Chris Byrne is an American Celtic hip hop musician from New York City of Irish descent. He co-founded the band Black 47 with Larry Kirwan in 1989. Before and for some years after forming the band, Byrne was a New York City police officer. While still with the band, he created a side project - the Celtic hip hop band Seanchai & the Unity Squad. "Seanchai" is Byrne's hip-hop stage name, loosely translated from Irish as 'storyteller'.