A new album from Kneecap, at this point, is like a brick thrown through the window of the international music charts. Ever since they put up a “FUCK ISRAEL, FREE PALESTINE” banner at last year’s Coachella music festival, the politically-charged Irish rap group has been at the center of an ever-escalating hailstorm of controversy. Frontman Mo Chara (government name Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh) faced terrorism charges for an incident where he allegedly waved a Hezbollah flag a fan threw at him onstage, then beat the case in court. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, in between rounds of cutting people’s disability benefits, called Kneecap’s politics “completely intolerable.” The governments of Canada and Hungary have both banned the group from entering their countries, and they’ve lost their U.S. visa sponsor, making it impossible for them to tour in the States for the time being. Sharon Osbourne called for them to be banned from the stage at Glastonbury, and even the once-great punk rocker Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols has deemed them “my enemy.” This March, Kneecap came under attack yet again from U.S. Representative Maria Salazar, this time for visiting and performing in Cuba, a trip we covered in this magazine. Their music has become a focal point for the broader, world-spanning fight over colonialism and resistance, and exactly what forms of political expression are and aren’t acceptable.

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