Tommy KD - Karma's A Bitch: powerful tales of bad fortune and the relentless grind

Tommy Kiernan Dunne’s life story is the stuff of many dramas so it’s no surprise the rhymes on the Ballymun-born rapper’s debut album come with a jagged edge. Having survived addiction, crime and homelessness, Dunne uses his brilliant grasp of words and phrases to paint strong and powerful accounts of hardship, bad fortune and the relentless grind.

The album also marks the welcome return of the excellent Wexford-born, Galway-based producer Hazo and he gives the tracks a sheen and a glow which underlines the bittersweet grit of Dunne's narrative.

Be it the predicaments spelled out on Kids Havin' Kids, the behind-bars fury of ASAB or the rage that powers Satan's Government, Dunne articulates a side of Irish life which is all too prevalent, yet which we rarely hear about with such eloquence.

Every politician running for election should listen.