Movements.org – Hip Hop’s Responses to the Arab Awakening

This article was written by Holiday Dmitri for the website Movements.org.

“Movements.org is a non-profit organization dedicated to identifying, connecting, and supporting grassroots digital activists from around the world. We match members of our global network with necessary resources from the technology, media, private and public sectors in order to help them build capacity.

The organization was formed during a December 2008 summit, the Alliance of Youth Movements, that brought together experts in social media with pioneering grassroots movement leaders for the first time in history. Founders of Movements.org include Jared Cohen, Director of Google Ideas at Google, Jason Liebman, CEO and co-founder of Howcast, and Roman Tsunder, co-founder of Access 360 Media.”

The Lo Frequency and many of Lebanon's hip-hop family. Lens: Karen Kalou©

By HOLIDAY DMITRI

While social media has gotten much of the credit for galvanizing the uprisings sweeping the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), a new radio documentary is paying respect to another influential medium in the region, one that has articulated the frustrations of the marginalized and incited the young to action - namely hip-hop music.

“The artistic responses to the MENA uprisings were so inspiring from the emergence of increasingly incendiary forms of graffiti, to the poetic traditions and music that have always had a defiant tone in the Arab world. But it was the rap response that piqued my interest,” says friend and journalist Jackson G. Allers, producer of the recent radio documentary “Rhymes to Revolution – Soundtrack to the Arab Awakenings.” His 30-minute spot tells the story of the rise of Arab hip-hop and its role in the recent uprisings that began in Tunisia.

To read the full article: Hip Hop’s Responses to the Arab Awakening | Movements.org.

Radio Documentary “Rhymes to Revolution – Soundtrack to the Arab Awakenings” airs July 4

In anticipation of the on-air date for my radio documentary “Rhymes to Revolution: A Soundtrack to the Arab Awakenings,” Beats and Breath will release articles in the next two days to preview some of the amazing material that will be covered during the 30-min feature. In the days following the July 4 air date, Beats and Breath will feature transcriptions of the longer format interviews conducted with members of the Arab hip-hop community, some not included in the documentary, as well as analysis by scholars and analysts on the political implications of the latest developments in the region.

The documentary which is a Free Speech Radio News production with editor Shannon Young and technical producer Rose Ketabchi, will be aired on more than 150 stations in the United States and worldwide. The documentary was funded through the community media fundraising site Spot.us. Thanks to David Cohn at Spot.us for his continued support. And Beats and Breath particularly wants to thank all the friends and supporters who donated their time and money to help fund and promote this documentary, and the valuable work being done by all the members of this burgeoning artistic movement. A longer list of credits will follow the actual posting of the documentary on this site.

An image for the Sami Matar produced song #Jan25 featuring Omar Offendum, The Narcicyst, Ayah, Amir Sulaiman & Freeway

 

The Soundtrack of The Arab Spring

• By FSRN Documentaries

Documentary Description

The so-called “Arab Spring” uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa have been driven by a largely disaffected youth demographic aged 18 to 30 that dominates the populations of every affected country. In Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Bahrain, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan, the youth have demanded an end to the rampant corruption, unemployment, lack of democratic rights, and government policies that stifle freedom of expression and freedom of speech. Echoing these demands have been the representatives of the Arabic hip-hop movement living in both the Arab world and in the Diaspora.

This documentary will examine the rise of Arab hip-hop as a soundtrack to the revolution from its beginnings with Tunisian El General’s song “Rayess La Bled (Head of State)” until today. It will include the voices of rappers in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and the Diaspora including the creators (Omar Offendum/The Narcycist) of the YouTube viral video #jan25  (pictured above) and the creators of the Egyptian rap video  “Rebel” (Arabian Knightz)

Interviews will be balanced with testimony from relevant political commentators, photographers, producers and voices from the Arab street in order to discuss how Arab hip-hop contributed to revolution and how it is still inspiring artists and protest movements in the US, and demonstrators in Libya, Bahrain, Yemen and Lebanon – who are still blasting Arab hip-hop anthems from their boomboxes as they fight Gadhafi’s forces in Libya, the security forces in Bahrain and Yemen and the Sectarian state in Lebanon.

 

 

 

 

 

Arab Revolutions, Arab Spring, Arab hip-hop: Radio Documentary fundraising pitch

The following is the fundraising page/pitch for a 30-minute radio documentary I am producing for the US-based radio news organization – Free Speech Radio News. Go to the Spot.us community media page to donate. Description of documentary follows. Thank you in advance for your support! It is a rare opportunity to expose US audiences to Arab hip-hop and its increasing importance with Arab youth.

#jan25 - featuring Omar Offendum, The Narcycist, Freeway, Amir Sulaiman & Ayah

The Soundtrack of The Arab Spring

• By FSRN Documentaries

Documentary Description

The so-called “Arab Spring” uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa have been driven by a largely disaffected youth demographic aged 18 to 30 that dominates the populations of every affected country. In Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Bahrain, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan, the youth have demanded an end to the rampant corruption, unemployment, lack of democratic rights, and government policies that stifle freedom of expression and freedom of speech. Echoing these demands have been the representatives of the Arabic hip-hop movement living in both the Arab world and in the Diaspora.

This documentary will examine the rise of Arab hip-hop as a soundtrack to the revolution from its beginnings with Tunisian El General’s song “Rayess La Bled (Head of State)” until today. It will include the voices of rappers in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and the Diaspora including the creators (Omar Offendum/The Narcycist) of the YouTube viral video #jan25  (pictured above) and the creators of the Egyptian rap video  “Rebel” (Arabian Knightz)

Interviews will be balanced with testimony from relevant political commentators, photographers, producers and voices from the Arab street in order to discuss how Arab hip-hop contributed to revolution and how it is still inspiring artists and protest movements in the US, and demonstrators in Libya, Bahrain, Yemen and Lebanon – who are still blasting Arab hip-hop anthems from their boomboxes as they fight Gadhafi’s forces in Libya, the security forces in Bahrain and Yemen and the Sectarian state in Lebanon.

Voices:
Angie Nassar – hip-hop scholar & cultural blogger, Beirut, Lebanon
El General – rapper – Tunisia
El Deeb – rapper/journalist – Egypt
Rush – Arabian Knightz – rap crew – Egypt
Malikah – rapper – Lebanon/Algeria
John Nasr aka Johnny Damascus – Lebanon
Rayes Bek – rapper/philosopher, Paris/Beirut
The Narcycist – rapper and creator of #Jan25 – Canada
Laith Majali – documentary photographer – Jordan
Muneira Hoballah – director, youth program center ISAM fares american university of beirut
Street Voices – Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon

Expanding the Dialog: Omar Offendum’s debut album ‘SyrianamericanA’ due out in March

Syrian-American rap super hero? Homeboy from a street called Straight? Omar Offendum sat down with me recently to hash out what his new album gonna be like. Much love to this brother for what is an expanded rap attack at a time when we need a properly politicized voice straddling these two worlds of oriental and occidental. (Note: versions of this article appeared for both NOW Lebanon and UMen Magazine)

Music Video Stills from Omar Offendum’s song “Destiny” – shot by Laith Majali ©

BEIRUT – At a club date in Beirut early January 2008, when Omar Chakaki, aka Omar Offendum of the hip-hop crew The N.O.M.A.D.S, was walking out of a Monot street basement covered in sweat from a 3 hour rap extravaganza, a kid who was walking out with him at the time turned to his friends and within earshot of Offendum said, “His rhymes was tight.”

And it’s true. Offendum is an Arab rapper who always seems put together. Clean shaven, perhaps a wee soul patch on his chin. Always a nice rim on his head when performing – sometimes blue and green Zoo York plaids, sometimes a black cap with an LA on the front (for the LA Dodgers), but always a hat with a crisp front brim that is never folded at the sides. He looks put together because he is.

Based in Los Angeles, Offendum works as an architect, and there’s no doubt he leads a double life – professional by day, Arab rap super hero by night. But he has made peace with that duality, and along with other rappers in the Arab Diaspora like Iraqi-born MC The Narcicyst, Lebanese-Syrian MC Eslam Jawaad, and Palestinian-American MC, Ragtop of the group The Philistines, he is part of an Arab Rap Pack that is gaining a solid fan base – in America, the UK and now in the Arab world.

© Laith Majali

“You know 60 percent of the population in the Middle East is under the age of 30. And hip-hop is quickly taking shape and taking root here. Especially in cities like Beirut and Damascus,” Offendum told UMen.

Over the last two years, Offendum has toured the Middle East regularly. Beirut, Damascus, Amman, Dubai. And while he’s a Syrian-American with deep ties to his family’s home in Damascus, he admits he has a gravitational pull for his “favourite urban center” in the Arab world – Beirut City, Lebanon.

This March is the scheduled release of his first full-length solo album – SyrianamericnA –an anxiously anticipated project for Arab hip-hop heads and for conscious rap fans who have been blessed to hear his revolutionary metaphors.

With inspiration from poet Nizar Qabbani, Offendum’s new album explores issues of love, war and identity, and includes long verses in Arabic that he says are meant to “open up his Arab audience base.”

BEATS AND BREATH caught up with Offendum during his January tour of the hip-hop lecture series called, “Brooklyn Streets to Beirut Beats,” that features a three-man lyrical wonder-crew, The Human Writes Project, with Ragtop, and the Mexican-American HBO Def Jam poet, Mark Gonzalez.

BEATS AND BREATH (B&B): Tell us about – SyrianamericanA. The title conjures up notions of Pax Syriana. Does the name come from your dual nationality as an MC – what does it mean?

OMAR: Yes. There’s no doubt that I straddle two worlds in my life. I’m Syrian-American and when I’m in the States, I’m defending Syrian points of view, Arab points of view, Middle-Eastern points of view to people that don’t necessarily feel the same way as I do.

When I’m here, in the Arab world, I’m defending American points of view to people that don’t normally think or know things about America in the ways that I do.

So SyrianamericanA, it’s part Syriana, which is a very loosely defined term – a think-tank term that people kind of use in the West to describe the divvying up of nations; the divide and conquer strategy in the Middle-East to divide up the oil and resource interests here.

And then there’s Americana. It’s diners. It’s milk shakes. It’s all that you know…white culture. But it’s this blend of all of these different things that make the American experience too. It’s the music. It’s black culture, its Native-American, Mexican, white, and Asian cultures…all that mixed in.

In the end, what it all means to me is that SyrianamericanA is, ‘A nation-state of mind. Where everything is connected.’ Which is a tag line of the George Clooney movie Syriana, and ‘Everyone is welcome.’ Which is just ultimately how Arab hospitality makes you feel!

© Laith Majali

B&B: Turning to the songs on your album – even with so many great themed hip-hop albums preceding you – no one has really told the narrative of being Arab-American? Go through some of the songs for us.

OMAR: It’s true that there have been so many concept albums in hip-hop history, and that it’s happening less and less. So I knew this had to be a concept album.

About the songs. One of the first things I decided to do when I started this album is to look back at what my influences were. I decided to go back and look at Nizar Qabbani’s poetry. Not really thinking that I would straight translate the stuff. But I got some beats from Habillis and Sandhill from the Iraqi-Canadian crew Euphrates in Montreal. And these beats really inspired me. There was more Arabic sampling. I mean, Habillis was making really complete songs. This brother really, really makes music and he samples the most incredible parts of songs and puts them together – and so you have to come correct with your lyrics when you record!

To make it more a part of the hip-hop experience I thought to do a translation of Nizar Qabbani’s The Damascene Poem. And Habillis actually he put in as one of the samples some great singing from Armando Manzanero. He’s an old-school Mexican crooner – an indigenous singer. Beautiful song about a blind man that doesn’t get to experience things like the birds and the trees, and that is how he feels for his lover, who he doesn’t get to see. So I took that and flipped it to be an explanation about my experience with Damascus. Because I really didn’t get to live there and see it. But that’s my home in my head. That’s my mom. That’s the stories I grew up with.

And that poem…well I admit that we have a family connection to Nizar Qabbani family. My mom’s great friends with his sister and his brother. And Nizar’s brother has taken a sort of grandfatherly role with me and he lives in Washington DC.

When Nizzar passed in 1998, I actually read the Damascene poem at a memorial service for him at Georgetown University while I was in high school. So that poem took me way back. Nizar’s brother ended up getting me a signed book of poetry from Nizar a little before he passed and he gave them to me like – and in the inscription – Nizar wrote, ‘For your love of poetry and your talents…’ So that kind of stuck in my head for all these years to kind of do this.

© Laith Majali

B&B: So would you say that you’ve become more of a complete MC and that your songs are more a reflection of maturity on this album?

OMAR: Absolutely, and I really tried to make more complete songs on this album. There’s the story of Majnoun Leila – it’s an old Arabic love story. Star-crossed lover kind of thing. Some say it was the inspiration to Romeo and Juliet. I thought, again, it was a universal story that had to be done with a hip-hop sensibility.

I also translated Qareat Al Fingan – The Coffeecup Fortuneteller – which was a poem sung by Abdel Halim Hafez. It was another beautiful story. It’s about love – when a woman fortuneteller tells the poet that he’s going to love a lot of women in his life, but ultimately will remain lonely. So this song in the album is with this in mind.

Another story on my album is called The Street called Straight – it’s about different people I met in my life and during my time in Damascus. They say that Damascus is the longest continuously inhabited city on Earth. And the street called Straight in Damascus might very well be the longest continuously used street. They talk about it in the Bible. It’s where Saint Paul got his sight back.

So I made up this little tale about these three individuals I met on the street. I try to relate it back to the folks about the street in a hip-hop sense. Because hip-hop is urban – city – in the streets. So I’m just talking about the oldest one, a street called Straight.

‘Met a spiritual teacher, predecessor to the pusher man.’ The medicine man is the predecessor to the pusher man. The last fellow I meet in this song is a carpenter – ‘predecessor to the architect.’ Biblical references. They all tell me in the end to ‘follow the middle path on a street called straight.’ And following the middle path is a philosophy inherent in a lot of different world religions and life teachings. So I played with that idea.

B&B: Do you think SyrianamericanA is an album that most identifies you with the rising Arabic hip-hop movement?

OMAR: Most definitely. For the first time since I started recording, I have songs with full Arabic verses on this album. I did that in an attempt to get more into the Arab Diaspora. Getting more people from here relating to things. But at the same time – not only because those same songs have English verses on them. So for the English speaker, I can hopefully demystify the Arab language and not make it seem like their movie stereotypes of a language where people are just yelling at each other on news clips but it’s this beautiful thing.

B&B: How do you want to release the album?

OMAR: That’s all stuff that is in discussion. I fiddled with the idea of just doing a music download. And you know, do it digitally at first. Because that’s the way everybody is doing it these days. You’re gonna sell some CDs, sure. Ultimately I just want my shit to get out there, and I have no problem in the end with people just ripping a copy of the album of some site – it’s cool ‘cause that’s hip-hop to me. Like doing it bootleg out the back of your car trunk, and establishing yourself guerrilla-like first.

I have a 9 to 5 job in an architecture firm. So I can eat, and I’m not stressin’ like that.

B&B: But let’s be clear, that you can be picky about how you grow as an artist because you can support yourself outside of the industry?

OMAR: Alhumdulillah. I’m fortunate to be able to do this. But I’d love to be able to someday make a living just doing hip-hop. It’s gonna take time. Ten years and it’s gonna take more time. Can’t stop. Won’t stop.

END

© Laith Majali

Below is the description on Laith Majali’s blog which I think is rather dope and shows the genesis of some shit that’s gonna rock the house when it’s released! Big ups to Laith! Here’s the write up:

While I was in L.A this summer, I wanted to test out the High Definition video capabilities of the Canon 5D mark II, so I offered to shoot and direct a music video for Omar Offendum’s “Destiny” off his upcoming album “SyrianamericanA.” What started out as a test is now developing to an international shoot with locations in Los Angeles (already shot) and Beirut (to be shot in October.)

I was really impressed with the quality of the files i was getting from the camera, so here are a couple of still frames pulled from the HD video, it’s great to know that wherever I am in the world i can shoot high quality video.

The video will be released through Immortal Entertainment, a multi-faceted entertainment company I recently fromed in Amman. (More about the company in a seperate post.)

A bit about Omar as put by our brother from another mother Narcy:

“Omar Offendum is a Syrian-American MC/Architect hailing from the Sham, Los Angeles and/or DC. He is currently working on his first solo LP called ‘Syriana-Americana’ and is a founding member of the N.O.M.A.D.S. (Notoriously Offensive Male Arabs Discussing Shit) with fellow marksmen, Mr. Tibbs. Ladies know him as “Syrias Finest” but us homies just call him “Ladies Love Cool O”

Brooklyn Beats to Beirut Streets – Pt. 1

 

Jazeera Airways magazine cover for the Brooklyn Beats to Beirut Streets show in January 08

In honor of this legendary night of hip-hop in Beirut in January 2008 – Immortal Entertainment, Phonosapien Productionz and Beats and Breath Productions brings you the Brooklyn Beats to Beirut Streets Redux @ Basement on Sunday, January 10!

Send an email to me for more information on the January 10 show: jacksonallers@gmail.com

In a basement in downtown Beirut, Jackson Allers gets the lowdown on the Lebanese hip-hop underground.

BEIRUT CITY (January 2008) – I check I have the right address. Could Black and White, a swanky venue in the upmarket district of Monot, really be the epicentre of Beirut’s nascent hip-hop movement? Zipping my jacket open, exhaling the last bit of cold-weather condensation from my mouth, I make my way down the stairs and catch the muffled thud of a major sound-system.

A nod to the bouncer, the obligatory body-search and then full immersion into a dungeon filled with dozens of heads bobbing in unison to old-school jams from the golden era of rap, the early 1990s, when hip-hop effortlessly combined political intent with truly innovative musical arrangements.

For a second I think I’m somewhere else. Was this Lebanon or Fort Greene, Brooklyn? After 15 years of covering and promoting hiphop in the United States, I found the unpretentious, fashionable street vibe of Black and White awfully familiar.

MC Siska from the oldest Lebanese hip-hop crew - Kita' Beirut

“Yo Jacks, wassup? kifak?” MC Siska of the veteran hip-hop group Kitaa Beirut gives me a big hug and the mandatory handshake, a slide across the palm leading to a meeting of closed fists. “Word ya khayi (brother), you ready to mash it up tonight?” I inquire.

He nods and smiles, “You know how we do,” his woven hat and full beard making him look much older than his 24 years.

Over in the corner, surrounded by an entourage of hipsters who look like they’ve been plucked straight from the pages of Fader or XXL, is Malikah, one of the newest kids on the block and a finalist in MTV Arabia’s answer to American Idol, Hip Hop Na (Our Hip Hop). Also known as MC Lix, her reputation as a powerful live performer is on the up and many are in the club solely to see her perform. “I hope to set the bar for up-and-coming female rappers in the Arab world – like a role model,” she once told me. “Maybe I can even have my own production studio to help them grow.” Confidence is a good thing and Malikah has it in spades.

“How ya doin’ Beirut City, Lebanon,” yells DJ Lethal Skillz, the reigning king of the city’s hip-hop scene and the man anchoring the production on this night. “Let me know you’re feelin’ this!” Hands shoot up on the packed dance floor as Dr. Dre’s anthem Let Me Ride is cranked up. With his trademark dark-tinted goggles and oversized silver timepiece on his wrist, Skillz mixes his way through an anthology of hip-hop – and the crowd’s loving it.

DJ Lethal Skillz workin' the decks on that legendary evening © Tanya Traboulsi

Over fifteen years, Lethal Skillz has become Lebanon’s number one practitioner of turntablism – playing Technics SL-1200 record decks instead of traditional instruments. He has invested thousands of dollars in a professional studio where he can work with Lebanon’s rap talent – a collective that’s become known as the 961 Underground Family. They performed in Poland in the autumn of 2007 for the first time under the 961 moniker, thrilling the eastern European audiences with a rare blast of home-grown Arabic hip-hop.

As I’m drawn towards the stage, I greet two visiting MCs from Los Angeles: “Wassup Omar? Hey Ragtop! Wassup you two?” Omar Offendum, a Syrian-American rapper from the group The N.O.M.A.D.S, and Ragtop, a Palestinian-American from The Philistines, are here for the week as guests of the 961 Underground Family. “Man, performing in Beirut with Skillz and crew – it feels like history in the making,” Offendum tells me.

“Mic check. One two, one two.” A voice from the stage informs us that the show is about to get started. The subsequent live performance flows from Mic Mssadah (Rusty Mic), a track featuring Siska and RGB, to Ragtop and Omar Offendum’s heavily sampled Arabic melodies on Teezie and Nimroud (Stubborn). Their stage presence is immense and their deliveries are flawless.

Next up is Malikah, whose electrifying set peaks with Tafrikah (Discrimination), with its highly charged lyrics about the West’s narrow-minded perception of Arabs. Afterwards, the MCs freestyle until 3am, when the turntables stop spinning and a small contingent of us go back to Lethal Skillz’s Red Leb Studios to keep the party alive.

Unlike the States, where the East, West, and Central Coast scenes vie for legitimacy, Lebanon’s hip-hop movement works from the same lyric sheet. Sunnis, Shias, Christians, Syrians, Armenians and Africans all join the cypher. Given what Lebanon’s going through, I couldn’t help but feel that hiphop has a unifying power.

“There’s no room for beef (rivalries) in a country as small as Lebanon,” Lethal Skillz tells me. “Especially when we’re struggling to create a market here. Sticking together is the only way we can grow this movement and show both Arabs and non-Arabs that we’re legit.”

The 961 Underground Family consists of members from all sides of the political divide. They may not always agree when it comes to politics, but they’ve come to rely on each other for encouragement, support and inspiration. Which is exactly the way it should be.

Ragtop from the Philistines (left) and Omar Offendum from The N.O.M.A.D.S. will perform again at Basement with Mark Gonzales on January 10

Levant Hip-Hop Essentials:

1.) Radio in Beirut – NO GOOD HIP-HOP RADIO IN LEBANON but peep DJ Sotusura’s show URBAN BEATS online at 102.5 Beat FM in Amman, Jordan on Wednesday’s from 9pm – 11pm (Jordan time +2 GMT)
2.) The Essential Albums – Eslam Jawaad’s solo debut album ‘Mammoth Tusk’, DJ Lethal Skillz’ ‘New World Disorder,’ and The Naricyst’s debut solo effort ‘Phatwa’

Rap 3rabi meets Rap Amrikee

 

From left to right in the studio - the real heads: Omar Offendum, Fredwreck, Alchemist, Evidence [©Laith Majali

 

In truth, I’m jealous as hell of this image – snapped just today by my main lens man – the intrepid globe-trottin’ fool – Laith Majali. The pics colors are clearly influenced by my man Bplus, but it’s all Laith all the time these days.

Certainly, this pic be one legendary session – or an implication of a legendary session in the makin’ — hell, I wasn’t there so that’s why I don’t know for sure…and bein’ that I’m out here in Beirut and not there by some teleport device…well…that’s why I’m jealous.

A meeting of the hip-hop massive….from East to West…Omar Offendum in studio with Fredwreck (big ups Palestine), and Dilated Peeps representatives – Alchemist and Evidence.

Hope to see ya’ll when I’m visiting the Californi-nation in March.

Eslam Jawaad: an old-school Arab MC comes correct

We are in the throes of Arab hip-hop’s most significant contributions to the larger world hip-hop massive (Diaspora). Arab hip-hop crews the world over are feelin’ it. Like sharks attracted to blood, Lebanese, Moroccan, Palestinian, and (fill-in-the-blank) Arab MC’s are schoolin’ up to take a bite out of the Arabic hip-hop phenomenon. Lebanese-Syrian MC Eslam Jawaad is one of the leaders of this new school.

By JACKSON ALLERS

The Album Cover: Eslam Jawaad with a couple of Siberian mammoth tusks pointing him in the right direction…an errant mafia deal with a pair of mammoth tusks helped turn all his attention to the hip-hop music hustle. © Eslmaphobic

BEIRUT/LONDON -  Eslam Jawaad (real name Wissam Khodur), the 32-year old ex-Lebanese mafia affiliate and father of three isn’t some fresh-faced, knuckleheaded-hobby-rapper talking about what it means to “stay true to the hip-hop game” while barely scrapping by eating $2 dollar slices of pizza (or manaeesh as it were) and begging for metro fare – all the while espousing the tenets of the “revolution.”

“If you want to do this rap thing out of pure the love for the (hip-hop recording) game. Then do it and I’ll support you all the way,” he tells me in a phone call from his home in London – where he’s been based since late 2003.

“I’m not doing it out of the pure love for the game anymore. I’m no longer a young buck. And I’ve been in the game for so long that this is all I know how to do. If I have to raise my family and still be a revolutionary, I need money. Simple as.” The man has a family to feed.

Nearly 4-years in the making, Eslam’s debut album ‘Mammoth Tusk’ hit stores in this summer in the UK (no stats on album sales at print time).

Pairing down some 80-recorded tracks to 15, ‘Mammoth Tusk’ reads like a who’s who of rap royalty, in part because of his affiliation to Wu-Tang Clan [legendary NY-based hip-hop group] family member – the Dutch-Moroccan rapper/producer and manager Cilvaringz, who Eslam hooked up with in 2003 after Cilvaringz heard his demo in the UK.

Along with Cilvaringz, the Wu Tang Clan’s RZA [the Wu Tang Clan's mastermind] lends production help on the track ‘So Real’ featuring Palestinian R&B singer/MC Shadia Mansour (also out of the UK).

Original Native Tongues (a collective of late 1980s and early 1990s hip-hop artists) member, De La Soul (left) join Eslam on a classic hip hop track ‘Rewind DJ,’ and in a skit on the track ‘It wasn’t me…’, US-based white-boy rapper Eminem’s radio DJs Lord Sear and Rude Jude of Sirius/Shade45 satellite radio jokingly accused Eslam of blowing up the World Trade’s on 9-11 during a live interview.

But the title song (and album namesake), ‘The Mammoth Tusk’ produced by Dr. Dre’s right hand man Focus, is the track that provides the most fodder for gossip.

“The track tells the tale of a failed business deal between the Syrian and Lebanese mobs over a Siberian mammoth tusk.”

“I was expecting to make a lot of money from the deal ($1.6 million), and when that money didn’t come through, it made me realize that the (mob) life wasn’t for me…I wasn’t willing to go all the way with the shit.”

Lucky for Arab hip-hop heads that the old-guard Lebanese mobsters weren’t prepared to let some young upstart cash in on such payola.

BEATS AND BREATH caught up with Eslam in May, only a month after recording sessions with Damon Albarn, frontman for Blur and the virtual group Gorillaz. [Albarn also lends his production skills to 'Mammoth Tusk' on the track 'Alarm Chord' which has that eerie Gorillaz hallmark sound all over it.]

Eslam Jawaad (left) during a show with the Damon Albarn (Blur, Gorillaz) fronted group “The Good, the Bad & the Queen” – which features musical legends – Tony Allen (pictured lower left), Fela Kuti’s musical director and the leader and drummer of the Africa 70′; Paul Simonon, bassist from The Clash (pictured, right), and Simon Tong from the Verve on guitar.

—-

BEATS AND BREATH: Let’s talk about ‘Mammoth Tusk.’ You’re getting much press for this story that led to the naming of this album.

ESLAM JAWAAD: “Well. Where do I begin? It’s a story from when I was working with the Lebanese mob. As you can tell, it involves the sale of a Siberian mammoth tusk that the Russian mob sold to a businessman in Dubai.”

“He was looking to sell it to a Syrian group that approached me to see if I could hustle it off to the Lebanese mob.”

“I eventually got cut out of the deal which took me a few months to set up. My mistake was that I tried to make the deal go down in Lebanon when I should’ve let it go down in Syria.”

“The bottom line is that these guys were gangsters and they were not about to let some kid walk away with like $1.6 million.”

B&B: An article in The Independent (“Preaching to the Unconverted” March, 27) suggests it was this botched deal that convinced you to move to the UK to do your music full-time. Is that accurate? Where was the music when you were working with the mob?

EJ: “My music was there all along. It predated any involvement with the mob. I think my involvement in the mob came from my involvement with music. It’s not the other way around, but the Independent article seems to suggest the opposite – that the mob thing didn’t work out so I turned to music instead.”

“I think the type of music that I was listening to encouraged my fascination with mob culture. It was the mid-90s and it was like everybody was listening and romanticizing mob culture.”

“Culture of the Godfather and Scarface. Everybody loved them, you know what I mean? Youth culture and music then, it developed around mob affiliating or wanting to be mob affiliated.”

“I just really ‘was’ mob affiliated.”

Eslam Jawaad’s video from his single ‘Pivot Widdot’ featuring the Lebanese-based female MC Malikah

B&B: You’re representing the Arab hip-hop Diaspora. Why the UK and not Lebanon?

EJ: “Very simply, when I was in the Beirut at the time, the industry was showing no love to what we were doing.”

“Despite my hustling for 3 years out of university trying to do the rap thing in Lebanon, I realized it wasn’t going to happen. I had a couple of contacts in the UK and decided to try my hand at it.”

“I was lucky enough to have met UK acts (Asian Dub Foundation, Visionary Underground and UK Apache) who liked what I was doing, and supported me early on in my move.”

“And it continued when I met guys like Cilvaringz, and Damon (Albarn).”

B&B: So there were barriers in Lebanon?

EJ: “With Lebanon specifically, I think it’s a lot more exclusive that other Arab countries.”

“If you lived abroad somehow you’re considered cooler than the folks trying to do it locally.  Sadly a lot of the homegrown kids propped up the idea.”

B&B: But what do you think when young rappers play the hater role – talking trash about those making a living at hip-hop as opposed to those who are “doing it for the love of the game?”

EJ: “I say get off your fucking high-horse already. I don’t care how YOU do it!”

“If you can make money by yelling ‘Fuck the government!’ or ‘Sell drugs’ – then I say do it! What matters is what you’re doing in your life. I don’t care what you’re doing as long as you have good quality.”

“I for one have never sold out the message, I just present it in a commercial way. But the message is inherent in my album. Still, it ain’t the hardcore presentation I used to have.”

“Now I package my singles with more of the club vibe in mind. There’s no rules! Anyway! Who the hell says you’re a ‘real hip-hop artist’ if you do this or that?”

“I can guarantee any artist that is listened to, respected, loved, etc – no matter how hard core or revolutionary – they all make money. That’s how you get heard!”

“Take (New York City/New Jersey-based rapper) Immortal Technique for example. He’s helping with hospitals in Iraq and Afghanistan, and is feeding something like 20,000 kids in Africa.”

“Good on him! That’s what you gotta do, make money so you can do that!”

“Take Ziad Rahbani (son to legendary Lebanese diva Fairouz). He’s all about the message – all about the Arab cause. But how intelligent is his presentation? He’s not goin’ out wildin’ and saying ‘Fuck the government!’ But he IS saying that, if you’re listening. AND he’s making money.”

B&B: Will there be that breakout pan-Arab hip-hop album that will be listened to throughout the Arab world?

EJ: “Currently there’s two movements, which go hand and hand really. There’s the ARAP movement (started in 2004) that I think was the first pan-Arab, multi-national hip-hop movement representing Arab hip-hop specifically because it consisted of Moroccans, Syrians, Lebanese and Palestinians. (Salah Edin, Palestine, Cilvaringz, Eslam Jawaad, and Mohalim)

Now there’s the Arab League with a lot of people crossing over between the two groups. They are also pan-Arab, and have recently put out a track. [MC.Amin (Egypt), Arabian Knightz (Egypt), Wighit Nazar, The PharoZ, Malikah (Lebanon), Shadia Mansour (Palestine/UK), www.fredwreck.com/ ">Fredwreck (Palestine/USA), Solo Ltd.]

(NOTE: Eslam is affiliated with both groups, but primarily reps it for 3rap)

“But Salah Edin (pictured © Laith Majali), the Dutch-Moroccan MC has just released his third album (produced by Cilvaringz and released on Wu Tang Clan International label and distributed by Universal Music).”

“I think it’s the first proper Arab hip-hop album. From beginning to end – the production, musically. I mean, the ideas and the little sounds that you add here and there. It’s just professionally at the best quality you can get, and the message is on point.”

“It’s up there with all of the top American hip-hop you can think of. You know what I mean?”

“His flow on top of that. My only observation is that Salah’s accent is Moroccan and that limits his Arab audience. But I’ve spoken about this to him.”

B&B: You’ve listened to your album a million times, so I ask, what are your stand out tracks on ‘Mammoth Tusk?’

EJ: Phonetically, I love ‘Criminuhl.’ I also really love ‘Babba’s Shotgun’ (about resisting the French colonial police back in his grandfather’s days as a Lebanese revolutionary.)

Then there’s ‘Heave Ho’ which is actually about the second coming of Christ. I don’t know if most people is picking up on that.

B&B: Do you see yourself moving towards to the more Damon Albarn, Gorillaz-vibe or more the ARAP, Cilvaringz sound?

EJ: “Well, ARAP for sure. But, I love what’s goin’ on with Damon. I don’t like being boxed in or defined by any one movement though, or one sound.”

“I’m working on an album with a Palestinian electronic music producer in the UK, Darwish, and it’s not hip-hop.”

“I’m also doing stuff with some of these hip white boy bands like Get Cape, Wear Cape, Fly – Baby Shambles – Reverend and the Makers, Magic Numbers, and Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers.”

“But I’m excited to see what happens with ‘Mammoth Tusk.’ It’s been such a long process.”