Over the past few years, Irish rap trio Kneecap have been no stranger to headlines. Their early releases were widely praised for helping to revive the once-dying and antiquated Irish language, while their semi-autobiographical self-titled feature film received six nominations at the BAFTAs last year (2024). This past week, however, has seen the group make decidedly less sympathetic headlines. 

During their Coachella performances earlier this month, festival broadcasters made the decision to cut recordings early after Kneecap displayed the message “Fuck Israel, free Palestine” on a screen behind them. While the trio complained of censorship on social media, their statements were met with widespread controversy elsewhere, with TV personality Sharon Osbourne calling for their US visas to be revoked. In the days following, it was announced that two of Kneecap’s previous performances had been referred to the UK’s counter terrorism authorities for allegedly shouting “the only good Tory is a dead Tory” and “up Hamas” at a 2023 and 2024 performance, respectively. 

In an Instagram post last Friday (April 25), the group framed the controversy as a “coordinated smear campaign” and reiterated that their “only concern is the people of Palestine… the 20,000 murdered children and counting”. More widely, these recent calls to prosecute the group contain concerning implications for artistic freedom, continuing a substantial history of censoring rap artists in particular. Despite the genre practically being defined by its platforming of underprivileged voices, time and time again authorities have used their power to silence dissenting narratives instead of engaging the social issues that underpin them.

Below, we look back on five times that a government told you not to listen to an artist (spoilers: the artists are usually vindicated in the end). 

ONEFOUR

The global rise of drill music in recent years has consistently been marked by government repression. Early UK drill star Digga D was subject to a historic injunction in 2018 when terms of his Criminal Behaviour Order (CBO) included restrictions on his lyrical content. More recently, E9 drill collective member Kay-O’s lyrics were used as key evidence in his sentencing for shooting in 2020. 

One of the most flagrant examples of drill censorship, however, is against Australian drill group OneFour. The group are widely recognised as the country’s first drill act, with their charting debut album Against All Odds also marking one of the first instances of Australia’s minority Islander community achieving mainstream musical representation. Despite this, OneFour’s violent lyrics and alleged association with Australia’s postcode gang wars have led to them to be targeted by the New South Wales police force, who created an entire unit named Strike Force Raptor to harass the group and prevent them from performing live. 

Gabriel Gasparinatos, director of a 2023 Netflix documentary about the group, believes that this heavy-handed response is underpinned by racism. “Australia loves to celebrate an underdog or a criminal; [19th century gang leader] Ned Kelly is a national icon, our unofficial anthem ‘Waltzing Matilda’ is about a sheep thief. It was fascinating that the public didn’t get behind OneFour in the same way,” he told the BBC last year. “There’s an element of it motivated by race, part of it is class. There’s a stigma around a place like Mount Druitt [where OneFour were formed] – maybe people wanted to avoid promoting that version of this country, but it’s a far more accurate depiction of Australia today than the surfy, sun-kissed lifestyle we market.”

LOWKEY

British-Iraqi rapper Lowkey has long called out political oppression, both in his career as an artist and in his current role as academic and activist. He was critical of the UK government’s response to the Grenfell Tower fire, in which 72 people tragically lost their lives, and has made frequent TV appearances advocating on behalf of the Palestinian people. But it was Lowkey’s 2010 single “Obama Nation Part 2” that saw him become the subject of censorship.

Featuring the lyrics “Is it Obama’s nation or an abomination? Doesn’t make any difference when they bomb your nation”, the track was a scathing critique of then-US President Barack Obama’s escalation of conflict in the Middle East. The track was denied airplay in the US, but has since racked up almost 5 million views on YouTube.

MIA 

Long before British-Sri Lankan rapper MIA was spreading anti-vax and 5G conspiracy theories on Twitter/X, she was shedding light on the oppression of Sri Lanka’s minority Tamil population. MIA’s own family was displaced by the Sri Lankan civil war in the late 20th century, during which the Tamils endured ethnic cleansing at the hands of Sri Lanka’s majority Sinhalese ethnic group.

Across her releases in the 00s, MIA expressed support for the Tamil Tigers resistance group, of which her father was a member, regularly incorporating the group’s signature tiger print in her visuals and drawing attention to the conflict. She was branded as a “terrorist sympathiser” by the Sri Lankan government for these actions, and was repeatedly refused travel visas to the US. In 2016, MIA announced on Instagram that she had finally been approved for a US visa and, in 2019, she was awarded an MBE for her services to music. 

NWA 

The repression of hit 1988 NWA single “Fuck Tha Police” in many ways foreshadows that rappers have experienced globally since. Featuring rapper Ice Cube’s searing line “So police have the authority to kill a minority”, the track was critical of ongoing police brutality and racial profiling in the United States. 

Lifted off the group’s debut album Straight Outta Compton, which helped pioneer the gangsta rap subgenre of hip hop, “Fuck Tha Police” sparked global controversy. In the wake of the track’s release, FBI officer Milt Ahlenreich wrote a letter to NWA’s Priority Records dubbing the song “discouraging and degrading to [the US’] brave, dedicated officers”, while most major TV and radio stations refused to broadcast NWA’s music as a result. Elsewhere, major Australian broadcaster Triple J went on strike to protest the track being banned from the country’s airwaves, notably playing the track on repeat for an entire day. Straight Outta Compton has since been certified triple platinum in the US. 

ZAYAR THAW

Without doubt, the most extreme example on this list is the arrest and eventual execution of Burmese rapper and politician Zayar Thaw. Thaw was the leading voice of Myanmar’s first ever rap group Nitric Acid, which debuted in 2000 and was highly critical of the country’s Tatmadaw military wing, which had ruled the country virtually uninterrupted since 1962.

In 2008, Thaw was arrested and beaten for his involvement in the youth-led democracy movement Generation Wave, which spread anti-government films and artwork in guerrilla campaigns across the country. Thaw was released amid the weakening of the dictatorship in 2011 and immediately joined the Aung San Suu Kyi-led democratic party National League for Democracy. Suu Kyi and Thaw were both elected to Myanmar’s House of Representatives in 2015 as part of the country’s first openly contested national elections since 1990.

However, Myanmar’s democratisation was interrupted by a renewed military junta in 2021, which led to Thaw being rearrested and sentenced to death under trumped-up terrorism charges. Thaw was tragically executed alongside three other pro-democracy activists on July 23, 2022, but was survived by Myanmar’s rebellious Rap Against Junta collective, which has continued Thaw’s guerrilla arts campaigning throughout the conflict. The group have had to operate in secret and from exile in neighbouring Thailand, with one member named Htike telling me in 2022: “The government don’t like educated people, they will just kill you.” Myanmar is currently still ruled by the military junta’s unelected State Administrative Council.