kneecap: the extacy popping Irish hip-hop trio starting who are starting a revolution

I'm a American and I'm not afraid to say this ....

OUR political climate is shit!  Not only is our president a cult leading racist pedophile, it seems both of the political parties in the US are more worried about assisting Israel in a GENOCIDE then the well being citizens in the country there supposed to help run.  When I was growing up you could always find music that spoke about the political angst people feel especially in hip-hop.  Artist like public enemy, rage against the machine and immortal technique to name a few kept music fans informed of the real political climate and issues within the country since mainstream media has been compromised by the government.  In the past decade, especially since Trump's first term it felt destined that unapologetic political criticism would make a comeback in the music industry yet for the most part it's been radio silence.  Yes artist like killer Mike have been on the campaign trail for Bernie Sanders and speaking up about the dozens of issues with America but outside of a few bars sprinkled thougout his work i wouldn't call him a political rapper.  Later last year though my yearning for true politically driven music had been cured in the most unexpected ways by the most unassuming group or sooo I thought.  I have always dabbled in freelance work and I was doing a article on the BAFTAS, which is the British film industry's equivalent to the Oscars and the most nominated film was kneecap.  Kneecap is a autobiographical film about a son of a prominent ira leader, his best friend and a school teacher who was pushing the use of Irelands native language in a country because of British invanders speaks primarily English who form a rap group who rap in both English and gaelic to fight the system.  After watching the film it was love at first sight a group fighting corruption within politics though music.  Consisting of Mo Chara, Móglaí Bap and DJ Próvaí kneecap is a Ireland based electronic rap group who's idgaf if I piss off authority approach especially in there live performances is reminiscent of acts like NWA in that sense with mo Chara getting hit with terrorist charges for draping himself in a hezbulla flag and shouting support for Hamas.  While not a American based band there extremely blunt pro Palestine rhetoric shines light on one of America's greatest flaws being a puppet state for Israel and while there music on the surface doesn't always seemed politically charged there use of the gaelic language in itself is a political stance to the British government for suppressing there identity and culture.  On top of that there constant support for Palestines freedom has opened up the eyes of plenty of people to the atrocities committed by Israel and funded solely by the US government.  No other band in  recent memory have been so controversial yet so inspiring to the majority of people who have come across them including myself.  Their set at this year's Coachella where they said "Israel commiting a genocide funded by the u.s fuck Israel free that got the British counter terrorism unit looking into them brings me back to the days of NWA performing fuck the police at a concert after being told they would be arrested if they did. The revolution will be televized and it's being mc'd by 3 extacy popping ira affiliated weed smoking degenerates and I'm here for it

roc Marciano and dj premier the coldest profession (review)

As hip-hop heads wait patiently over a decade later for the heavily rumored premier and nas album at least they got a pleasant surprise last week with the coldest profession. The surprise drop by roc Marciano fully produced by dj premier sees premiers production taking a nostalgic turn with beats heavily reminiscent of his earlier work apart of gangstar with the late guru, laying the soundscape for rocs lowfi vivid storytelling. At only 8 songs this EP doesn't overdo its welcom e and the few criticisms I have with especially the beginning of the album become irrelevant because it's short length has you like a junkie feinding for more. On a production level this is the best we have seen from premier since his master class work on group homes livin proof in 95. Yes I know that's a bold statement to make since the certified classic moment of truth as part of gangstar dropped in 98 but it could be the nostalgic vibes talking but in my honest opinion premiers production on the coldest profession is even better. At first I was worried rocs quite yet chilling vocal delivery wouldn't fit well with the smooth polished instrumentals premier laces here and while it did slightly bother me on the opening track Armani section rocs cinematic and complex rhyme schemes end up entrancing you. The second half of this EP is where I found myself less bothered by the more hushed roc over polished production with my personal favorite track on the album glory hole. Premier layers blaring horns over a sped up click track that perfectly complements rocs signature hush flow internal rhyme schemes and from there on it just clicks for me. After the album was done I wanted more and listened again immediately and my original nitpick with the first half vanished. As of now it's my album of the year and I'm pretty confident it will still be in consideration at the end of the year 

Rating 

9 out of ten

let me reintroduce myself

Just a little about me and my history to get any new subscribers caught up and familiar with me both as a writer and a person. I started taking writing seriously from a hobby to a side hustle about 15 years ago I started off as a freelancer with little success but did have one published article with the now defunct complex magazine. I was a college dropout who went for journalism and media arts after finding out I was having my first child so I never thought the journalism career path would be sustainable. I use to also dabble in music production, ghost writing and used to release rap music even though the quality was subpar lmfao it was my hobby making beats that finally gave me a in back into my journalism hobby launching the blog eastcoastunderground central on blogger after falling in love with the underground hip-hop scene in the tri state area. I used to always check out the independent rap charts on myspace since my production company Ill behavior production's always ranked in the top 5 unsigned artist in new Jersey and I always had a knack for networking always looking for new artists to produce for. I started as a hobby reviewing my favorite tracks and showcasing my favorite artist on blogger promoting myself though social media and starting gaining 2 very distinct following one I sadly didn't know about during the blogs peak. One was my local hip-hop scene. I'm from a small city in NJ called Phillipsburg which boarders Easton PA and is part of the greater Lehigh valley demographic area. r the Lehigh valley hip-hop scene started embracing me to the point my blog ended up becoming 80 percent a Lehigh valley hip-hop blog and I became a local celebrity of sorts. I was nominated for over 15 Lehigh valley music awards in 3 year's for music journalist, website, music supporter multiple times and once for local hip-hop album of the year for a mixtape I hosted featuring the best music I reviewed. The other following which I wish I knew about sooner was my blog had a huge European following failing to realize at the time Europe is the home to the biggest most loyal underground hip-hop fans. I know this intro is all over the place my thoughts scattered because of personal reasons which are also responsible for me relaunching my blog but everything connected lol. Any I didn't discover how big my blog had gotten due to overseas viewership until I had a expose on a local artist go viral locally and checked my blog stats for the first time only then realizing I was averaging around 10k a week racking over a million views throughout the blogs life that still gets a average of 1000 hits a month despite not posting in over five years. All thanks to the European hip-hop fans I truly had success as a writer but ended up dropping the blog after a few disputes with artists I covered that leaked into my personal life realizing as a fan of music it hurts your perception of good music knowing too much about certain musicians on a personal level so I backed away. So this relaunch I'm going back to my original vision of covering the tri state hip-hop scene and various other independent movements and hip-hop opinion pieces instead of taking a hands on approach planting myself as part of one particular scene. This substacks will be more than that as I will also be using it to launch and promote my debut novel free Janet fullilling a goal of mine or publishing a novel even if it's though digital outlets and posting unfinished and dropped projects I've saved over the years so I can get people familiar with my writing style and build anticipation for my novels drop so I'm hoping to regain a support and network on this soft relaunch while also networking and collabing with various substack and reddit communities.l