Seanchai & The Unity Squad: Rebel Hip-Hop
Hot Press Album of The Year - 1998"This is the most now Irish album for an age, made in the space where Ra and rasta meet" - Hot Press"Rebel Hip-Hop has Irish styling, but the songs are lyric-intensive rhythm-buster-incisive and unrepentantly political, yet free from the rigid, self-policing coldness typical of rap" - Sound Views |
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Reviews |
| Hot Press
Seanchai and the Unity Squad provided the album of the year on account of the fact that, in these days when republicans are well dressed and badly-advised, it refreshes the parts the other bands can't reach to meet a bunch of unrepentant fenian bastards. Seanchai & the Unity Squad is Chris Byrne of Black 47's other band and Rebel Hip-Hop is the debut album. Just in the way that the Pogues could only have come from London, the Unity Squad are made in New York, and look for rebel inspiration not (only) back down along history but out wide across the world, which of course is well represented within the city limits. This is an east Clare ceile fuelled by mphetamine, hip-hop battered out on and off bodhran, killer-riffs coaxed from uillean pipes and fiddle, a come all ye shout to the brothers off the block, a hooley for Terry and all angel-headed hipsters. What to do with rebel songs now the war's been declared retrospectively over? The slim black briefcase of the IRA? Oh Gra Mo Chroi I long to see the boys of the old interim solution? I believe Danny Morrison is writing a play called "The Shadow of an Executive". Chris Byrne writes: "Malcolm X, Ho Chi Minh/ Like Yeates' third 'Byrne I'm diggin in/ thats what I'm sayin by the rebel hip-hop/ we up off our knees and ye know we won't stop../ Tennn thousand Fenian Bastards pumpin their fist/ Jammin the verse not sayin they any better/ But sure as fuck ain't worse than any other".THE MEN BEHIND THE DESK? The only way to push on ahead from here is with arms linked to them who have just as long a way to go. We all stay down unless we rise up together. The merger of music exactly matches the political message. Hip-hop hooray for the workers' republic. "Hold on brother man me beggin ya hold on/ Hold on, all my sisters' n me beggin ya hold on/ Hold on one day there'll be liberation".This is the most now Irish album for an age, made in the space where --Ra and rasta meet and apprehending something beyond either or both. Whether there'll be a living in it tomorrow is something else again. Advise to bands and to former revolutionaries who have scaled the height of fashion: "Record companies an unnecessary evil/ Will help your career like a crash will Knieval/ Offer ya blow, take all ya dough/ That's how a pimp runs a ho/ How low can ya go/ Ain't nothing any lower/ Still dont get it/ Take it even slower/ If you want to be hip-hop/ Stop acting like a rock star".~ Eamonn McCann
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| TAL
Seanchai is the alter ego of Black 47 rapper and ex-NY copper, Chris Byrne and friends. This is their third album and it lives up well to the previous two which in my opinion were superb. A little bit more subtle and moodier than the previous two, I was well impressed with it. Chris lyrics about the war in Ireland and historical events are really the best stuff being currently written. Anyone who has seen them perform at the Ardoyne Fleadh in front of thousands will know the energy and committment that the band put into every concert. The music is a varied mix of styles, from hip-hop and reggae to folk and rock. A band who proclaim their politics proudly and defiantly. They should be huge, but , like Black 47, their upfront Irish republicanism probably means that cult status will be their lot. Rebel music for the new millenium. See the interview elsewhere in this issue. ~ Eck |