Curtisy: "I didn’t know a lot of rap was coming from Tallaght, but I knew we all listened to rap there. That’s what we resonated with"

For decades now, Tallaght has been a hotbed of hip-hop talent – from the pioneering work of Nucentz, to the mainstream breakthrough of Jafaris and Hare Squead, as well as, in more recent years, the drill-centred sound of Smilez. But the southside suburb is also home to one of homegrown hip-hop’s most intriguingly idiosyncratic new forces: Curtisy.

As brazenly funny as he’s laidback, the Dublin rapper has carved out a crucial space in Ireland’s ever-evolving alternative hip-hop scene, following a busy string of collaborations, a Kojaque remix of his track ‘Men On A Mission’, and now, the release of his personality-packed debut album, WHAT WAS THE QUESTION.

He’s quick to praise the acts who’ve shown him love along the way, from Nealo to Maverick Sabre. But Curtisy also reveals that, before he started releasing music himself, his knowledge of the Irish rap scene was fairly limited.

“I knew Kojaque, but I wasn’t really aware of the old-school stuff,” he tells me. “I was listening to a lot of slower, swampier stuff, like Earl Sweatshirt. That’s where it started.

“I didn’t know a lot of rap was coming from Tallaght, but I knew we all listened to rap there,” he continues. “That’s what we resonated with. I wasn’t listening to techno or anything – I was straight rap.”

His rise over the past few years has coincided with that of several other Tallaght rappers, including his neighbour Scruffy Munnelly. Lockdown, Curtisy reckons, played a major role.

“I first started rapping with my friend, Solo Lui, and the producer Edboy,” he says. “That was right at the start of Covid. Everywhere was closed down, except for Pirate Studios in Glasnevin, so we used to go out there. For those first few months, I was mostly making drill stuff. I was really just trying to fit in. But it didn’t feel like I had enough room on a drill beat, to say my piece.”

Which led to him landing upon what he describes now as his own “swampy and weird” sound.

“I think it’s just a breath of fresh air,” he considers. “Even though it’s a real unfresh, broken-up sound. It’s different, and people like different.”

Fans are also connecting to the unflinchingly honest nature of Curtisy’s work – with WHAT WAS THE QUESTION following a narrative that the rapper self-deprecatingly describes as: “I’m sad! And I need help!”

“I make music to help myself understand things that are going through my brain, and get them on paper,” he resumes. “And obviously having it rhyme makes it more fun, so that’s just the way I did it.

“I’ve never not put out something personal,” he continues. “Even on buzzy songs, I’m saying some crazy stuff. I like being personal. I’d rather, in an unhealthy way, put it in a song, than say it to people’s faces.”

That stream-of-consciousness introspection, and the regular smoking references littered across his tracks, have resulted in Curtisy being stamped with a ‘stoner rap’ label on more than one occasion.

“I don’t think I’m stoner rap – I’d like to get that on the record!” he laughs. “But that’s the one they put me in. I definitely rap about smoking and being a stoner a lot, but 75% of the songs are not about smoking weed, or doing anything of the sort. Just call me a rapper. Or, ‘the best rapper!’ That’s the category I’m in.”

Maintaining a strong DIY ethos is also important to Curtisy.

“I have two of my friends helping me now, but I still consider myself independent,” he says. “Labels and stuff aren’t really my cup of tea – and I’m probably not their cup of tea either! I just want to stick with me. I don’t want anyone telling me when I can drop a song, or where I can perform.”

Of course, surviving as an independent artist in an increasingly unaffordable Dublin is hardly easy.

“I’m living at home still,” he nods. “I’m a statistic! I have the converted shed out the back though, and I like it out there, so it’s all good. It’s just a bus into town, and this is where it all really happens.”

Curtisy. Copyright Miguel Ruiz.

So he won’t be joining the mass creative exodus to London?

“No, I want to solidify myself over here before I start doing all that jumping around,” he reckons. “A lot of my friends – and my DJs – are moving to London though, so I don’t know how I’m going to do the set in the next couple of months. Maybe I’ll have to follow them over at some stage…

“I don’t know, we’ll figure it out,” he shrugs. “Stop stressing me out!”

In fairness, the run-up to WHAT WAS THE QUESTION proved stressful enough – with the Dublin-based vinyl pressing plant that was supposed to be manufacturing the LP shutting down.

“There’s been a lot of ups and downs,” he remarks. “A lot more downs, it seems. Dublin Vinyl going into liquidation was nuts. I’m going through Brook Records for distribution, and Sean Price, who runs that, had to scramble to try and sort something. He got onto somebody, and we’re paying up front for the vinyl – but in the end it’s working out better. Things are on track again.

“This is actually the first time I’ve really been excited, instead of stressed,” he continues. “I’d been keeping a brave face on the internet, but I really am excited now. I’m believing in it.”

• WHAT WAS THE QUESTION is out now.