Suggested by Big Hass
Real Arab hip-hop artists that don’t forget the street.
Egypt: With his mellow, direct style Deeb’s social commentary goes straight to the heart of popular issues. He affectionately mixes folklore with a modern political message of equality.
Palestine/UK: Shadia Mansour matches strength with grace to make an unflinching stand for her people and culture. Her fierceness in calling out hypocrisy is layered with a soulful wake-up call for change.
Iraq/Candada: The Narcicyst is a humanist in lyrical clothing. He mixes global issues with local faces, weaving a sweeping spiritual questioning about Arab and Muslim values into his witty tracks.
Lebanon: El Rass is a poet of defiant ironies backed by relentless rhythms. He orchestrates lushly packed lyrics that push stinging visions, and his intelligence is liberating.
Palestine/USA: Suheir Hammad is a spoken-word poet with coolly electrifying elocution. Suave and tough, she delivers dagger-sharp points while praising the ties that bind.
2 comments
What about Omar offendum on behalf of Syria and several other countries ?
I agree–he is awesome too (the original list had him and about a dozen other artists on it, but I didn’t have space in one bit to cover all of them, and I wanted to be able to do justice with enough words for the ones I put here.) Omar Offendum WILL appear on the blog later this winter–stay tuned, and then say, “I called it!”