Curtisy - Beauty In The Beast (Official Video)

Hot on the heels of a breakthrough 2024, Irish wordsmith Curtisy kicked off 2025 with a RTE Choice Prize Nomination (modelled on the UK’s Mercury Prize Award) for his debut album What Was The Question, alongside fellow Irish trailblazers in Fontaines D.C and Kneecap, and is following it up with a collaborative mixtape titled Beauty In The Beast.

Joining forces with longtime collaborator and producer hikii (the mind behind some of What Was The Question’s most iconic instrumentals in ‘Landmine’, ‘Nothing Is Precious’ and ‘Tree Sap’), Beauty In The Beast is about finding hope in the hopelessness. Much of Curtisy’s work is inspired by his working class culture surroundings, having grown up in Tallaght, a huge suburban area about 12km west of Dublin, which we see him and hikii exploring via push-bike in the video for the tape’s title track as they contemplate topics of positive nostalgia, addiction and eviction.

“The title track is about a personal experience with a friend that I think a lot of people can relate to”, he says. “They were struggling with addiction and it took a toll on our relationship. It’s about being sorry for not being able to help more, and recognising it could just have easily been me in the hole without the right guidance. Where I’m from this type of stuff is pretty common, I just wanted to make a song that people could hear and help them understand they’re not alone and no one’s to blame.”

Inspired by fellow rappers Earl Sweatshirt and MIKE, Curtisy’s ability to turn a phrase and dualistic wordplay – that captures a serious topic and delivers with his trademark humour – has catapulted him to the very front of Ireland’s rap revolution.

Check out the video for ‘Beauty In The Beast’ below and look out for the full mixtape dropping on May 30th.