Irish hip hop has come a long way since Scary Éire in the 1990s and Messiah J & The Expert in the 2000s. The commercial success of Rejjie Snow and the rise of the bilingual rappers Kneecap are just two examples of a constantly evolving scene. Kevin Smith, aka Kojaque, now returns with his second album (or perhaps his third, depending on whether you regard Deli Daydreams, his 2018 mixtape, or Town’s Dead, his Choice Music Prize-nominated LP from 2021, as his debut).
The first sound on Phantom of the Afters is a taunting chant of “Jackie took the soup” on Goodbye, Jackie Dandelion. (Dandelion is Smith’s alter ego, named after the Fontaines DC song Jackie Down the Line.) It is a funny, irreverent take on biting the bullet to relocate to London.
Larry Bird begins with an in-flight announcement on a plane bound for Stansted Airport. Jackie Dandelion/Kojaque tries to find his feet in the English capital, where he experiences loneliness and is misunderstood; he uses music to navigate it all and help make some kind of sense of his life.
Kojaque ups his game on the collaborations front, with appearances by international names of the calibre of Hak Baker, Wiki, Charlotte Dos Santos, Gotts Street Park and Biig Piig. There is plenty of humour and playfulness, but it is his takes on love, loss, fallouts, rows, depression, gentrification, grief, the cost of living and all the tribulations of being alive in the first quarter of the 21st century that set this apart as an emotional musical odyssey.
This is all stitched into Kojaque’s trademark soft beats, a refreshing balm to anyone who might consider some hip hop a little too grating. There are shades of Kendrick Lamar in the production, and Kojaque’s voice is unique: he raps in a rich, smooth flow in probably the most inimitable Irish accent ever heard in hip hop.
On Johnny MacEnroe, Smith blends beautifully with Wiki, who is from New York. Yoko Oh No! tackles depression with frank honesty, while Fat Ronaldo/Covent Gardens addresses Irish identity in London. What If? features Dos Santos, the Norwegian composer and singer, providing a perfect melodic foil as Kojaque thinks out loud about relationships that could have been.
Heaven Shouldn’t Have You concludes Phantom of the Afters with a haunting meditation on bereavement. The Cabra man pours his heart and soul into his most personal, poignant and open album yet, heralding a fascinating new phase of his career. “I left this country with a suitcase and a dream,” he sings on the title track. His dream is sounding great. The future might sound even better.
