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.

 

 

 

 

 

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.

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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.”