Music
11 May 21

Versatile announce debut album and UK and Irish tour

With 14 UK and Irish headline dates before the end of the year, to add to the Snoop Dogg tour already announced for 2022, the release of their debut album will be the start of a busy post-lockdown period for the Ringsend duo.

Versatile have announced the release of their debut album Fuck Versatile, on May 21st and a headline tour for later this year.

To promote the album, the Dublin rap outfit have announced a 14-date UK and Irish tour, which will see them play three Irish shows, kicking off in Belfast on November 13, 2021, and including their return to Dublin’s 3Arena. In 2019, the group played two sell-out dates at Ireland’s biggest indoor venue, with Compton legend Coolio joining the band onstage to perform his mega-hit ‘Gangsta’s Paradise’ – the No.1 selling single in the US in 1995 – with the band. The single ‘Gangsta’s Paradise’ sold over 6 million copies, making it one of the best selling singles of all time.

The group have already been announced as special guests on legendary rapper Snoop Dogg’s ‘I Wanna Thank Me’ arena tour, alongside Warren G, Obie Trice, D12, The Dogg Pound, and RJmrLA, with dates scheduled throughout the UK, Ireland and Europe during 2022.

Versatile, who won Best Hip Hop Act at the UK Urban Music Awards in 2020, became embroiled in controversy in Ireland, following accusations of racism. They have subsequently worked with Drogheda drill artist Offica, and the A92 crew, collaborating on the ‘Babyproof’ single. The video for ‘Babyproof' has since garnered approaching 440,000 views, out of a total of over 20 million views amassed by the outfit to date.

“In this industry, you can’t really be judgmental,” Offica, one of Ireland’s biggest-selling black artists, told Hot Press at the time. "So I don’t care what anyone says – because at the end of the day, they’re not God. Everybody deserves second chances. There are so many things happening in Ireland that people aren’t talking about – but everyone wants to go mad over this. This is the way to educate – my team and their team sat together, and spoke on the issue. That’s what people are missing.

"I feel now that the boys have matured, and they’ve been doing super,” Offica said.

“I’m a Christian as well, so I always believe in giving people second chances.”

The band are also releasing a new video for ’Terminal 1’ – which is the second single to be lifted from their debut, Fuck Versatile.