Since long before Kneecap’s rise from cult curiosity to global disruptors, Dublin’s Outstraight Records has been building the Irish hip-hop scene. Less of a conventional label and more of a full rap ecosystem with long-running residencies, Outstraight have been booking the best names from the UK alongside their own proudly Irish lineup.

The label’s first release Being Outstraight came in 2024. A seven-track EP ten artists deep, Beano and Don Kobz featured on three tracks, and have appeared on pretty much every release that followed. When Four Owls veteran Verb T found himself stuck in Dublin after a flight was delayed, he killed the time with a studio session that turned into the full twelve-track collaborative album Dual Odyssey, launched by Verb and the Outstraight crew at Camden Assembly in June 2025.

Since then the momentum hasn’t slowed, with Outstraight’s first album as a unit Top Floor Strays arriving earlier this year with Don Kobz, Beano, Panda Drey & Conkan all trading verses over No Venom’s beats, followed just a few months later by Beano & Don Kobz’ swaggering album Only Built 4 Claddagh Ringz. Rather than chasing a single breakout star, the crew are always pushing each other to the front. Now that Irish hip-hop has a seat at the global table, it’s time for hip-hop fans to dig deeper than just Kneecap.

We caught up with Beano & Don Kobz to find out more about the history of the label and the Irish hip-hop scene:

Thanks for speaking with us lads, we’ve been the output from the Outstraight crew. Can you give us a bit of a history of the label?

Who are some of your main musical inspirations?

What do you think the individual strengths of everyone in the crew are?

What are the venues you operate out of in Dublin, and who are some Irish artists we might not know about who are worth checking out?

You guys do a lot of work with the legendary Verb T, can you tell us about your history together?

Who else do you feel a kinship with from the UK?

Who haven’t you worked with yet that you’d love to do a track with?

Even on your latest record, which is billed as a Beano and Don Kobz album, there’s such a strong emphasis on the guest features and the collective. Do you all prefer working together as opposed to a solo setting?

What’s a Claddagh Ring?

What’s on the horizon for Outstraight?