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HAVING THE
CRAIC BOI
West Cork rapper Craic Boi Mental
explains how comedy and vaping
can help to get a more serious
message out there.
Words: Caroline Barry
Ireland is not the first place that people think of when they picture
a vibrant or emerging hip hop scene but that’s slowly starting to
change. The Irish hip hop scene has had a surge in popularity
due to the success of artists such as Dublin-based Kojaque,
Limerick duo The Rubberbandits and now Cork-based, Craic Boi
Mental with songs ranging from serious subjects to lighthearted
takes on Irish politics
The seriously lighthearted takes now include vaping.
Craic Boi Mental’s track, ‘Vape Till The Year 3000’ examines the
Irish housing crisis and, erm, vaping. The Irish housing market
has seen a 90 percent price increase in Dublin and 80 percent
increase throughout the country which has effectively priced a
generation of young people out of home ownership.
The song makes reference to this as Craic Boi Mental highlights
the indifference of politicians towards change or the lack of
movement on public housing lists. “Gonna vape till the year 3000
or until they figure out public housing,” he sings as he highlights
social inequality in Ireland.
Craic Boi Mental got his start through posting videos and songs
online, much the same way that generation of Irish comedians
and rappers have. “I started making music back in 2012 as a hip
hop beat maker. Then I started making songs around 2014 which
were just funny tracks that I’d put on Soundcloud and YouTube.
They built a bit of a cult following after popular YouTubers like
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