West Belfast-based hip-hop trio Kneecap have shared their guide to a better way to live.
The three-piece band - rappers Mo Chara (Liam Óg Ó Hannaidh) and Móglaí Bap (Naoise Ó Cairealláin) plus DJ Próvaí (JJ Ó Dochartaigh) - shared their 10 Rules To Live By, essentially in a new Instagram post, revealing that they'd been asked to pass on their hard-fought wisdom by "the heads at WePresent", WeTransfer's digital arts and editorial platform.
The group's 10 Rules were introduced with a quote from Cork band The Sultans Of Ping's 1992 indie classic Where's Me Jumper?, a song which includes the lyric "What do you think about my manifesto?".
Read the Kneecap manifesto below:
1. Don’t be sitting on nothing. It’s better to take part than to be on the sidelines. Don’t say it, do it.
2. Time goes by despite your hardships, despite crises, despite the time on the clock.
3. Don’t be eternally hard on yourself. The worries of the world are heavy enough.
4. Take a breath, say hello to a stranger, ‘give a dog a pet’, it’s the wee things that add real wealth to life.
5. Try not to be bitter – take it that you and the person in front of you are one and the same.
6. There’s a value to friends, culture, language and relationships that money people can’t make a profit off, thank god.
7. Welcome diversity – with people, food and other perspectives of life.
8. Be outspoken, leave your mark and stand up for your people. Stand up for Palestine, and stand up for oppressed people around the world.
9. Don’t be afraid of any change, it’s a natural part of life.
10. Be sure, when your race is run, that you have left your all on this world. That you gave your heart and your soul and everything in between.
Last week, Kneecap won their court case against the British government, with a Belfast court ruling that Kemi Badenoch, the former Secretary of State for Business and Trade who is now the Conservative Party leader, illegally blocked an arts grant to which they were fully entitled.
The UK's Labour government decided against contesting the band's case.
Kneecap were awarded £14,250, the same amount they were initially granted. The trio gifted the award equally between two organisations in Belfast working with Catholic and Protestant youth.
