Limerick rapper Strange Boy discusses long-awaited new track

THROUGH thick and thin, Strange Boy is a Limerick man. Halfway through Joyce’s Ulysses, he was inspired to pen a new song, in which he tackles the competitiveness of rap culture.

Under his moniker Strange Boy, Jordan McNally Kelly combines hip-hop with elements of Irish traditional music. The Caherdavin native is often described as a ‘1000-year-old poet’, reincarnated in the body of a young man.

In a long-awaited new track titled Ulysses, featuring Krome, Strange Boy ‘spitefully’ reminds us that Limerick is “number one on the map”.

“In rap, there was this kind of competitive culture of saying 'You're the best or I'm the best rapper’, and people just competing with other people.

"I kind of drew from that because you'll be seeing a lot of times where Dublin is very centred in the music scene and the conversations, there’s a lot of stuff happening in Dublin, which is fine and I love Dublin, but, I think too much is getting pushed towards Dublin. It was kind of spiteful writing that lyric,” he explains.

After falling down a rabbit hole on YouTube, Strange Boy fell in love with an old song which struck a chord, one dedicated to a “Limerick man, through thick and thin” - a saying artists in the Treaty City live by, as they always show up for one another.

“We all know each other as well, that's another thing. Down here, it's a lot more tight-knitted, we all go to each other's shows and support each other.

“I just think because Limerick is a lot smaller than Dublin, it doesn't have as many resources, it doesn't have the same amount of money coming into it. So, for Limerick to have the music scene that it has, which, in my opinion, is on par or even above Dublin, I think we just punch above our weight, you know?”

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At the moment, the rapper is halfway through James Joyce’s Ulysses, which inspired the title of his track. To read through Joyce’s bible-sized novel, patience is key.

“It’s a book you need a bit of patience with. A lot of the stuff in it is pathology, you don't really know what he's talking about. But I'm just reading it now for the sake of it. As a songwriter, the words that the man uses in it, and the way he strings together sentences, it's almost like poetic, it’s good,” says Strange Boy.

“It’s a mad book. It’s definitely engaging my brain anyway, I didn't get the chance to read all the books in school. So I'm kind of making up for it now in my twenties,” he continues.

The 1000-year-old poet is currently working on his next album, which won’t be out for a while. But fear not, he has something else in store - a four-track EP, which should be out by the end of the summer.

Speaking of his next album, he says: “It’s just in the same vein as my debut. It’s gonna be all trad, but it's a lot more conceptual, I’m talking about the characters I would've come across when I grew up in Limerick, and stuff I would've seen, stuff I would've been involved in.”

The artist says growing up in Limerick was mad.

“It was very hectic, it was just mad. Especially when I was a kid, you’d just be getting up to all sorts. You wouldn't know what you'd be seeing at certain points in your life. Some things were traumatising, and some things were very funny.”

As the mayoral candidates are getting ready for the upcoming elections, is there something that could be added to their manifesto?

“I wouldn't be too involved into the politics, but I will say this, they should be putting on more events, like the ones that you'll be seeing up in Dublin. It just gives people something to do, because some days, some weeks around here, certain people will get up to their own stuff, and some other people might cause trouble around here.

"Young fellas have nothing to do, so it’s just good to keep people occupied. I'm not a politician and I could be here all day talking about all the different problems, all the ins and outs, but just put on more events for the arts and showcase the music scene.”