage of newspaper headlines (“Rapper in court over use of flag”), the clip includes surveillance-camera footage, clips of Buckingham Palace and the Royal guards, an altered sign for a statue of Queen Victoria (“A million Irish dead under her reign”), and a cartoon of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who said the thought of the group playing Glastonbury was not “appropriate.” The clip ends with a crowd chant of “Free Palestine” at one of their festival gigs.
The Belfast band, who rap in Gaelic as a political statement of its own, has been in the crosshairs this year more than ever. At Coachella in April, they started one of their sets with a screen message that read, “Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people,” followed by, “It is being enabled by the U.S. government who arm and fund Israel despite their war crimes.” At Glastonbury last month, the band led the crowd in a chant of “Fuck Keir Starmer.”
The description of Israel’s reprisals in Gaza after the Hamas attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, as genocide has been highly contentious. Humanitarian groups including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have used that term, as have many others; former president Joseph R. Biden and the American Jewish Committee, among other groups that support Israel, have strongly objected to this framing.
Following the group’s set at Glastonbury, Kneecap (along with fellow festival act Bob Vylan) are reportedly being investigated by police, who will “consider all appropriate legislation, including relating to hate crimes.” Earlier, band member Mo Chara was charged with a terror offense after he allegedly held aloft a Hezbollah flag onstage last year, and the video for “The Recap” includes footage of him exclaiming, ““Glastonbury I’m a free man!”
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Two nights ago, Kneecap opened for fellow Irishmen Fontaines D.C. in London, again accompanied by screen signage that read, “Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people.” They once more led the crowd in an anti-Starmer sing-along, but the performance has been described as less incendiary than those in the past.
From Rolling Stone US
