Unintentionally Divisive: How Kneecap Are Showcasing a Swagger We Haven’t Seen Since Oasis
It makes sense that the Irish Pro-Palestinian rap trio Kneecap have a swagger we haven’t seen since peak Oasis (Zendaya in her swag era is a close second)
I’ve written recently about my love of the Irish rap group Kneecap and their incredibly unique but still familiar sound but I don’t believe I’ve ever written about another group that consists of two brothers with the biggest egos known to man.
Oasis.
Like I assume most Americans, I was introduced to Oasis by “Wonderwall”. I remember being in high school and the Internet’s favorite joke at the time being “white guy with a guitar at a party playing Oasis”. And I enjoyed “Wonderwall” for what it was. A song that is exponentially better when sung drunk with friends at 3am.
That was until the middle of 2020 while I was in college working as a food service worker (your essential workers thank you) that my coworker asked if I wanted an edible.
3 Things Here:
She was a major stoner and had a tolerance that could make an elephant heel
I was still clocked in and had four hours left in my shift
I never had an edible before and the last time I even smoked weed was a year prior
So you may wonder Dev I’m sure you looked at your co-worker in her eyes and said “No. I refuse your offer and think being high in the workplace is an incredibly inappropriate thing to do” before walking away and reporting her to your manager.
But I’m not a fucking nerd so I ate the edible without a care in the world.
“How strong is this?” I remember asking her.
“50 or 60mg,” she responded.
“Fuck.”
The next couple hours consisted of me going up to her every fifteen minutes and exclaiming my level of highness to her before she finally calmed me down and told me to focus on one singular task.
So I did just that and started sweeping the back kitchen. Well specifically one singular floor tile. Whilst sweeping though I started to try and write a song in my head. Mind you I have zero songwriting experience.
Today is gonna be the day
That they’re gonna throw it back to you
Damn. That’s a good start.
By now, you should’ve somehow
Realized what you gotta do
And for the next 45 minutes I swept that one floor tile while reciting the lyrics to “Wonderwall” out loud.
After getting so high that everything turned to black and white and I felt like Marion Crane from Psycho I asked my manager if I could go home which he responded by looking me dead in the eyes and saying “Yeah Dev. Get home safe.”
Once I did realize I in fact did not write the song and in fact plagiarized 100% of it I dove deep into Oasis’ discography.
This honestly couldn’t have come at a perfect time as I had just finished listening to the Beatles entire discography. And with much of Oasis’ early music sounding like if a group of lads from Manchester started a Beatles cover band but got a cease and desist letter so they couldn't perform actual Beatles songs I was a really big fan.
Definitely Maybe is still probably my favorite album of theirs and while songs like “Rock n Roll Star” and “Cigarettes & Alcohol” are pretty hedonistic and have this masculine quality to them other songs on the album like “Live Forever” and “Slide Away” show a vulnerability and sensitivity that you wouldn’t expect from these lads.
But as obsessed as I am with their music, what makes Oasis Oasis isn’t necessarily their music but Liam and Noel’s personalities outside their music.
It’s a brashness and narcissism that made them stand out from the reservedness and humbleness that is typical of most English artists.
Many may disagree but I don’t think Liam and Noel during the beginning of Oasis were intentionally being divisive in their multiple negative remarks that targeted everyone from their Britpop rivals Blur to the many many journalists.
It’s unintentionally being divisive and a strong confidence in their art that I think is how this “swagger” is often attributed to the Gallagher brothers. A swagger that’s hard to describe but extremely easy to pinpoint.
When I think of Oasis outside their music I think of that intense swagger and coolness that those guys had and for long I affirmed in my mind that due to multiple factors, including the destruction of the monoculture, we probably wouldn’t get another group that emulates swagger so effortlessly.
It wasn’t until just this past week that my mind was changed completely.
In an interview with the Sun, UK PM Keir Starmer when asked about Kneecap’s upcoming performance at Glastonbury said that it was “not appropriate”.
Yes, the prime minister of a country that is currently helping another commit genocide is calling a rap group “not appropriate.” C’mon.
In typical Kneecap fashion the group's response was a short but salient.
Mind you this is all happening while Mo Chara, member of the group, faces a terror charge over displaying a Hezbollah flag at a gig in London in November of 2024.
The group standing ten toes down on their ideals and message despite the intense blowback exemplify this idea of swagger.
Similarly to what Oasis did, what the Kneecap guys are doing right now isn’t and can’t be manufactured in a factory with the likes of the backflipping pop boy and flexible pop girl. Kneecap’s a group that stands by their strong pro-Palestine message and uses their platform as a tool to bring light to a genocide that many artists aren’t even touching with a ten foot pole.
While I once thought Oasis’ swagger could never be touched in a day and age where we like our artists humble and quiet outside their music but brash and loud inside Kneecap are one of the only artists today who like Oasis are able to be both brash and loud in and outside their music. They are here to make a statement that demands everyone's attention.
Free Mo Chara & Free Palestine.
Cheers,
Dev