The Irish Underground is making its way to the surface

“Man, I can tell it's a lifetime that Ricky gon be in the limelight.” 

“I look up in my heart, I need another day

I look up in my brain, I got so much to say.”

- Deattoricky, ‘No stress,’ Temple Bar.

Aaaaaannnaaa Mhúinin! You must have it to be part of the underground Irish rap scene, and by it, I mean a healthy dose of confidence teetering on utter arrogance; it’s all part of the young-buck-don’t-take-any-shite-shtick. While our rap scene may not yet be topping the worldwide charts and collaborating with pingpong biopic promoters (shoutout EsdeeKid and Timmy C!) compared to the scouse scene, the experimental, flitting-like-a-butterfly-while-still-being-grungy-like-a-moth tracks coming from Ireland’s young, ambitious artists are starting to gain popularity at similar speeds. This article will give an introduction to the Irish underground rap scene and into its most established face, DEATHTORICKY. 

Seven minute fiddle ballads and laments about soil do not feature in the emerging wave of Irish rappers. Rather, songs are generally kept to bite-sized lengths of one to three minutes and global rap aesthetics is embraced, but then y’know…. intertwined with Irish specificity. All the rap tropes are still there: a matrimony with materialism, a playful objectification of both genders and some good old-fashioned contemporary hedonism. Meanwhile, putting aside the flashy-glow-worm-in-the-ear-lyrics, the sounds themselves come from a generation raised flicking through songs and scrolling through the best sound snippets – the beets are grungy, bassy, fizzy, synthy, supersonic, energetic, twice the speed, and carry an addictive sense of excitement.

 Now let's talk about the expressionist, playfully ironic rapper names that make up the movement as well, like ‘Lymphodema,’ ‘Buckshot,’ ‘Baby Judy,’ ‘Pope Oz’ and ‘Young Yola’ – an entire article could be dedicated to tracking the etymological roots and inspirations for each of these double-barreled names by itself…But for now, let's discuss one of the most established faces of Ireland’s movement, particularly blowing up on social media: DEATHTORICKY. 

Most of Deathtoricky’s songs hit the one-minute mark; they are melodic, hyper-fast paced and have a constant upward motion of getting things, doing things, being things and feeling things quickly, better and better and better, just getting it done – that’s my inarticulate takeaway anyway. 

DEATHTORICKY was born in Celbridge, Kildare and has already toured music around Britain, getting lots of overseas attention from the United States as well. His songs incorporate wild hijinks about racing through Dublin streets out of car windows during sleepless nights, but are also reflective about love and the meaning of his going out and partying. Highlighting his exciting life of flights and money will always be central to the style, but the unique tints of his Kildare accent and design of aesthetics and music videos are what make him stand out from the crowd. DeathtoRicky believes that the Irish scene is only just beginning its first stage of evolution and that meeting rappers he looked up to and rappers less established than him, that everybody is the exact same, no matter the amount of followers. 

“You love my music, and I know you're wantin' more.” 

- Deathtoricky, ‘Ryanair.’ 

Written by Ben Lynch (ben_lynch__)

Edited by Shaunamay Martin Bohan @f4wnfatale