Ballymun hip-hop crew Bricknasty are the latest young talents to come out of the northside, following the likes of Kojaque, For Those I Love and Pillow Queens.
Ahead of tomorrow night's Jameson Connects gig at The Sound House, band member Fatboy takes us through his favourite haunts - in which Ikea features prominently...
Home is...
I live in Ballymun – still in the family gaff with my two mas and my little sister. I've been living in Ballymun for 21 years – all my life. I used to live in the flats.
It was whopper [growing up in Ballymun], all my best memories are here – and my worst ones as well! But yeah, it was a serious spot with a real strong sense of community because obviously, the whole place, we've been through a lot together.
Even if there's little scraps here and there, I feel like overall everyone's quite understanding that you never really know what anyone might be going through.
How I get around the city:
I get the bus in [to town]. I listen to the Talking Bollox podcast, I love that, and if I have a gig coming up I might listen to the set that I'm having to learn.
And then if I'm really lucky and I have a minute to myself, then I'll listen to whatever takes my fancy – it might be a bit of 50 Cent, it might be a bit of D'Angelo. Something nice.
The best place in the city for a date:
Ikea. That's the best place to go if you're on a budget. You have the hot dogs there for 89 cent, you can't go wrong. And especially if you're on a real genuine buzz with a bird, you should have the understanding that you're both skint. Go to Ikea – the ice cream's cheap and the hot dogs are even cheaper. And maybe pick up a few bits of furniture.
That could be the making of it! You never know, you might walk around, she's pointing out furniture and it looks like David Bowie's front room.
My favourite pub in the city:
I don't drink but I'll give a shout out to The Setanta on Ballymun Road. It's a little sports club and you get a few pints in there. It's a nice little spot.
The first gig that I sold out, back when I was a teenager, was in The Setanta, and they were very good.
My favourite restaurant in Dublin:
It's a tough one. I used to always think Burger King was the be-all-and-end-all for fast food. I held it in such high esteem. But now I've got culchie mates from everywhere, and I think they're after putting me on the Supermac's buzz.
If you really want to lay the smackdown on a bit of grub, Supermac's is the spot to do it. What I love about Supermac's is the whole ethos of it, because they use, just, sh*t stuff. But when it comes all together, it's magical.
My go-to café or coffee shop:
We don't have loads of little boutique coffee shops [in Ballymun] – a lot of the time you’ll end up in an Insomnia or something.
But Ten10 Coffee up in Santry, that's a nice little coffee box. They open at the crack of dawn and when I worked up in the optician's I used to drop in and they'd sort us out with an iced latte or whatever.
Where I get my exercise:
Literally just where I live - I get out and just run the whole kip and that's that.
I'm getting loads of practice in with running, the last while. I'm off the gargle now seven or eight weeks, because I just want to be animal. I want to be a mauler. So I was like, 'Right, I'm going to start putting the graft in. Everything gone - no distractions, no anything'. And I'll just sprint all the way up around Poppintree and down through Balcurris.
One of the boys can literally run up through all of Coolock, all of Ballymun and all of Finglas in the same day. That's how much of an animal he is. So if I can get to that level, I'll be a happy man.
My favourite shops:
Do you know what shop I think is absolutely hilarious on every level? The little sex shop up there on Henry Street.
It's the maddest thing ever, because they're selling porn DVDs and vibrators, and then behind the counter it's just a regular dude. This fella, he could just as easily be working in bleedin' CEX or something like that.
And if you ask him questions he's so matter-of-fact about it. It's like something out of a Will Ferrell movie.
My favourite place for a haircut:
The barber that I normally go to is Boxx up in Finglas. They do serious fades.
The same Turkish fella has been cutting my hair since my communion. I have a lot of faith in him as a craftsman. He could probably give a decent fade on the back of a galloping horse. Anywhere, anytime, he's ready to throw down.
My favourite place in Dublin to get away from it all:
I'm just going to keep saying Ballymun. I think what I like about here is that it has nothing to do with my line of work and everything to do with my family. The minute I leave, I'm just waiting to come back again, sit in my room and decompress. I get real positive feelings, coming back home and getting that chance to just chill the f*ck out.
Poppo Park is close enough, it's a lovely park, and then you have Albert College Park as well, that's right next to DCU and it has of the best dogs you ever seen in your whole life. You can go up and give them a little coochie-coo behind the ear.
My favourite place to let my hair down:
I'll have to double tap Ikea there – if it's an after-hours affair, the car park. You can get the whole riff-raff in, it's a huge car park. That's definitely the one you want to be frequenting.
The last live event I went to:
I got to see Digga D up in Longitude, he was playing the Heineken stage, and I got to chill with all the bleedin' mandem. It was dead cool.
I'm a big Digga D fan. Me and the boys we were singing every word – flow for flow, bar for bar. I had a great time.
Dublin's best kept secret:
Navan.
Bricknasty play The Sound House tomorrow (20th) as part of the Jameson Connects series, with Tebi Rex and Daire Patel also on the bill.
