Kneecap, the Belfast rap trio, have released their new single “Fine Art” and have given an interview to NME to discuss their recent controversies, North American tour, and what to expect from their debut album. Kneecap was in the headlines lately because they led the group of Irish bands boycotting SXSW in solidarity with Palestine and protesting against the festival’s sponsorship from US military and weapons manufacturers. The trio is currently on a North American tour after their first US TV performance on Jimmy Fallon’s show.
The trio has released the title track of their upcoming album “Fine Art” which is produced by Toddla T. The song is a hard-hitting, brutal portrait of the band, blending hard hip-hop beats with quickfire Irish lyrics and some English ones. Kneecap was inspired by “the mental reaction of the media to our mural unveiling of a police jeep on fire” and the song draws on the many headlines made by the band due to their references to politics and drugs.
The band explains that the title of the song and lyrics were a response to everyone’s desire for the band to provide a massive political analysis of the mural. They sent the media two words: Fine Art. The song is a concept album and a taster of the band’s story and sets the tone for the whole record. Before the drop is a sample of journalist Steven Nolan, who discussed the mural on the BBC. The band confirmed that it was the first track they did with Toddla as a standalone practice run to see if it was going to work or not.
The NME interview covers the band’s reaction to making a pro-Palestinian statement on The Late Late Show. They mentioned that people in Ireland loved it, with many bald men shaking hands with Móglaí Bap in the streets afterward. The trio discussed breaking into America and the type of audience they have found. They also spoke about their recent performance on Jimmy Fallon’s show and how their statement on Palestine would have been harder to make if the performance had not been pre-recorded.
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