The Irish have always been known for their hip-hop and, more recently, their creative takes on grime and drill, but in the past five or so years, a new generation of upstarts have come through, with new flows and techniques that are more uniquely Irish than ever before.

One of the bright young stars at the forefront of this new wave is Gavin Curtis, aka Curtisy, from Tallaght, Dublin, whose sound is as varied and eclectic as the scene itself. In his live shows, he can veer between boom-bap rap, Auto-Tuned trap, and a slower, “swampier” sound that doesn’t really fit either category. He first picked up the mic in 2020; shut away in his house with nothing to do and nowhere to go, he started toying with the idea of being a rapper. He looked locally for inspiration, taking cues from hometown heroes like Scruffy Munnelly, who he’d seen MCing at house parties, and focused on not trying to imitate UK or US sounds. It’s a running theme over there as Curtisy and his contemporaries pride themselves on being unique. Just like grime before them and the first MCs to rap with UK accents, using your own voice is paramount.

In May 2024, Curtisy released his debut album, What Was The Question, a fully realised and carefully-executed offering that used every one of the lessons he’s learned these past few years to maximum effect. The album was also nominated for the prestigious RTÉ Choice Music Prize. Then, in May of this year, he teamed up with the producer hikii for a mixtape called Beauty In The Beast, which quickly became a fan favourite and is still doing the rounds.

TRENCH caught up with Curtisy in the green room before he stepped on-stage at The Grace in North London with his tour DJ, Cian Bolger, for the first date of his ongoing UK tour (with food provided by Wingstop). It wasn’t his first time performing here, but this time he’s coming to us with some serious momentum behind him. Now two albums deep and his signature sound solidified, he’s about to take his victory lap.

TRENCH: I saw an interview where you said you were surprised by the amount of rap that was coming out of your local area. Who should we know about?

Curtisy: We’ll start super-local to me: we’ve got Scruffy Munnelly from Dublin—a lot of people call him Munn-Elly in England; they don’t know the Munnelly flow, though. Scruffy Munnelly is the funniest guy. He’s hard to understand for anyone who doesn’t live on the estate; he’s a real estate head. He was rapping before me or anyone else was. Then there’s Death To Ricky. That’s my guy, man! He’s blowing the heck up! There’s Lil Skag down in Wexford—he’s the best. Obviously, Ahmed, With Love [who collaborated with Curtisy on “Men On A Mission” and the Ahmed, WITH FRIENDS EP in January]. He’s my guy too... I’m trying to think who’s super-close to me because they’re everywhere now. There’s so much rap right now in Ireland. You can’t go anywhere without finding a rapper.

Rap has had a huge presence in Ireland, especially Dublin, for years now, but it seems to be popping off even more right now. Why do you think that is?

I guess Reggie Snow happened and then that gave way to Kojaque. When I first started, I would look at Kojaque and be like, “This guy’s doing the thing! I’m freestyling at the house parties, drunk as fuck, but he’s doing the actual thing.” He had music videos and albums and stuff happening, so I was like, “This is possible. I’m a good rapper, so why not me?” Then when I got into the game, I didn’t realise it at the time, but a lot of people had the same idea right around the same time. All my peers, it feels like we started on the same day. A lot of us did similar showcases; it was, like, 12 of us on a bill and we can all say, “That was our first show.” It’s crazy. Something just sparked. I don’t like to talk about Covid in every interview, but I think Covid really had me inside the house checking: “What avenue can we make some money from and also enjoy ourselves?”

And stay sane.

I’m inside the house right now and I need something to do!

Funnily enough, I did want to ask you about Kojaque because he remixed “Men On A Mission”. What’s it like working with him?

He’s my guy! He’s one of those people... Basically: me, Ahmed, With Love and Rory Sweeney had released “Men On A Mission” in 2022. That was there. Then we came over here and supported Kean Kavanagh for a gig, and him and Kojaque are besties. Kojaque was there on the night where I was drunk as fuck, and he put this phone to my ear, playing a SoundCloud link, and it’s him over the fucking full track—rapping in the background, proper unofficial vibes. I’m like, “What the fuck?” Because I look up to Kojaque. Kojaque is the guy to me. So we got into it and he just did it officially, just for the love of the sport. Then he agreed to the music video. I think he had a hand in the ideas for the music video, too.

In the UK, there’s a conversation happening about the rap scene being in a stagnant state currently. But over in Ireland, it seems to be popping off. What are you guys doing differently?

I think we’re just doing it on a mass scale for the first time. I think that’s what is making it feel like that. I don’t know what sets us apart—I just know that it feels fucking good! I wish I could look at it and say, “This is what it is.” But people are just fucking talented, bro. There’s a natural buzziness about an Irish guy and for rap music, it really works. There was so much of Irish copying UK flows, and there still is so much of that. And deeper back, they’re going to America, copying flows.

That’s how it was in British rap in the early ‘80s: us using American flows.

That’s what I’m saying. There’s all that going on, but I think we’re just now starting to be comfortable making our music now.

You initially dabbled in a bit of drill music, right?

“I’m shipping the packs!” [Laughs]

[Laughs] But you’ve found your sound now—which you like to call “swampy and weird.” Why?

That’s just two great words, man.

Fair [laughs]. How did you make that transition—what sparked it? Was it finding the right producer? Were you messing around with flows?

I think it was getting into Auto-Tune and wanting to use that more. I was working with this producer, Edboy, at the time. He produced those first 10 tracks of mine that were all Auto-Tune. I moved away from it for a bit when I got onto boom-bap beats, but I’m back on the Auto-Tune now. I’m trying to dabble because there’s a lot of creativity left behind when you don’t get the trap drums involved. I need sections with interesting things going on because I’m getting bored of just rapping. Three and a half minutes of me just doing that is boring to me.

Are you going to go further with experimenting? What about singing?

On my last project, on a song called “Left, Right!”, I was singing a bit and it made me realise that I’m not anywhere near where I need to be, singing-wise. I can’t even hit a 50 Cent-style chorus where he’s barely singing. I can’t even get there. I needed a female vocalist to help me with it. When I did a song with a guy called SLOUCHO recently, he brought me to this place where I was singing with more Auto-Tune and I was like, “Well, this makes singing easier.” Obviously, it does, but it makes me reach in the places where I need to reach easier because I have this bit of a blanket to make me not sound like a fucking idiot. So now that I’ve got into that, I’m trying to just build it, learn from it and add to it. I sound like fucking Kanye West on a mad one [laughs]. I’m trying to figure out what the fuck is going on, musically, because I don’t get music. I’m inherently a fucking idiot. Basically, I smoked weed and listened to rap for 20 years, and now I want to do it. But we’re getting there!

The other thing I wanted to ask you about, and we heard it a bit in some of the tracks you were doing in soundcheck, is the really cool use of samples. I don’t know if this is all down to the producers you work with or what, but where are you getting these samples from? What’s your approach to that?

Recently, it’s been very important for me to have a feel for the sample that’s being used, and I need to be there when the samples are found. A lot of the time, it’s just the buzz. Earlier this year, I put out a project [Beauty In The Beast] with this guy, hikii, who knows the magic words to type in and find these samples of music you’ve never heard before. Just three clicks of a button, he’s chopping it up and it sounds like a rap song straight away. But now I’m trying to find some shit so I can feel in touch with the music. Especially vocal chops and samples of, like, cartoons that I’m into. I have a nephew and I want to incorporate my love for this guy into the music; I’m trying to do cartoon shit that he’s into for this next project. It all just needs to mean something now.

It really fits your vocal style, the rhythm, and the pace of it. It’s like it’s custom built for you.

It drives what I’m saying. I enjoy the Earl Sweatshirt comparison and I enjoy pushing it even forward. I was like, “Yeah, I like that stuff.” I like the calm talk and shit because a lot of the time, what I’m writing is shit that I need to get out of my head and figure out what the fuck is going on.

Well, Earl Sweatshirt is an interesting one because he was heavily inspired by MF DOOM, which ties back to what you’re saying about sampling cartoons—something he did a lot in his career.

I’m only getting into MF DOOM now, which is so crazy. I’ve always said it as well: I’m the generation that learned from the generation because it took me so long.

It’s once removed, yeah.

I had to get my knowledge up because they have a video of me on the internet saying, “Biggie’s overrated.” It exists. That was in 2021… What the fuck is wrong with me?

You’re still based over in Dublin, right?

I’m an Irish boy, and I don’t think you guys are going to get me, boys! I’m not going to lie: I think I’m sticking. I’m over here in the UK, and I really, really love it, but if I was spending this money every day, shit would get fucking crazy! I think it’s just a ceiling to hit in Ireland that needs to be hit. I think I have some money left in Ireland, and I think I have some changes to make, and some things left to do. Hopefully, people can see me in Ireland more and realise that this scene really is a thing.

You’ve got a manager but you’re still relatively independent, aren’t you?

Yeah. We have enough to keep us going, and it works perfectly for us. He’s somebody I really, really trust. His name is Sean Price. He’s the backbone of the situation. I would not be here today—I’d still be in bed!—if it wasn’t for him. Everywhere I go, this guy comes with me. Same with my DJ, Cian Bolger: they both make life very easy for me and all I have to do is walk behind them.

What are some of your career goals, then?

Do you know what? I’ve always wanted to be able to act or be comfortable enough to act in music videos because I can’t really do that. I can’t even do, like, a shocked look or anything. So I’d love to do some acting classes and get there. That’s a real thing. I also love learning how to swim. I know how to float like a motherfucker, but that’s it. I want festivals. I want awards... I want awards the most, more than anybody in this fucking building. I was actually nominated for the RTÉ Choice Music Prize for Album Of The Year. That gave me a taste of what it’s like. I got smoked by Fontaines DC and Kneecap, obviously. It was a rough year, but being put in there with them was amazing. I want to deserve to win some shit and then win it.

The fact that you were in the conversation when it was such a crazy year is a great achievement.

It’s done so much for me as a musician, getting me in front of so many people.

Is there anything else you want to add?

Free Palestine. That’s it.