God Knows: "I don’t have to hold my hat on a flag or skin colour or whatever. I love my neighbour in the way that I love myself”

History helps make sense of the world.

That’s why we study it in school. No, your teachers weren’t sadists in disguise when they droned on about Séan Leamass’ economic policy, or how Jethro Tull’s seed drill sowed the soil for industrialisation.

It’s often the idiosyncratic stories that are best at projecting the universal.

There aren’t many Zimbabwean-born rappers who were raised in Shannon. God Knows weaves this perspective into “a cautionary tale about the world we live in” on his debut solo album A Future of The Past, where colonialism, anti-jazz crusades in Leitrim, Dunnes Stores strikes and ongoing genocides are threaded like pins and yarn on the evidence board of global oppression.

“[Dunnes protester] Mary Manning’s heroism helped those in South Africa,” he explains. “It put Irish eyes on what was happening. The Ground Zero of my own story is what was happening in South Africa. If Cecil John Rhodes hadn’t discovered diamonds in South Africa, he wouldn’t have come to Zimbabwe looking for them too.

“It shouldn't be us against each other. It's the whole system of capitalism that we’ve seen time and time again - when someone gets greedy and says: ‘Oh here, look at that country over there! Let’s go and think of a way to take this’.

“What I see from leadership right now, we’ve seen these atrocities happen before. Let’s open our eyes and realise that we are not against each other.”

The record is as rich sonically as it is thematically, and the rapper heaps praise on long-time friend MuRli, who provides instrumentals that cover everything from old-school afrobeat to folk, mirroring the dual heritage at the heart of the album.

“It was important that I showed the dichotomy of the two sides of me,” God Knows says. ”I'm gonna tell you about my family history, but I’m also gonna tell you the Irish side of me.”

God Knows. Photo: Daragh Soden.

References to his lineage are littered throughout. Brothers Dreddy and Godwin both feature on the album, as do historical snippets from Dick Chingaira Makoni, better known as Comrade Chinx, whose music was a driving force behind the Zimbabwean struggle for independence.

“That’s my great grand uncle!” God Knows beams. “He fought for the second war of liberation in Zimbabwe, we call it the second chimurenga. He was a voice throughout the war, he galvanised the masses. [On the album] you can hear the song that he actually sang at the changeover with the British, when it went from being Rhodesia to Zimbabwe.”

It turns out his family tree is green with musical leaves.

“My grandfather was a bassist who played in bands for many years. Jah Master, who’s my cousin on my dad’s side, is one of the biggest musicians in Zimbabwe at the moment. My uncle Chinx’s daughter, Atenda, she’s one of the biggest artists there too. I'm surrounded by people who do great work.”

The political becomes personal again on ‘The Art of Alienation’, as God Knows reflects on growing up in Co. Limerick - where he moved after his dad got a job in Shannon Aerospace.

“It was about me growing up in Shannon, not knowing about the stormy history. A lot of people who travelled from the North during the troubles were there. So that theme of identity was massive, because at the end of the day, it was all ‘Are you Catholic or Protestant?’

“Zimbabwean history is not storied the same way. We were colonised by the British so a lot of us are anglican or methodist. In Ireland [religion] is more based on geography.

“You had to find a way to get closer to people so you’d be like ‘Oh he’s Catholic.’ That’s why I say: “Are you a catholic or a prod I’m afraid that I’m a fraud if I said I was a baptist…” I didn’t know what my belief system was back then. I was worried I would say the wrong thing.

“Bible study helped me realise who I was. My identity is in Jesus. I don’t have to hold my hat on a flag or skin colour or whatever. I love my neighbour in the way that I love myself.”

Another Irish historical excursion takes place on the second half of ‘The Earth Is Ours / Immoral Azz’. Over skirling saxophones, God Knows spits about the campaign involving the Catholic Church and movements like the Gaelic League to ban jazz music in Mohill, Co. Leitrim.

“They would say 'You’re acting like negroes, you’re acting like savages!'" he explains. “The church was tryna say ‘let’s ban that’, because it’s gonna make people immoral. Again, I was finding another way to speak about this ‘system’. The hubris of religious institutions, or any place that oppresses people, is really what I’m speaking about. Me and you are not the problem.”

He's frank about own reasons for being so privy to inequality.

“Oh man, just being black, honestly,” the rapper laughs, followed by a sigh. “If you go to school and you listen in school you’ll see it. For me this is the way it’s been all my life.”

Still, rather than let that set him back, God Knows has always channelled his life into purpose and music. He's already been a respected authority in rap with the Rusangano Family. A trio based out of Limerick which also featured MuRli and mynameisjOhn, they became the first hip-hop act to win the Choice Music Prize, with their album Let the Dead Bury the Dead in 2016.

“The Rusangano Family was the university I graduated from,” God Knows says. “A pivotal moment in my life was learning what I learned from John. He was someone who had been in music for longer than the rest of us. He showed us the ropes and led by example in every single way and we’ve got something bigger - friendship. I’ll always cherish that.

After John returned to university, God Knows and MuRli started narolane Records in 2019, releasing Denise Chaila’s Go Bravely - another Choice Prize-winning effort.

He’ll be the first to say that a solo album was a long time coming. Artistic frustration, the feeling of things happening too slowly, if at all, is laid bare on the second song from his new record, ‘Naked Ambition Has A Price’

“We can sometimes feel like we are the only ones who are stuck in a certain place,” he reveals. “Everybody is working hard to achieve their goals. I want someone to see themselves in those lyrics and go 'yeah that’s me man, that’s me, every line is me.' That’s the greatest fulfillment for me as an artist.

“I like to make songs about the everyday, I like to speak and say we are all tryna make it and do the best we can. I was explaining it in a way that isn’t too intellectual. If information is too far fetched from the regular person, that’s when we allow things to happen to us that shouldn’t be happening.”

Like Orwell’s Newspeak.

“You see what I mean, man? Everything looking like terms and conditions!”

• A Future of The Past is out now.