AS THE Drumcree stand-off reignites fears of a return to sectarian violence, a rapper from Belfast’s loyalist Shankill Road insists the North has come a long way from its relatively recent troubled past.
asserted
North → reignite → past
Just as his fellow West Belfast hip-hop artists Kneecap wear their tricolours on their sleeves – and on-stage balaclavas – Young Spencer proudly raps that he is a red, white and blue ‘Son of Ulster’.
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he → wear → Ulster
While both enjoy a huge following in their respective communities, the 32-year-old says most of his generation – from both sides of the religious divide – are not interested in returning to the violence of the past.
And despite publicity surrounding the Orange Order’s plan to march back down the Garvaghy Road in Portadown after 28 years of relative calm, Young Spencer insists most people in the North have no intention of returning to the dark days of the Troubles.
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people → enjoy → Troubles
He said of the continuing standoff: ‘I see both sides.
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I → say → sides
To some people, it’s an issue that shouldn’t be brought up again, but like so many issues in this country, there’s always going to be an opportunity for it to be brought up again.
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it → ’ → country
Just as his fellow West Belfast hip-hop artists Kneecap wear their tricolours on their sleeves – and on-stage balaclavas – Young Spencer proudly raps that he is a red, white and blue ‘Son of Ulster’
asserted
he → wear → Ulster
‘I just don’t want us to end up in a position where we are looking at the past, thinking we’ve ended up right back where we started.
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we → want → past
I hope we find a common resolution because I am sick of this narrative that Northern Ireland is not really good for anything but troubles or riots.
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Ireland → hope → troubles
‘If you look at any of the footage streamed from that road, you’re still seeing proud Irish and proud British people embracing their own culture, and it’s just about trying to understand each other, so we don’t continue to be disconnected.’
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we → look → other
The rapper appears in a timely new TG4 documentary that follows the lives of five young people – so called ‘ceasefire babies’ – who were born between the 1994 ceasefire and the Good Friday agreement in 1998.
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who → appear → 1998
Glúin An tSosa Cogaidh examines how the conflict has had a marked effect on their lives, even though they were born towards the end of the Troubles.
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they → examine → Troubles
He told the MoS: ‘The idea that you have your religion and I have mine and they don’t mix is being faced and confronted every day in Northern Ireland.
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they → tell → Ireland
‘More and more Protestants and Catholics are finding each other and realising they are much more alike than they thought.’
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they → find → other
The rapper appears in a timely new TG4 documentary that follows the lives of five young people – so called ‘ceasefire babies’ – who were born between the 1994 ceasefire and the Good Friday agreement in 1998
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who → appear → 1998
Young Spencer’s relationship with Kneecap offers a perfect example.
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relationship → offer → example
When Kneecap invited him to support them at the SSE Arena in Belfast at the end of 2024, the collaboration sparked some difficult questions.
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collaboration → invite → questions
‘It’s hard for people to wrap their head around, especially people who are 60, 70 years of age...
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who → ’ → age
They don’t get it,’ he said.
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he → get → it
‘I remember my family asking, “Son, why do you want to try start that conversation?
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you → remember → conversation
Why can’t you just talk about your own story?
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you → talk → story
Why do you want to try bring people together through your music?”
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you → want → music
I wanted to help.
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I → want → ?
I want anybody to feel welcome to Young Spencer’s [concert].’
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anybody → want → ]
The Shankill Road rapper would not hesitate to play a major venue in the Republic if the opportunity arose, saying: ‘If I get an offer to do the 3Arena in Dublin, do you think I would turn that down?
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I → hesitate → that
‘If I get the opportunity to perform in London’s O2 in front of 20,000 people, do you think I’m turning that down because I’m worried about somebody’s religious political beliefs?
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I → get → beliefs
‘Throughout my teenage years, people say, “don’t be telling people that you’re from the Shankill Road because it’ll put a negative connotation on what you do”.
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you → say → what
I became determined and set out on my own mission to represent what I was proud of.
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I → become → what
I’m as proud to be from my small community as I am to be from the bigger city.
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I → ’m → city
When Kneecap invited him to support them at the SSE Arena in Belfast at the end of 2024, the collaboration sparked some difficult questions
asserted
collaboration → invite → questions
In August, Young Spencer was invited again to perform alongside Kneecap, but this time at the biggest celebration of Irish culture, the Féile, at Falls Park.
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Spencer → invite → Park
‘I knew I was going to be facing criticism, conversation and negativity on a whole different spectrum this time, because not everybody wants to be supportive of that,’ he said.
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he → know → that
‘I would love to have had all my aunts and uncles there, but some of them just sat in their own ways, and some still live within those fears, sadly.
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some → love → fears
They thought, if the SSE was neutral ground, then this is like throwing yourself into, like, the lion’s den.
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this → think → den
‘If we tried to do this 30 years ago, make no mistake, somebody in that crowd would have murdered us.
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somebody → try → us
They’d have killed us for even trying to do something like that because they also knew that it would have sparked a conversation for growth and change.’
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it → kill → growth
The hip-hop artist said there are still those on both sides of the religious divide ‘who are rooted in keeping us apart’.
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who → say → us
He said: ‘They don’t want us coming together and figuring out that if we embrace each other, we can move forward.
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we → say → other
That doesn’t sit well with their agenda.
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That → sit → agenda
People overall see we’re actually more unified as a people than we’ve ever been.
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we → see → people
‘To have come from war for so long, and to be at a point where we can have Kneecap and Young Spencer share the same stage and have mixed crowds and have the next generation of kids be proud of who they are and embrace the other side makes our country what it is.’
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it → come → side
…and 5 more, not listed.
The Aporia
