Hip Hop Revolution

By Ulysses
openDemocracy
December 16, 2011

http://www.opendemocracy.net/ulysses/hip-hop-revolution

    In the midst of the Arab Spring there is a
    group of dedicated young hip hop artists who
    are using their medium to disseminate
    revolutionary ideas. This piece documents how
    hip hop has impacted on the way young people
    interact with the revolution in Tunisia,
    Morocco, Egypt, Libya and elsewhere.

Hip hop is a fundamentally subversive genre. It has
become a universal medium of social and political
expression for young, dissident, and marginalized
people everywhere. What Arabic hip hop has given the
Arab world is a widely-accessible and unfiltered medium
for disseminating revolutionary ideas. It's important
not to overstate the influence of Arabic hip hop on the
Arab uprisings, though. Arabic hip hop is an
underground phenomenon. Since there's no real Arabic
hip hop industry to speak of, Arabic-language rap
artists must distribute their music online or sign with
western labels. Despite this, the genre's popularity
and influence are growing remarkably fast because
Arabic hip hop powerfully speaks to our desire for
dignity, human rights, and a brighter future.

The internet and the revolution

Social media and expanded internet access weren't the
cause of the Arab uprisings, but they were crucial to
their success. In 2008, massive protests erupted in the
southern Tunisian mining town of Redeyef. For six
months, 3,000 police besieged this city of 25,000
people while its citizens bravely demonstrated against
corruption and chronic unemployment. Because of the
state's violent repression and its stranglehold on
media outlets, the protests failed to spread or gain
much attention. Without developed social networks, the
thousands of Redeyef's citizens who obtained protest
footage on CDs or computers had no way to let most
Tunisians see it. Fahem Boukaddous, a Tunisian
journalist who covered the protests, [8] said, "In
2008, Facebook wasn't at all well-known, especially in
poor cities like here." In fact, fewer than 30,000
Tunisians were on Facebook [9] when Redeyef exploded in
early 2008.  By the end of 2010, Tunisia's internet
landscape had been transformed. A January 2011 survey
found that Tunisia, a country of 10 million, had 1.97
million Facebook users [10] - 18.6% of Tunisia's entire
population and 54.73% of its online population. By this
time, Facebook, along with YouTube and sites such as
ReverbNation.com, had become the primary medium for
distributing Arabic hip hop. The internet's great gift
was that it allowed Tunisians and Arabs, for the first
time, to effortlessly share their testimony with each
other and with the world.

The aura of hip hop

You can legally download almost any revolutionary
Arabic hip hop song for free online - that's exactly
what the artists want. As Mark Levine argues, the
uncommodified, do-it-yourself character of this hip hop
gives it "the aura" that pre-modernity artistic
expression enjoyed [11].  This aura, which "previously
had given art such aesthetic, and thus social power by
highlighting its singularity, irreplaceable and
incommensurable value, was for all practical purposes
lost" because of the commercialization of the music
industry in the twentieth century. That's a really
complicated way of saying, "Arabic rap is awesome
because its rappers aren't sell-outs."
Commercialization inevitably leads artists to
compromise their politics and their message because
every music industry is run by rich, powerful people
with a huge investment in the status quo. The Arabic
music industry is especially reactionary and
patriarchal. "A lot of the music that comes from here,
from the region, is pop," El Général told Lauren Bohn.
"It's all the same and it isn't art. They're making
harmful inroads into the arts, actually. There's no
engagement. And music without engagement isn't art."
Many Arab artists, including El Deeb and Arabian
Knightz, have lamented how foreign media supports and
promotes Arabic hip hop more than Arabic media does.
The reason is simple. Arabic hip hop scares Arab elites
because it's profoundly subversive, while western
elites like Arabic hip hop because it makes the
revolutions seem non-radical and friendly to the west.
To understand Arabic hip hop, though, you need to
approach it on its own terms, not on yours.

El Général and the Tunisian Revolution

On November 7, 2010, Hamada Ben-Amor, a young rapper
from Sfax known as "El Général," posted this jeremiad
against the regime of Tunisian dictator Zine el-Abidine
Ben Ali on Youtube and Facebook (Full lyrics here
[12]):

[13]

"Rais Lebled" became an immediate underground sensation
[14]. The secret police bugged El Général's phone,
blocked his Facebook page, and tailed him wherever he
went. On December 17, Mohamed Bouazizi's self-
immolation sparked pro-democracy demonstrations across
Tunisia [15]. The world media hardly noticed. Then, on
January 6, state security, allegedly acting on the
orders of the president himself, arrested El Général.
The arrest brought Tunisia far more international
attention than it had witnessed on any single day since
the trouble began [16]. For a few days, the voice of a
21 year-old rapper from Sfax was more powerful than the
voice of the dictator of Tunisia. The regime released
El Général a few days later. It didn't matter. On
January 14, 2011, Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia after
the Tunisian military refused to guarantee his safety.
In his place, a caretaker government promising a
transition to full democracy came to power.

There's a delicious irony in Tunisian rap music's role
in the events that led to Ben Ali's overthrow. In 2006,
the Tunisian and French governments sponsored a (bad)
film that promotes hip hop as a counter to jihadi
ideology [17]. Much as it used "state feminism" to co-
opt women's movements, the regime appropriated Tunisian
hip hop for its own ends. The government controlled
song lyrics, concert licenses, CD distribution, and all
TV and radio access. Tunisia's rappers had a choice:
make apolitical, commercial rap and have the chance to
earn a livelihood or go underground, rap freely, and
face poverty, imprisonment, torture, and death. Most
Tunisian rappers chose the first option.

Before the revolution, El Général wasn't well-known
even within Tunisia's small underground community. Now,
he's an international celebrity and hip hop enjoys wide
respect [18] throughout Tunisian society. Even al-Nahda
leader Rachid Ghannouchi [19] enjoys it. El Général was
interviewed on Al-Jazeera [20] and named one of TIME's
100 most influential people in the world [21].
Demonstrators in Cairo's Tahrir Square and Bahrain's
capital of ?Manama chanted "Rais lebled" in the streets
[22]. Today, the only person who's a bigger icon of the
Tunisian Revolution is Mohamed Bouazizi himself. As El
Général told Lauren Bohn [23], "Arab rap is finally on
the map, and we're blowing up the world."

[For more on El Général, click here [24]]
http://revolutionaryarabrap.blogspot.com/2011/10/el-general-hip-hop-and-tunisian.html

Algeria and Morocco: the cradle of Arabic hip hop

Francophone hip-hop's influence helped make Morocco and
Algeria the first real Arabic hip hop scenes in the
early 1990s. Lotfi Double Kanon, Arabic hop hop's most
influential MC, hails from Algeria. Born in 1974 into a
modest family from Annaba, Lotfi started his rap career
while earning his Master's in engineering in the late
1990s during the height of Algeria's horrific civil
war. His music attacks le pouvoir ("the elite") and
speaks for the voiceless youth of his dispossessed
generation. The Algerian government hates him, of
course, but it generally leaves him unhindered. (Full
lyrics here [25])
http://revolutionaryarabraptheindex.blogspot.com/2011/11/lotfi-double-kanon-7oukouma.html

[26]

The Moroccan rap scene's [27] size, longevity,
commercial sophistication, and Arabic dialect set it
apart from other Arab rap scenes to a certain degree.
Moroccan hip hop is deeply commercialized and closely
integrated into the Arabic music industry, which
reflects both the genuine success of Moroccan hip hop
and the compromises with power that it's made. Moroccan
hip hop gets numbers of hits on YouTube - as many as
several million per video - that dwarf those of other
Arabic hip hop scenes. Yet, as Zahir Rahman [28]
pointed out on Twitter, "The problem with Moroccan hip
hop is that the big namers get co-opted by the
government." Fnaire's "Mat9drsh bladi [29]" was used as
a national unity theme song by the Moroccan government.
Don Bigg is a reactionary [30] who performed at the
outlandish, government-sponsored Mawazine festival [31]
that outraged February 20 activists. At the same time,
Morocco has some of the bravest revolutionary hip hop
anywhere. The pro-February 20 rapper L7a9ed (Haked) has
been imprisoned by the government [32] on trumped-up
assault charges [33]. Soultana [34], a young MC from
Rabat, is an incredibly brave woman - just check out
her video "Sawt Nssa [35]" and you'll see what I mean.

Malikah: revolutionary Arabic hip hop ventures into the
mainstream

Lebanese hip hop started taking shape in the mid-1990s.
Artists such as Rayess Bek [36], Fareeq el Atrach [37],
and Malikah 961 [38] make up a vibrant Lebanese scene
today. Malikah is an absolutely fearless MC who vies
with Palestine's Shadia Mansour [39] for the title of
"The First Lady of Arabic Hip Hop." Like Soultana,
Malikah's infuses her music with revolutionary themes
and powerful advocacy for Arab women. Here's "Ya
imra2a" ("O woman!") [Full lyrics here [40]].
http://revolutionaryarabraptheindex.blogspot.com/2011/11/malikah-ya-imra2a-woman.html

[41]

The Saudi rapper Qusai [42], the first host of MTV's
Hip HopNa, makes some conscious hip hop [43] but
nonetheless fully represents the Arab music industry
and the powerful more generally (he made a video for,
of all things, Mastercard [44]). Fredwreck [45], the
other host, is an American who produces for Snoop Dogg
and other stalwarts of the American music industry. By
working with people like them, Malikah has become
successful and famous. The industry, however, will use
every tool it has to dilute the politically and
socially revolutionary message of her music. In the rap
game, materialism is the enemy of the subversive.
Malikah needs to be very careful about this. In this
video [46], she shows AFP her new Mercedes and says,
"This is my car. I've dreamed of buying a car for
years. You understand? It must have class because I am
Malikah and Malikah must have the car she deserves."
Malikah is a true revolutionary, but she will always
have to fight the industry ferociously to maintain her
authenticity and her artistic freedom. She's such a
strong woman, though, that I think she's up to the
challenge.

Ibn Thabit and the Libyan Revolution

Although he's largely unknown in the western press, Ibn
Thabit, Libya's leading rapper, enjoys almost universal
recognition among the Libyan diaspora and a huge fan
base in Libya itself. His pseudonym comes from Hassan
Ibn Thabit, the favorite poet of the Prophet Muhammad.
Over the past four years, Ibn Thabit routinely took
astonishing risks by releasing his music while moving
between living abroad and in Libya itself. His
obsession with toppling Gaddafi and his indifference
towards fame, money, or other topics give his music as
pure a revolutionary ethos as you'll find anywhere.
This song came out just days before the Libyan
Revolution began (Full lyrics here [47]):
http://revolutionaryarabraptheindex.blogspot.com/2011/08/el-general-rais-lebled.html

[48]

Ibn Thabit's music ranges all the way from love song
(Tripoli is Calling [49], Libya: A Love Song [50]) to
diss (Shukrun [51], Shayateen Al Inss [52]) to
celebration (Misrata [53], Mabruk el Horria [54],
Benghazi [55], Ms. Revolution [56]) to mourning
(Martyrs [57], Shohada2na [58]) to Arabic (Western
Mountains [59]) to R&B (Tassa 7amra [60], La Shek [61])
to gangsta (Temla [62], Lookin for Freedom [63]) to
whimsical (Hallucination Pills [64], Warrior Song
[64]). His songs tear down Gaddafi's regime, celebrate
Libya's society, culture, and people, and explore how
to build a new, free Libya. He promotes reconciliation
by giving shout-outs to all elements of Libyan society
and by arguing that vigilantism and revenge killing
have no place in the new Libya. A few weeks ago, Ibn
Thabit shocked his fans by announcing his retirement
from hip hop (video here [65]). Now, he says, he wants
to help build a new Libya in a new way.

[For more on Ibn Thabit, click here] [66]
http://revolutionaryarabrap.blogspot.com/2011/12/ibn-thabit-libyas-leading-rapper.html

Egypt and January 25

In Mubarak's Egypt, unlike Libya, Syria, or Bahrain
(check out "Athletes of Bahrain" [67]), artists could
manage to attach their real names to revolutionary
forms of expression while keeping themselves out of
jail. Artists such as El Deeb (video here [68]), Ramy
Donjewan (video here [69]), Zap Tharwat, MC Amin,
Revolutionary Records (video here [70]), and Ismailia
Soldiers created a vibrant revolutionary underground
scene in the years preceding the revolution. Arabian
Knightz [71] even managed to get a little play on
Egyptian satellite channels (video here [72]). By being
a direct forum for revolutionary expression, Egyptian
Hip hop played a small but key role in the decade-long
buildup of the movements, organizational
infrastructure, and political consciousness that led to
the January 25 Revolution. Now, as the massive recent
anti-SCAF protests demonstrate [73], hip hop is an
established part of Egypt's political discourse. (Full
lyrics here [74])

http://revolutionaryarabraptheindex.blogspot.com/2011/11/down-with-military-rule-ahmed-rock.html

[75]

About the author

Ulysses blogs on Revolutionary Arab Rap and examines
social and political change in the Middle East and
North Africa through the lens of Arabic hip hop.

Ulysses can be found on twitter [76]and at his blog
[77]

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