Born in a hazy attic on Hawthorn Street in West Belfast, Kneecap first emerged in 2018 with a mixtape that mixed fictional crime stories, sharp humour and inventive Irish-language lyricism. Framed around tales of dodging the RUC, smuggling narcotics with the mythical Conamara Cartel and recruiting a fugitive from Free Derry, the project created a world entirely its own. As depicted in the film, the mixtape was mastered by Ciarán Byrne in Dublin, with payment supposedly settled by digging a hole in his garden. It broke every rule—except caol le caol.