Dropkick Murphys, entire 'Sing Loud, Sing Proud' album.
Fucking classic. Really, really gutted that I didn't get to see them on their UK tour earlier this year. And that I passed them over at Leeds fest '01 or around then in favour of some shitey fucking band or other.
edit: I will also admit now, if I haven't already, that I think Nicki Minaj is pretty great. Starships and Pound the Alarm are fucking fantastic songs, her lyrics make no sense, and when she raps in a cockney accent it's actually not awful. She's like Lady Gaga for people who like their pop music without as much social activism, I think. Not like that's a bad thing and I can't complain about pop music having meaningful lyrics, but she feels like sometimes she's more of a social justice warrior, to coin an awful phrase, rather than an artist. I still feel like I need to narrow down that definition because Gaga's lyrics and messages are a world away from the 'I'll show you mine if you show me yours' pop lyricism that got us all told off in Catholic school in the mid 90s.
'No, you can't sing that in the talent show.'
'But why, miss?'