Irish drill rappers who are making a mark in hip-hop music include SELLO, Chuks, and Rose9. This subgenre of hip-hop music started getting popularized in 2018.
It originated in Ireland and is known for its blunt and aggressive sound, along with the heavy use of dark synths, trap-style hi-hat, and 808s. The lyrics mostly focus on issues such as poverty, violence, and crime. The lyrical content also contains references to Irish culture and slang.
Irish drill rappers have their own unique style and sounds, although the music takes influences from the UK drill scene. Rappers started experimenting and adding their own flavors and twists to it.
Here is a list of 11 Irish drill rappers.
11. Rose9
Rose9 is an Irish drill artist who is a part of the group AV9. He is originally from Balbriggan, Dublin, and started his musical career in 2018.
He is known for his brilliant wordplay, protean flows, and his love for creme brulee, according to his profile on Genius. His music has a slick delivery and technical punchlines.
Rose9 gained much recognition after releasing songs such as Life I Live and Doomsday.
Some of Rose9’s top songs include Sasuke, Je Ka Lo, Despacito, Facts, Millian, Tiger Woods, Street Love, Stay Inside, and Happy Days. He is a verified artist on Spotify and has 109.5k monthly listeners and 2.5k followers.
10. INK
INK is also called the Godfather of Irish drill music. He has been credited as the founder of Irish drill and the creator of the genre in both the UK as well as the Irish music scene.
Born to an Arabic-origin father and an Irish mother in Dublin, INK grew up as a mixed raced child. Most of his music narrates the story of the harsh reality of growing up in Dublin and the challenging times he went through.
His style is Dublin street culture, and his lyrics are also based on gang culture in the country. According to his profile on Spotify, he chooses to use his distinct Dublin accent in order to boost the Irish music culture and inspire other Irish musicians to do the same.
Fans love INK’s harsh Dublin accent because of the unique sound and the way his music captivates with an urban presence.
9. Sequence
Sequence is a musical artist, entrepreneur, and video maker. Besides making his music, he manages the 090 crew. Known as the genuine pioneer of Irish music, he has been in the Afrobeat and drill scene for many years.
His 2019 second-stage performance at the Longitude festival has significantly impacted his music career. Sequence took a break from releases to launch on his New Eire video platform and soon returned with the Misunderstood EP collection and the single ‘Pimpin’ in 2020.
Sequence told DJ Mag that he feels like there is a lot of talent in Ireland, but there is no place actually to showcase it. His vision with New Eire was to disclose the best of the best so that when people from outside Ireland look at the channel, they get the impression.
8. A92
A92 is a collective from Drogheda, East Coast of Ireland. It has slowly gone from Ireland’s premier drill collective to one of the biggest drill collectives in the world.
A92 includes a group of seven Irish Nigerians; Officia, Nikz, Ksav, Dbo, BT, and Kebz. Their mixtape 92 Degrees helped them carve their names as one of the most successful crews in global drill music.
Whether it is Dbo’s booming foghorn rap style or Ksav’s nippy flow, there certainly is no shortage of variation with the collective. As mentioned on their Spotify profile, the secret to their music is their versatility, with each member bringing their own distinct flavor.
7. Ac3
AC3 is an 18-year-old rapper from South Dublin. According to his Spotify profile, he dreams of becoming an icon for his generation by showing a distinct avenue for young people to follow.
Most of his monthly listeners on Spotify are from Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick, and London. Ac3’s popular songs include Dublin Not London, Bun Go Bar, Streets Cold, Different, Tic Toc, and Essence.
His song, Dublin Not London, talks spits hard facts about girls and cops, and it shows Ac3’s personal excellence. The song also has many views on TikTok, making it one of the most popular songs on TikTok in Ireland.
6. Swift9
Swift9, aka Swift, is an Irish drill rapper and a member of the drill group “AV9.” The young artist is originally from Balbriggan, North Dublin, Ireland.
The distinct deep cadence in his voice helps him stand out, particularly from other Irish music artists. Swift is a rap/drill artist whose slick punchlines do match different flows.
With 25.3k monthly listeners on Spotify, Swift has listeners and fans from all across the world, including London, Dublin, Sydney, Melbourne, and Birmingham.
Some of his famous songs include Roman, Ghetto, Spin the Wheel, Millian, Temple Run, Stay Inside, Happy Days, Intro, and Bookey. Swift9 has an Instagram account as well as a YouTube channel.
5. Trigz
Trigz is a verified artist on Spotify and has over 21.2k monthly listeners. Most of his listeners are from London, Dublin, Birmingham, Sydney, and Melbourne.
Some of his most popular songs include the newly released Hola, Get Back, Counter Attack, Active and Exciting Freestyle. His other popular single tracks include Bars at the Sesh – S3, Pt. 2 -E7, Kush, XMen, One Take 1.0, and Bars at the Sesh – S3, Pt. 1 -E7.
Trigz is also a famous artist on TikTok, with 36.9k likes and 1.9k followers. He posts most of his songs on his YouTube channel.
4. Offica
Although we’ve talked about Offica in A92, Offica is definitely worth mentioning again. The drill prodigy of Drogheda started his musical career in early 2018.
Offica has inspired several other drill rappers in Ireland because of his unique rapping style. He is known for using Yoruba and Irish slang, which highlights his ethnicity and culture, as per his profile on Spotify.
Offica has made a name for himself as one of the most creative and diverse rappers in the UK as well as Ireland. Some of his latest tracks have a fusion of Japanese culture, Irish energy, UK sonics, and Yoruba mythology.
He has over 41.6l followers and 673.3k monthly listeners on Spotify. His listeners are from all over the world and from major cities such as London, Sydney, Dublin, Brisbane, and Melbourne.
3. A9Kebz
Also a member of the Rap Collective A92, A9Kebz is known for his authentic flow and unique voice. He makes a refreshing new sound to the Irish drill scene and is definitely one of the people to be taken seriously in the rap scene.
With 10.4k monthly listeners on Spotify, most of his fans are from London, Dublin, Birmingham, and Australia. Some of A9Kebz’s noteworthy songs include Glo, Mamacita Go, Popcaan, Row Your Boat, Over the moon, and One Mic Freestyle.
He is active on Instagram under the username @a9.kebz and has over 6.6k followers.
2. SELLO
SELLO is from Clondalkin West Dublin and has been pushing the genre of rap in Ireland. His use of local slag and clever hopscotching between rapping in English is what makes him unique.
He aims to establish a new sound native in Ireland called “GaelicDrill,” where he fuses Modern drill/hip-hop sound with the traditional Irish culture. SELLO initially wanted to call it Ceol, which is music in Gaelic.
The rapper wants to be unapologetically Irish and does not want to be like anyone else in the scene.
SELLO’s monthly listeners on Spotify are mainly from Dublin, London, Birmingham, Manchester, and Sydney. Some of his most hit songs include Dublin, Come Ouu, Molly Malone, Oggy, Process, As Gaeilge, and WAR.
1. Chuks
Chuks is a musical artist from Balbriggan, Ireland, and is a member of the AV9 crew. Some of his earliest songs are from 2018, and has over 50 songs on Spotify.
Chuks’s most popular tracks include No Hoook, Armed & Dangerous, Swing it, Millian, Happy Days, Intro, Demon Time Freestyle, Facts, and Sasuke.
With 136.6k monthly listeners on Spotify and 6.7k followers, Chuks is definitely one of the most prominent Irish drill rappers in the country. Although he has 16.6k followers on Instagram, it is currently private.