The ball joints are not foreigners to the controversy

For their fans, the Rave-Rap-Rave Rave Rapap group of the West is a turning of a turned and subversive nature. But for many others, their inflammatory political messages make them dangerous and amoral.

Following the traces of anti-establishment rap groups like NWA and direct the jewelry, the trio presents itself as dissident outsiders, giving a voice to the oppressed.

Their words, delivered in a rapid mixture of English and Irish, cover everything, parts fueled by drugs to their desire to release Northern Ireland from British domination.

On stage and on the film, they created a riot experience which is delighted Glastonbury, won a Bafta prize and inspired what was called “Irish language revolution“.

But their growing profile led to increased examination and anger at their political statements.

During an incendiary performance at the Coachella Music Festival in California earlier this month, they described Israel’s military action in Gaza as a genocide funded by the United States. As a result, they were called anti -Semites and marked “terrorist sympathizers”.

Now, images of two previous concerts are evaluated by the police against terrorism in the United Kingdom.

In one, the group would have called for the death of conservative deputies. Another seems to show a member of the group shouting “Up Hamas, Up Hezbollah”. The two groups are prohibited in the United Kingdom and it is a crime to express their support for them.

The ball joint responded with a statement, saying that they “are not, and never supported Hamas or Hezbollah”.

They said that they seemed to say “the only good curator is a dead curator” had been “withdrawn from any context”, and apologized for the injury caused to the families of the assassinated deputy Jo Cox and Sir David Amesss.

But the widower of Cox Brendan was not impressedcalling for their declaration “only half an apology”. Downing Street accepted, describing their words as “in Timi-Coeur” and “Completely unacceptable”.

The row was discussed Tuesday in the House of Commons, with the secretary of the shadow, Chris Philp, calling their “bad” comments.

This is not the group’s first brush with the controversy. If anything, the controversy is in their DNA. But this time, the benefits threaten to engulf their careers, with places and festivals under pressure to cancel the group’s concerts.

To understand how we got here, here is the original story of the patella.

The patella was formed in 2017 by rappers Mo Chara (Liam óg ó Hannaidh) and Móglaí bap (naoise ó cairealláin), alongside the Beatmaker Dj Próva (JJ ó Dochartight).

Their career was triggered by an incident during which Móglaí and a friend were painting the day before to support an Irish -language act.

Móglaí had written “Cearta” (rights) on a bus stop when the police arrived. He fled but his friend was arrested and spent one night in the cells after refusing to speak English to the police.

They documented the incident in the song Cearta, which they published “Just for the Craic. No plans for after” ” Mo Chara said to Irish Times.

To their surprise, the song was flattened by the Irish broadcaster Rté, to be deleted after the listeners complained about drug references in the lyrics.

After that, their production was sporadic. The 3CAG mixtape (slang for the medication MDMA) arrived in 2018, followed by the simple hood and the mam – dedicated to the mother of Móglaí, died by suicide.

These first files presented an ability to move between a sharp satire, a tender vulnerability and the experiences of “babies” of ceasefire “from Northern Ireland-the generation born around the Friday agreement in 1998.

Speaking at the BBC in 2023, the group said they were inspired by American groups like Dead Prez, NWA and Wu Tang Clan.

“Rebellious music in Ireland has all the same ideas as hip-hop in America. An oppressed community, using songs to revolt in one way or another”, ” said Mo Chara.

Unusually, they interpret most of their words in Irish, recovering the language of rural folk music.

“The only way Irish story and mythology have been transmitted was orally. I think that is why it is important for us to have this intertwined with our music”, ” Móglaí Bap told Crack magazine last year.

Knececap’s words often contain republican slang and slogans. Even their name is a reference to the punishment method chosen by IRA for alleged drug traffickers during problems.

The messaging has already landed them in hot water. Dj Próvaí lost his job as a teacher in 2020 after his school was alerted to a video of a concert where he had painted “British” on his buttocks.

Two years later, the group made the front page of the newspapers in Belfast after ordering a wall painting of a fire police vehicle with a slogan criticizing the Northern Friday pre-good police forces in Northern Ireland.

Designed to promote an appearance of the festival, it was criticized by politicians through the spectrum.

“To hate to give more publicity to the group”, ” said the head of the Naomi long alliance“But as a community, we have to start asking ourselves what messages we send to the type of future we want.”

The group said that its point of view on republicanism was partly ironic – satiring the self -important sloganering with which they grew up.

“Republicanism is so vast and on a spectrum,” Móglaí Bap said to the New York Times. “We like to play with that. We like to take irony.”

Admittedly, the joyful celebration of the drug culture group puts them in disagreement with the old movement guard – but the group is serious about their desire for unified Ireland.

“The British government has failed us for 100 years”, ” Mo Charra told Vulture last year. “It’s not like it was a try. You had enough time and it failed.”

Kneceecap’s reputation developed in 2024 with the release of a film, also called Kneceecap, which presented a semi-fictitious and often hilarious account of their ascent.

Featuring the group as themselves, with Michael Fassbender as the father of Móglaí, the film won the public at the Sundance Film Festival, with criticisms praising his “Punky challenge” And “unruly energy“, And was nominated for six BAFTA.

He was followed by their first album, Fine Art, a concept record that launched fans in a hedonistic evening with the group in a fictitious Belfast pub called Rutz.

With songs that embraced the music industry and discussed the Northern Ireland mental health crisis, he presented a group with more to say that their reputation has not suggested.

However, at a time of disinfected and apolitical music, the instincts of the ball joint for provocation and protest inevitably would attract attention.

Pro-Palestinian songs have appeared in their concerts since the start of the last War of Israel-Gaza. But when they brought these messages to Coachella, they faced a new level of control and criticism.

The ball joint was not the only person to have pronounced pro-Palestinian messages at the festival, but the accusations of genocide and video screens which declared “F *** Israel” were considered by some to cross a line in the speech of hatred.

The organizers of the Nova Music Festival of Israel, where more than 360 people were killed by Hamas in 2023, said that the ballpture “has deeply injured” their community, and invited the group to visit an exhibition on victims and survivors – “no to shame or silence but to connect”.

Others have taken a more strident tone. A group of the music industry called the creative peace community, with Sharon Osbourne, called on the US government to revoke the group’s visas.

The group manager defended his actions. Citing the Ministry of Health managed by Hamas. More than 50,000 Palestinians had been killed since the start of the warDaniel Lambert described Coachella’s performance criticism of “moral hysteria”.

“If someone is injured by the truth, it is something for them to be injured,” he told Rté1. “But it is really important to tell the truth and fortunately, the guys are not afraid to do it.

“They have bravery and conviction, given where they come from a post-conflict society, to defend what is good, and (they) are ready to do it despite the fact that it can harm their careers.”

At present, their career is under intense pressure.

Since Coachella, the ball joint has received death threats and has been abandoned by their reservation agents in the United States, which could compromise their visas before a next closed window tour.

The discovery of the concert video in which the group shouted “the only good conservative is a dead curator” and advised the public to “kill your local deputy” shocked the political establishment, with the police to fight terrorism in image review.

In Scotland, Prime Minister John Swinney called the group of the Glasgow TRNSMT Festival group, saying their comments had “crossed a line”.

The Eden project in Cornwall canceled their concert in July, and others, including Glastonbury, are under pressure to cancel the appearances.

Home Office Minister Dan Jarvis said on Tuesday: “There is a live investigation into live police, so the government urged the organizers of the Glastonbury Festival to think very carefully about who is invited to play there later.”

At the same time, criticisms only increased the profile of an act which was essentially an underground act a month ago.

This week, Knecap’s album entered the iTunes table in Italy, Brazil and Germany for the first time.