Denise Chaila is a Zambian-Irish rapper and poet, whose seamless amalgamation of grime and spoken-word poetry put her at the forefront of Ireland’s vibrant hip-hop scene. Hailing from Chikankata District, Zambia, Chaila moved to Ireland with her family at the age of 8. After graduating from the University of Limerick in English Literature and Sociology, she started off her music career performing in the city’s underground hip-hop scene in 2012. Chaila’s first taste of recognition came in 2016 with her participation in longtime collaborators Rusangano Family’s Let the Dead Bury the Dead, a critically-acclaimed album that won the Choice Music Prize that same year. Spearheaded by the underground hit single “Copper Bullet,” Duel Citizenship (2019), her highly-anticipated debut EP, was featured on Cillian Murphy’s BBC Radio 6 show and was picked up by the likes of NPR and RTÉ. Shortly after, Chaila was invited to perform at the Perspectives: Imagining Ireland event, which took place at Dublin’s National Concert Hall and at the Barbican Centre in London, and made appearances at some of the UK’s top festivals. She followed this success in 2020 with “Chaila,” the first single off of Go Bravely, her studio debut.
