“I was rapping with an American accent til I was about fifteen or sixteen and someone turned around and went ‘here you’re not from the Bronx. You’re from the Blanch – you should rap like it.’
I saw Costello with the other Street Literature lads at a fundraiser for Rabble magazine last Saturday (issue three of that magazine should be on the streets of Dublin by the day of Saint Patrick), and as ever they delivered. Of course the Street Literature lads were among those to feature in the recent ‘Ireland’s Rappers’ documentary on RTE, which I have to be honest and say like a lot of others I found a bit disappointing. It lacked the right historical context (where were Scary Éire!), and seemed to want to present some sort of American ‘feud’ where really there doesn’t seem to be one in reality. Still, the Street Literature lads at least came off as genuine and people who do what they do because, well, they like doing it.
Workin’ Class Records continue to keep their music easily available to all, with all releases available to stream via their site and respective bandcamp sites, for example LD50 Part II from Lethal Dialect, one of the most talked about Irish hip hop albums in a long time. This seems to be as much a matter of principle as anything else, and should be welcomed these days. The buzz they’ve generated through this approach should be noted.
Costello’s album is something we’ve been looking forward to since the video for Young Apprentice was released a few weeks ago. The album ‘Illosophical’ is now available to listen to, free, by clicking here. My personal favourite track on it is ‘The Devil’s A Liar’, taking aim at the government and church, it’s a sharp piece of Dublin hip hop.
Enjoy. Costello will formally launch the album March 15th with Junior Spesh at the Twisted Pepper.
Dublin seems to be all of a sudden in the midst of a rappin’ epidemic.
Last Saturday night in Temple Bar..