🎧 Approved: Tebi Rex

After ten years of pulling Irish hip hop into stranger, sharper, funnier shapes, Irish alt-rap duo Tebi Rex are calling time. Their third and final album - ‘Fin.’ - isn’t a bitter farewell but a deliberate full stop, a way of putting the work down while it still feels good in their hands.

The duo’s reputation was built on contrasts: earnest one minute, ridiculous the next; heavy themes softened with playfulness; a love of rap spliced with indie, trad or whatever else they felt like throwing in. ‘Fin.’ keeps all of that but leans harder into the idea of endings; relationships, friendships, lives and the group itself.

The record’s centrepiece, ‘And I’m Mad.’ - featuring Becky McNeice - is as raw as they’ve ever sounded. No bravado, no clever detours, just two voices trying to process grief. “When covering endings, we’d be remiss not to speak on the topic of death”, says one half of the duo, Matt O'Baoill. 

“Unfortunately, we’ve experienced our fair share of loss”, he goes on, “this is just two people grieving. Just the end. Just a song for Raph and Mam”. 

Elsewhere, there’s humour, there’s bite and there’s the same creativity that’s carried them this far. But there’s also a calm acceptance that things don’t last forever and that maybe that’s the point. 

“The music industry is ever-changing; it's hard, like really hard”, adds the other half of the group, Max Zanga. “But there’s so much love there. I personally couldn’t do this forever, but it doesn’t mean I love it any less. In fact, I think I love it more now at the end”. 

Two people met at a college talent show, made something that didn’t sound like anyone else around them and left a mark. ‘Fin.’ is the bow on top - intentional, heartfelt and true to what makes Tebi Rex matter.