Rap music was first born out of the evolution of the mixing
and spinning records. The idea behind it was to take a song, take one part of
it, and play it over and over again with a mixture of a sample of another song.
At first rapping over this music was just for hyping a crowd up, but eventually
artist started to use rapping as a medium to convey a socio-political message.
The pioneer of this is Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, who made the
song “The Message”. This song marks the start of a movement called conscious
rap, which is characterized as self-aware music with a social and political
message, which took rap to the social platforms with groups such as Public
Enemy and NWA. Rap documented the realities of the ghettos within America that
was not documented by anybody. The ghettos in America were places that were
never talked about, it was not part of America to the general public. Through
music, the everyday realities of a man living in the ghettos were documented by
rap music. There is a similar movement going on in Palestine. Similarly to how
black men voiced their frustration with life in America, Palestinians are also
using hip-hop as a medium of expression and addressing frustration that they
experience in their communities. This subgenre is an attempt to politicize
issues such as the Israel/Palestinian Conflict, the living conditions in
Palestine, and Palestinian unity.
They’re a lot of similar themes between hip-hop in the US
and Palestinian hip-hop. One of those themes include unity between peers. The
African American youth is really prone to join gang activities, which could be
attributed to a lot of reasons. Putting more groupings in a small minority
makes it challenging for that minority to be heard and taken seriously. The
case is similar within Palestine and Islam. While inner city youth in America
have Bloods and Crips, the youth of Palestine have the divide within Islam. To
combat the divide, Palestinian rappers such as DAM (Da Arab MCs) preach unity
with lyrics like “out future is in our hands, there is still good in the work
my brothers.”
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| The Palestinian group DAM |
What I find most interesting about this Palestinian hip-hop
movement is the anger behind it. As a hip-hop head, I always thought that rap
was not inherently angry, and while a genre of music cannot just be angry,
there is a tendency for rap to be used for angry self expression. One song that
stood out for me was “Born Here” by DAM.
The production on the song involves the presence of a hand-drum and fast
Arabic rhythms that complement the melodic tone of Arabic. The song is really interesting because it is
similar to the song “F*ck tha Police” by
NWA. The reason I say that is because in “F*ck tha Police” a big message is about how the
government accuses the black community of wronging society when in reality, the
government has wronged them. This is really similar idea in “Born Here” where one of the MCs says “I
broke the law? No, the law broke me.”
I have always thought that hip-hop was a manifestation of
the black community creating a new culture. A lot of African Americans do not
have a trace of their ancestries or there cultural roots, so new roots are arising in America. In
Palestine, the opposite has happened in a way. Palestinians have not been
robbed of their culture, and that is a big theme within the music. They talk
about pride for their language and their culture. Shadia Mansour says “no
matter how much you oppress me, where you take me off to, my origins stay
Arabic,” which is really interesting because the people can rap about their
culture while rap in America is culture.
--Chet Sharma
Sources:
‘Palestinians’ embracing hip-hop to push ‘perspective of the
victims’ - http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:JyqZXknKWLwJ:www.jewishworldreview.com/0905/arab_hip-hop.php3+palestinian+hip+hop&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=5&gl=us&client=firefox-a
Palestinian Conflict Bounces to a New Beat - https://web.archive.org/web/20050418192423/http://angelingo.usc.edu/issue03/politics/a_palhiphop.php
Slinghsot Hiphop - http://www.slingshothiphop.com/
The Best of Palestinian Hip-Hop - http://www.complex.com/music/2015/05/the-best-of-palestinian-hip-hop/
DAM official website – www.damrap.com
Isreali-Palesrinian rap - http://www.exberliner.com/culture/film/junction-48/
Iamge - https://i.ytimg.com/vi/CC5_Bj45Z_s/hqdefault.jpg
Is all of the rap political? Or is there sex-drugs-money trend like that of modern hip-hop in the US?
ReplyDeleteIt is how rap originally became popular, but yes politics was a much more prevalent theme in early hip hop when compared to modern hip hop.
DeleteIt is interesting how music takes on injustices in societies all around the world throughout history: rock and roll during Vietnam, hip hop and race, and here, in an emotional conflict over home and statehood. I find it amazing how human culture transcends boundaries like this.
ReplyDeleteI don't usually think of music as a type of political speech but it certainly could be used that way.
ReplyDeleteI like your comment about how African culture was stripped away from African Americans through slavery and rap is the manifestation of a 'new' shared culture but for the Palestinians, they are trying to keep their culture in their music.
ReplyDelete-Yonatan W
I actually listen to a few Arabic artists. Not specifically rap, but I do enjoy Arabic pop and r&b hits.
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting how the Palestinian version of hip hop has anger behind it, as if defiant of the larger forces trying to strip them of their identity piece by piece.
ReplyDeleteHow popular is this music throughout the middle east? Is it something that really resonates with a majority of the population, or is it more so confined to a young, expressive minority?
ReplyDelete