Rap: Why is he so popular in the Arab world?

Rap music has grown remarkably in Arab countries for years, and although this type of music was not initially widely accepted, the situation has changed and has attracted a new audience outside of its regular listeners circle.

This diffusion is due to several factors, the most important of which is that this type of music keeps pace with current social and political conditions and expresses them.

Here we present some of the Arab experiences that may have reached a wider audience.

Difficult beginnings

It goes without saying that Arab rap music carries a social and political content in the lyrics of its songs. The presentation of this content is what sets stars of this art apart in states such as IST, Ice Tube, 2back and others around the world. 80s and until the late 90s, and they expressed the political and social conditions they experienced. In the regions, the majority of its population is of African descent.

Arab rappers, in turn, tried to voice their problems. But they struggled to win over a new audience and gain media attention that would help promote their work. Production companies have also not paid attention to this type of music and still neglect it.

Social media was then not a reliable tool for disseminating music production independently of the commercial market. Therefore, most Arab rappers continued to rely on independent self-production.

Palestinian rapper and performer Waseq told the BBC:

“It was not easy to convince people to listen to rap, it was strange music for them.”

“Welcome to the camps”

“Style” is one of the founders of the “5 Brigade”, the Palestinian group launched from Lebanon and comprising five young men. The band’s songs spoke about the details of everyday life in the refugee camps in Lebanon, the issues they face and the wars in Gaza, Iraq and Syria.

This group found resonance and interest among followers or supporters of the causes the group supported, and their listeners weren’t limited to the rap audience.

In addition to the content of the songs, and the adaptation of the Palestinian language and dialect to the rhythm, the music played a role in convincing ears that were not used to it.

“Reaching people was a major goal,” explains “Method”. “We used to make an effort to select the musical samples.”

In 2008, “Katiba 5” released its first version, entitled “Bienvenue dans les camps”. The group ceased production after all of its members traveled to Europe.

He worked with his wife, flautist Nissam Jalal, and French musicians on a project called “The Others” and other musical projects, the most recent of which was the album “Dwyer”. And he moved his new experience to new content that simulates his new life in France.

The method says that the new experience and the new location automatically force a change in the content of the speech. He came to talk about immigration, racism and his personal experience in France after leaving Lebanon. “There is no place to avoid clashing with politics, because the social situation pushes you to the political position.

Lebanese experiences

Lebanon saw the emergence of more than one group in the mid-1990s, such as “Reverse Traffic” and “Beirut Sector”, a few years after the declaration of the end of the civil war.

Perhaps one of the most striking Lebanese experiences was the group “Al-Tafar” with its first release in 2009. Al-Tafar in the Lebanese dictionary are those who are wanted by the court for criminal reasons and who are hidden from view.

Also, with the support of “Battalion 5”, the group composed of two young men: Jaafar and Nasser al-Din, sang in their local dialect, the dialect of the Bekaa region in Lebanon.

He was new in terms of direct political content and was more daring in raising several questions inside Lebanon. For example, speak of a permanent confrontation between the authority and “the populations of disadvantaged areas”, or evoke the behavior of the security forces in these areas and call for rebellion.

You can hear “Al-Tafar” songs coming out of a public minibus traveling between the capital and the Bekaa, or in a cultural café in Beirut or in a car in which young people are traveling who are not necessarily fans of “rap music”. “.

Jaafar, a member of the group, believes the reason for interacting with the group is due to the description of the reality that people experience and the melodies of popular music blending into the beat.

Jaafar told the BBC: “Today I am changed in some words or in some of the situations that we have discussed previously. We used to sometimes comment on certain actions of a country that we only see under the form of the army. “

“Lead”

Mazen Al-Sayed, nicknamed “The Head”, has adopted a different musical style since its inception, in cooperation with producer and designer Jawad Nofal “Monma” in his debut album “Kashf Al Mahjoub” in 2012.

The teacher is not satisfied with the political and social aspects of the problem, but through his words he delves into the human experience of the individual through his description of events. His songs are not limited to business and problems in Lebanon or his city, Tripoli. In a song, you can see the Arab concerns as if they were a concern. He adopts classical Arabic in several of his songs.

“Al-Ras” says in an interview with the BBC Extra show that he does not put himself in a “narrow identity” in Lebanon, and in his post “After the Defeat” in 2018, he discusses what he does. described as defeats in more than one Arab country after the uprisings of 2011.

“Rap” accompanies popular demonstrations

“Al Ras” released two songs to coincide with the unprecedented protests that took place in Lebanon in October 2019, “Chouf” and “Al Nar”. And he sang in his first musical performance in the sit-in plaza. Interaction with his songs was evident during the ceremony and on social media.

The song “Fire” shows scenes of demonstrators, demonstrators and major protest stations, in addition to the feelings emanating from participating in such events, events that Mazen also experiences on the streets.

The same goes for Ja`far al-Taffar, who took part in the same concert in the Beirut sit-in square and sang in the demonstration squares in other neighborhoods outside the capital, in direct contact and popular with rap music.

He also took part in the New Year’s party, which took on a political and demanding character from the sit-in place in Beirut, and was broadcast on the screens of local television channels. He released a special juvenile song called “Forbidden”, also in cooperation with “Style”.

Rap is sometimes suppressed

In November 2019, Moroccan rapper Simo El Gnaoui was arrested for the song “Long live the people”, and outcry over the arrest prompted more people to search for and listen to the song.

In Syria, rap songs with critical political content could not spread until 2011 due to strict state control in the treatment of artistic works. Therefore, many Syrian voices left Lebanon after leaving Syria as a result of the war. Examples: Al-Darwish, Bou Kalthoum, anonymous soldier and others.

Also in Egypt, home to a large number of rap performers and producers, censorship is strict on all kinds of artistic work, leaving little room for rap artists to talk about politics.

It should be noted that the continuous cross-border experiences shared between Syrian, Palestinian, Lebanese and Jordanian artists, and the availability of simple video shooting techniques, have contributed to the dissemination of their works.