VIDEO PREMIERE: Róg Poets rapper Mory laments Dublin's neglect in 'Talamh (Gardaí)'

Dublin rapper and producer Mory tackles the housing and homelessness crises on his explosive debut single 'Talamh (Gardaí)', taking risks and showing no fear on the track.

The song also takes aim at the political elite and corporate status quo, which have created the nightmarish housing crisis and simultaneously benefit from its continuation.

'Talamh' seems even more poignant after yesterday's news cycle, which saw Government ministers, TDs and former high-profile politicians attend a party held by Katherine Zappone in the Merrion Hotel just before her (short-lived) appointment as the Government's Special Envoy on Freedom of Opinion and Expression. An unadvertised job handed to a former powerful Minister, while the Attorney General later changed Covid-19 regulations to show that parties of 200 were allowed outdoors - a brand new law changed retrospectively. The Green Party, among others in Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, defended their attendance at other parties - all of which contained higher numbers of attendees than the current Covid-19 restrictions allow.

One rule for the political elite appear to be another story for the general public, especially those most vulnerable in our society. How can we trust our Government to solve the housing crises when they are completely out of touch with their constituents' needs and benefit from their suffering?

"As a young Irish person who deals with the daily frustrations of trying to rent property in Ireland it felt only right to make this song the debut release from my upcoming project: Lonely Old Town," Mory tells Hot Press.

"I wanted to create something that my generation can relate too, I don't know a single person my age (25) who isn't either in rental distress or still living at home with their parents".

"The idea of the song is to draw a historical comparison of property and land ownership in Ireland as something that's always been a problem for the common person, whether it be feudal landlords evicting Irish people from their land with the assistance of the RIC or illegal evictions taking place in modern times with the assistance of An Gardaí Síochána," the rapper adds.

The founding member of Róg Records and 1/4 of Róg Poets; Mory is known for fusing his sound with traditional Irish elements. The sole Dublin rapper to use Gaeilge in his music, 'Talamh (Gardaí)' marks Mory's first solo venture since Róg Poets were established in 2018.

His sadness at the suffering of Dublin's most vulnerable is stark on the fiery track, which feels essential to modern Ireland.

"These are topics which I feel very passionately and strongly about, It wouldn't feel right to me creating music that doesn't reflect my current situation and that of so many around me. I've noticed an absence of coverage of these topics in modern Irish music and felt it was a necessary song to write," Mory says.

"Just like punk and so many other styles of music which emerged from times of political and economic hardship this is a song I wrote hoping it would reflect this difficult period of Ireland's history the same way The Clash and so many others did for their generation."

The video itself takes place in various locations of significance to the topics mentioned in the song. Overlooking the cranes of the gentrified Dublin Docklands area, outside the house of the infamous Frederick Street to the steps where a life was lost as a result of this crisis.

"Filmmaker Hannah McGlynn said the research she undertook to make this video was a real eye opener as to how the bad the problem in Ireland really is," the rapper concludes.

Check out the Dublin-based video for 'Talamh' below: