Drimnagh rapper FYNCH is very much the modern-day rapper, using his music to examine the themes of modern-day life, such as battles with toxic masculinity, while forming connections to assist his music online.
FYNCH’s debut EP ‘Bookies Pens & Loose Ends’ was released late last year, and for much of the time since then, like the rest of us, he’s been forced into a life less ordinary. Self examination has been an important road.
“Self-reflection is always something which comes out in my tunes, and I’ve looked at the patriarchal society we live in as being detrimental to seemingly everything, including men at large. I just recalled and recounted elements of it in the track, even the title is a nod to the instance of being a ‘big man’ as though it’s somehow admirable. Admirable traits in men (and indeed everyone) stem from your basic humanity, not being a tough lad.”
Latest single ‘Big Man’, out this week, is the product of a collaboration with regular partner in crime Local Boy and an unlikely backbeat sourced from elsewhere in Europe.
“The track I found by chance by trawling through the internet,” FYNCH explains. “Mikkel is a Danish producer and I loved his stuff, so I hit him up and we went from there. As for myself and Local Boy, I had the track written, but I needed some signature flavour, so I hit up Local Boy and asked him to hop on the track. Thankfully, he didn’t need any persuasion, so we went from there.”
“I wouldn’t particularly say there’s a ‘local scene’ in Drimnagh, it might be down to the fact that we’re too close to town or that we aren’t as insular as other places in Dublin, but certainly around the Dublin 12 area and immediately beyond it, there’s a load of good tunes being made. Drimnagh is certainly intrinsic to my music. It lives in my vernacular and how I speak. It doesn’t always come out explicitly in my lyrics, but it’s a prism that I view the world through.”
“It’s certainly an exciting time for not just Irish hip-hop, but Irish music in general. The fact that such amazing music is coming out of a country that treats its artists with such apathy is a testimony to the endemic creativity on this island. Irish hip-hop is the healthiest it’s ever been and it doesn’t look like halting any time soon. The range of voices in the scene is ever-expanding too, which is brilliant.”
FYNCH is relatively unusual for the music scene today, in that he has two live shows lined up in the short term. One will be with Ireland Music Week, an industry showcase with a reputation for breaking local artists onto bigger stages (“can give artists a platform to play in new places and find new opportunities”, he says), and at the Workman’s Club on November 13.
“I’ll just be delighted to get out on stage in front of people. It’ll be weird though, with people just sitting in their seats, but it’ll be welcome. Hip-hop gigs aren’t meant to be seated, but if you’ve played before empty rooms in the past, having people in the room is a bonus.”
“My hopes for this year are fairly simple really: I hope the track does well, enough so that people enjoy it and I feel like I’ve done a good job. I hope Pat’s stay in the Premier Division. I hope COVID-19 vanishes. Those three things happen and I’ll be set!”
