Irish hip hop, also known as Irish rap, is a term for any hip hop music produced and performed by a person who was born or grew up in Ireland. This genre is made up of a variety of subgenre such as Irish grime/drill, Irish Language rap, alternative rap and Irish trap. Each of these infuses influences from both Irish culture and another culture.
Irish hip hop originated in the early 1990s being influenced by the 1970s movement for hip-hop in New York. The original Irish hip-hop was politically driven due to the tension of The Troubles in the early 1990s, and mixed music styles of both Traditional music and Rudeboy Dancehall. Irish Rap genres such as drill and grime are mainly influenced by UK rap while alt-rap and Irish hip hop have a greater influence from the US. Irish rap is mainly listened to people in Ireland and to a lesser extent people in the UK.
Genres
Grime/drill
Grime is an eclectic style of British rap music that emerged in London in the early 2000s. It features elements of a variety of genres such as dancehall, hip-hop, and electronic music. UK grime was initially broadcast in the UK on pirate radio stations, without a broadcasting license, which initially prevented it from achieving success in the UK.
Drill is a subgenre of hip-hop with lyricism resembling gangsta rap and beats similar to trap music with a focus on a deep bass. It originated in Chicago in the early 2010s and emerged in London, England in 2012. American drill artists include Chief Keef, Pop Smoke, and Fivio Foreign, and UK drill artists include Tion Wayne, Aitch, and Digga D.
Both UK grime and UK drill influenced the genres of Irish grime/drill when it was introduced in Ireland during the 2010s. The Irish grime/drill scene is a niche market with similar lyricism, style, and beats as UK grime/drill.
Artists
Two examples of Irish grime/drill rappers are the eight-man rap group A92, and one of their members Tomas Adeyinka (Offica). A92 and Offica’s collaboration with English producer, Fumez the Engineer, "Plugged" in Freestyle’, charted for 12 weeks on the Irish charts peaking at #29 and charted for 11 weeks on the UK charts peaking at #39.
A92 is an Irish drill and hip hop group consisting of eight members (Andre Fazaz, Ao, BT, Dbo, Kebz, Ksav, Nikz, & Offica). They are from Drogheda, Ireland which has a postal code of A92, hence their name. The group rose to fame when their "Plugged in Freestyle" took off on TikTok. Users began using the audio for "Plugged in Freestyle" due to Dbo's deep voice which contrasts with Ksav's previous verse. Tiktoker Joshuaadzz used this trendwas able to gain over 500 thousand likes on multiple videos using this trend. A92 has also managed to gather millions of streams on other songs such as their Next Up Freestyle for Mixtape Madness, Season Finale with Fumez the Engineer, and A9 Link up. Group member Offica has also found individual success with songs like Bluebird and Naruto Drillings, which was remixed by Youtuber KSI in 2019.
Other Irish Grime/Drill Artists include Smilez, INK, and Chuks.
Alt rap
Alt rap (a.k.a. alternative hip hop) is a subgenre of hip-hop that does not conform to traditional hip-hop genres but instead blurs genres together. Alt rap first came on the scene in 1980s when artists such as De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest and The Pharcyde began combining existing genres of hip-hop to create music with an undefined genre, but mainly hip-hop influence. This is the most commercially successful out of all the Irish rap genres with multiple songs having over 100 million Spotify streams, including "Herside Story" by Hare Squead
Artists
Rejjie Snow is one of the most commercially successful Irish rappers. He is from Drumcondra, Dublin and specialises in alternative rap. Having grown up in Dublin and relocating to Florida then Georgia, and having Jamaican/Nigerian heritage, Snow has a large experience with different cultures and has been able to blur them all together. Rejjie Snow is influenced by US Alt Rappers Tyler The Creator and N.E.R.D.
Snow's first album Dear Annie had mixed reviews with a Metacritic score of 79. Despite these mixed reviews, the album still gained over 185 million streams since its release in 2018. Snow achieved his first song to exceed 100 million streams on Spotify whilst collaborating with American singer Clairo on her 2018 EP Diary 001. The song was the opening song of the EP and was titled "Hello?". Despite not officially being made a single, the song went on to be RIAA certified gold and garner over 150 million streams on Spotify. Rejjie Snow also has collaborations with US artists such as Aminé, MF DOOM, Joey Bada$$, Tinashe, and Snoh Aalegra.
