How Phat Conquered Palestine
December 19, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Public Enemy frontman Chuck D once called hip-hop the CNN of urban youth. More recently, rap mogul and entrepreneur Russell Simmons called it a “worldwide cultural phenomena that transcends race.” So it is fitting that hip-hop has found a new home in one of the world’s most volatile regions: the Middle East. Leading the movement is a Palestine trio of lyricists who call themselves DAM, a triple-loaded name: an acronym for ‘Da Arabian MCs, the Arabic for “blood” and the Hebrew for “eternity.” The group doesn’t do the formula, commercialized rap music that gets a lot of radio play; instead DAM is a vanguard for a politically charged subgenre of rap that focuses on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “It’s our life, it’s our window. Whatever has happened to us, we think about it, we write it,” said Tamer Nafar, who partnered with his younger brother Suhell and his friend, Mahmoud Jreri to form the group in 1999. He says his major influence was Tupac Shakur’s music in the 1990s, and artists that came before like Public Enemy and KRS 1. Their flow is almost entirely in Arabic, over music that links them to the region. But the sampling and even the non-English rap style borrows unmistakably from American hip-hop. “Sometimes its about love, sometimes its about who is best on the microphone,” said Jreri who sat with his cohorts backstage after a recent performance in Brooklyn. “We have love for hip-hop and we are not only taking it as political, but politics is part of our life.” In the same way that American rappers react to urban poverty and strife, the Palestinians react to the poverty in the Palestinian territories in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. DAM’s signature tune “Meen Irhabi” (”Who’s The Terrorist”), sparks the same sentiments as songs by Mos Def and Talib Kweli. Other artists like Gaza’s Palestinian Rappers and Egypt’s Arabian Knightz help bolster the popularity of the music. Conservative and fundamentalist religious critics however have made it difficult for hip hop artists to perform in many venues. The group Palestinian Rappers were reportedly chased off the stage during a performance by teenagers said to be linked to Hamas. There has also been scant contact between Arab rap artists and the equally popular Israeli hip-hop movement. But despite the hurdles, the musicians go from gig to gig because they see they are having an effect. “Artists make political statements subtly and not so subtly and those statements have an impact on the audience,” said Bakari Kitwana, who serves as Artist in Residence at the Center for the Study of Race Politics and Culture at the University of Chicago. “This is what hip-hop does at its best, so we we see young people gravitating toward hip hop, seeing their own conditions and have hip-hop giving them a voice.” Jackie Salloum, a filmmaker who is producing a documentary about the Middle Eastern rap scene called Slingshothiphop said the movement had been small, but grew quickly. “In Gaza it caught on and people were influenced by it,” she explained. “When I got there, there were only 10 guys rhyming, but within a year, there were 60.” Hip-hop is seen as one of the gifts of African-American culture to the world’s creative landscape. Rhyme artists like DAM and others spent years listening to their favorite rappers, dressing like them and emulating their beats. Now they want to have the same kind of global impact. “We know about Afro Americans through hip hop,” Suheil Nafar said. “So all the world will know about Palestine through hip-hop.”
A Hip Hop Foreigner in Gaza
December 13, 2007 | Leave a Comment
GAZA CITY, Dec. 11, 2007 (MENASSAT.COM) - It’s not often that you get to see musical performances in Gaza these days. Although Israel pulled out of the Gaza Strip in 2005, its security policies have otherwise choked off any hope of cultural normalcy for the 1,5 million plus Palestinians living here. Israel completely controls the borders of Gaza like a prison. So cultural expression is just one of the many casualties of war.
Still, there I was at one of Gaza’s many cultural centers, listening to local rappers doing their thing in Arabic.
Rap music in Gaza?
Somehow I was drawn to this music I didn’t understand, performed by Gazan youth who donned the same stylistic markers as their American counterparts — from the clothing to the music samples to the rhythms of their word flow.
At the concert’s conclusion - which was a welcome break for my uninitiated ears -, I was left with so many questions.
How do they define the type of art they presented? How could they dare form American-style music groups and perform publicly in Occupied Palestine, which is characterized by its adherence to traditions and customs?
I decided I would ask members from three Gaza-based hip hop groups - Gazesta, P.R. (Palestinian Rap) and R.F.M. (Rap Fi Medinahti) - why it was that hip hop was their preferred method for expressing their day-to-day experience.
Introducing:
From R.F.M.:
Faysal
Mohammed
From P.R.:
Ayman
Moutaz
From Gazesta:
Alaa
How were you introduced to rap music?
Faysal: "Let me start with a little background first. We have to acknowledge that rap music is an art form that comes from black America, and it reflects some very common themes such as the oppression, repression and racism in the United States experienced by black Americans at the hands of white Americans. I would go so far as to say that, in Palestine, we are suffering from similar oppression and racism from an occupying power. That is why we thought: why not express our pain in the same way?"
Ayman: "Most of us were introduced to rap music through popular media outlets, and of course, the Internet. We quickly realized that the best and fastest way to reach the outside world and inform it about the Palestinian cause would be through rap. Rap has visibility in these countries."
What is your motive behind rapping?
Mohammad: "We found rap to be a weapon for us - a means to convey our voice and our message. But, rap music is also a peaceful, defensive path, because paper and the pencil are the best means to convey the suffering of the Palestinian people to the outside world."
Do you find it difficult to rap in a society that is inherently conservative and more eastern in its values?
Mohammad: "In the beginning, it was hard. But as time passed, people accepted the idea because we are expressing the cause of a nation. Whoever examines the lyrics will see how simple and expressive they are."
What problems did you face at the beginning of your journey?
Mohammad: "One of the most common problems we faced was the criticism directed against us - from our clothing to the actual songs we performed. In addition, the issues of direct support both inside and outside Gaza, and the lack of funding - these have been the biggest obstacles."
Moutaz: "One of the key problems we faced were the parental objections. But even though our parents disapprove, they have not derailed our moves to achieve big things with our music."
(Note: Faysal said that his parents’ reaction was positive and that they heavily supported him.)
What do you produce your music with?
Faysal: "We use special computerized programs to arrange and compose our music. Sometimes we take ready-made rhythms or samples that have been cleared from any copyright infringement that we can get online or from CD’s. We also use some eastern instruments to make our sound more local."
Who composes the lyrics and what are the issues you tackle?
Mohammad: "We write the lyrics ourselves. And these lyrics are aimed mostly at expressing the problems, the pain and the events faced by Palestinians every day."
Moutaz: "In fact, most of our songs tackle the social situation, youth, unemployment, children, and the political situation prevailing in Palestine."
What about relationships with other Palestinian musical groups? Do these young musicians all seek to achieve one goal, or does each band have their own dreams?
Faysal: "Honestly, some claim that all Palestinian bands agree on one larger goal - a nationalist sort of agenda. But in fact, each band seeks to achieve its personal goals regardless of the common interest, despite the communication between us and the bands in the lands of 1948 and through the Internet."
It is known that Palestinian society is conservative. And many people I talked to said rap music is considered an intruder art form. How do you expect your rap to serve the Palestinian society?
Mohammad: "Our rap songs express the Palestinian cause and our singing is full of nationalism and the love of Palestine. It is not a sarcastic kind of music; we sing within the framework of our traditional morals and customs."
What is the attendance like at your shows? Do you have a following, in other words?
Mohammad: "The attendance is increasing. This is inevitable. The young people are soaking up hip hop. So we have our fans."
What attracted you to rap and pushed you to do it?
Faysal: "The thing that attracted me to rap was honestly the fact that I can express myself and say whatever I want without restrictions. It is an offensive and defensive way at the same time."
Where do you find yourself, in Western or in Arab music?
Faysal: "I think that the rap music we sing is better than some of the aimless Arab and Egyptian songs that lack any meaning or message."
Is there any political side (like Hamas or Fatah) that finances or sponsors your music?
Moutaz: "There is no sponsor or financial backer for our music or our live shows. All our work is a result of our personal efforts."
Do you consider rap to be a future career or a life-long hobby?
Ayman: "I will continue to rap but I don’t think it will be my career. We’ll see."
Moutaz: "I consider rap as a hobby, but it’s something I really believe in."
Alaa: "For now, I consider rap a hobby. However, if at any time it provided me with an adequate income, then I would certainly consider it as a career choice!"
Mohammad: "Rap hasn’t altered my life. It is a hobby that has its positive outcomes."
You are all young… So did rapping affect your studies or work?
Ayman: "At first, it had a very negative effect because when we first got into the game, we obviously had to devote a lot of time to it. Eventually, as we got more experienced, we overcame the problem by organizing our time more efficiently."
So what did I conclude from these interviews? Certainly, this is a determined group of young men who are turning to art to discuss their discontent about the situation in Gaza. Art, in this case, is replacing bullets as a reaction to the Occupation.
But ultimately, I’m left with more questions.
Will Palestinian society allow the spread of western-influenced arts among the youth, especially in Gaza which is more conservative in many ways than the Occupied West Bank?
I ask this knowing that these western-influenced cultural leanings will eventually affect the customs, traditions, and the morals on which subsequent generations are raised.
And last, I wonder whether hip hop, as a culture, will veer them away from the conservative upbringing that they have come to know?
But one thing is for sure: the rappers in this group see hip hop as a means of elevating their lives above the malaise of life in Gaza.
Muslim-American Rappers Promote Tolerance in Middle East
December 8, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Washington – When Native Deen took hip-hop music to Jerusalem in fall 2006, the group of Muslim-American rappers was moved deeply by the holiness of the place and the energy of the hundreds of teens who attended their concerts. Yet nothing came close to the connection the performers felt to their faith during their Middle East trip.
“I could feel it in the stone and the rocks,” said Naeem Muhammad of Native Deen, a Muslim-American hip-hop group based near Washington that has a strong following in the United Kingdom and the United States.
“Our music inspires Muslims to be better Muslims, but it also gives other people a better view of our faith,” Joshua Salaam told USINFO in an interview.
The rhythm is there, and the beat is contemporary. But the heart of inspirational hip-hop music is in the powerful rap lyrics coaxing listeners to live better lives and be better people.
Native Deen traveled to Turkey, Dubai, the Palestinian Territories and Israel on behalf of the U.S. Department of State, incorporating the teachings of Islam into songs about respect and humanity. At all the concerts, the performers were greeted like “American superstars,” they said. In Dubai, Native Deen won the 2006 Mahabba Award at an event showcasing musicians, artists and filmmakers inspired to spread Islam through art.
The group, founded in 2000, is known for its positive energy, use of traditional percussion and lyrics focused on tolerance and the teachings of Islam.
“We use the Quran as a source of guidance for us when we write our songs,” said Abdul Malik. “We use the morals and guidelines that we find in the Quran to teach people and to guide people.” This means that the beat, or rhythm, comes second, according to Salaam. The lyrics are the most important aspect of the song, so in Native Deen’s sound, the rap is always in front of the percussion.
“Deen” is the Arabic word for “religion,” or way of life.
Native Deen makes stops at religious and historic sites in Turkey, Dubai and Israel while on tour. (Photo courtesy of Native Deen)
The group’s members met when they were in their early teens in Muslim Youth of North America (MYNA) camps, most often in Ohio, where only percussion instruments were allowed because some Muslims believe that wind and string instruments should be avoided in Islam. Influenced by African-American culture, Salaam, Muhammad and Malik used “beatboxing,” or vocal percussion, and tapping on lunchroom tables to develop with their friends the first Muslim hip-hop sounds that came to be known as MYNA rap. All three Native Deen members can be heard on the MYNA Raps recordings of the early 1990s, but by 2000, Native Deen had set out on its own to record and perform inspirational and spiritual hip-hop.
In the Palestinian Territories and Jerusalem, Native Deen received positive feedback from young people attending the concerts who were impressed that the group uses live drums and percussion instead of electronic tracks. American hip-hop artists often collaborate with international musicians, incorporating traditional instruments and ethnic music. (See related article.)
“We take homegrown instruments and make them work,” Salaam said. The largest challenge for the group is that it performs raps in English. Although in Turkey the group translated some of the raps, Salaam said it was able to see in its audiences that music bridges the language gap.
“[Audiences] might have anti-American sentiment,” Muhammad said. “But they believe in democracy, and they saw us as Muslims who are able to live in America and practice our faith. We got very positive feedback.”
Salaam, who served in the U.S. military in the Air Force, hopes the group will continue to travel internationally because he sees hip-hop as a way to open doors and to encourage religious tolerance and respect.
The rappers performed three concerts in the West Bank, including Al-Quds University in Abu Deis, a village near Jerusalem, in Hebron and Jericho. Prior to arriving in the Middle East, Native Deen gave sold-out concerts at the Royal Armouries in Leeds and at the U.S. Chancery in London during the U.K.-wide Festival of Muslim Cultures, which began in January and continues through autumn 2007.
Hip-hop began in the United States 30 years ago in the South Bronx, a borough of New York City. Using turntables to spin old, worn records, teens began to talk over music, mostly on the streets and in basements in what were called block parties, creating an entirely new music genre and dance form. This "talking over," or MCing (rapping) or DJing (audio mixing or scratching), became the essence of rap. (See related article.)
Native Deen audio clips, song lyrics and other information are available on the group’s Web site.
More information about the Festival of Muslim Cultures is available on the program’s Web site.
For additional information about life in America, see The Arts and Population and Diversity.
(USINFO is produced by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
