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Voice of the Streets: the Birth of a Hip Hop Movement
CAIRO – Last November, 12 of the region’s best-known Arab rappers were set to perform together at a public youth center in the swanky central Cairo district of Zamalek. Organizers billed Voice of the Streets as a concert to remind people about “the continued struggle for freedom of expression in the wake of the Arab uprisings.” Indeed,…
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Revisiting the Third Rail: Arab rappers negotiate revolution
THIS WAS THE ONE AND ONLY EPISODE OF AN INTERVIEW SERIES (‘On the Real’) FEATURED ON WORLD HIP HOP MARKET (MARCH, 2013). THIS ARTICLE FEATURES AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH SYRIAN-AMERICAN PRODUCER AHMED KHOUJA WHO PRODUCED THE ARAB RAP COMPILATION ‘KHAT THALETH’ (“THIRD RAIL”) THAT WAS RELEASED WORLDWIDE IN THE SPRING OF 2013. IT WAS UNFORTUNATELY…
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Debut Solo Album: Palestinian MC – Muqata’a aka Boikutt – comes of age
Muqata’a aka Boikutt – has been at the forefront of the Palestinian Rap scene since the mid-2000’s. One of the original members of the seminal rap crew Ramallah Underground, he has just released his long-awaited solo album, Hayawan Nateq; it’s an album that was 2-years in the making, and BEATS AND BREATH is proud to…
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Lebanese rapper El Rass ‘Unveils the Hidden’
In a sea of otherwise unappetizing pop-market Arabic musical fare, the alternative music scene in Lebanon has produced yet another artistic gem, this time with a collaboration that straddles the highly progressive but insular experimental works of the Beirut-based label Ruptured with the vocal skills of the poet, journalist, MC – Mazen el Sayyed aka El Rass.…
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The Perfect Storm: Beirut’s Alt Music Scene
LEBANON IS A COMPLICATED PLACE. HISTORICAL ANTAGONISMS, BOTH INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL, HAVE SHAPED ITS POLITICAL AND SOCIAL LANDSCAPE. ITS DIVERSITY, ETHNIC AND RELIGIOUS, IS UNMATCHED IN THE ARAB WORLD, AND SINCE THE 1950S, ITS CAPITAL CITY BEIRUT HAS BECOME THE FULCRUM BETWEEN ORIENTAL AND OCCIDENTAL, CREATING THE ‘PERFECT STORM’ OF INFLUENCES THAT HAS MADE IT…
Arab Hip-Hop, Beirut, Charbel Haber, Dabke, DJ Lethal Skillz, Dub Snakkr, Edd, El Rass, entertainment, Fadi Tabbal, Ghazi Abdel Baki, Irtijal, Johnny Damascus, Lazzy Lung, lebanon, Lumi, Mashrou Leila, media, middle-east, Munma, Osloob, politics, Ramcess L’Hamorabi, Red Bull Music Academy, Ruptured, Scrambled Eggs, Sharif Sehnaoui, Slutterhouse, Tarab, The New Government, Touffar, Zeid and the Wings, Zeid Hamdan, Ziad Nawfal -
Rolling Stone Magazine ME article for ‘Voice of the Streets’ event
CAIRO – Last month, 12 of the region’s best-known Arab rappers were set to perform together at a public youth center in the swanky central Cairo district of Zamalek. Organizers billed the Voice of the Streets event as a concert to remind people about the continued struggle for freedom of expression in the wake of…
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Soul II Soul’s Jazzie B: These are the breaks – Jazzie B’s sermon in Beirut
Trevor Beresfor Romeo aka Jazzie B, the legendary DJ, music producer and founding member of the musical collective Soul II Soul was in Beirut in March for a musical workshop with 44 musicians and producers from around the Arab world. BEATS AND BREATH sat down with Jazzie B to discuss music, his life philosophies and…
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Arab Raps Theoretical Unification
Beats and Breath’s interview with Egyptian rapper Mohammed el Deeb aka Deeb released in June contended that the uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa had a galvanizing effect with Arab hip-hop heads worldwide. But has this been the spark for a Pan-Arab hip-hop movement? I put this piece out there in the context…
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TIME MAGAZINE: Syrian Rappers Urge … Restraint? Protesters Find Little Support in Popular Music
This is an article written by Rania Abouzeid for TIME Magazine ©. I am reposting it here to frame the controversy that has erupted over this article, which was a spin-off to a post put on Greg Schick’s website World Hip-Hop Market.com. The post was about the stance on the Syrian unrest from a good…
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Movements.org – Hip Hop’s Responses to the Arab Awakening
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 BY SOCIAL CRITIC AND MUSIC JOURNALIST – JACKSON ALLERS – IS PAYING RESPECT TO ANOTHER INFLUENTIAL MEDIUM IN THE REGION, ONE THAT HAS ARTICULATED THE FRUSTRATIONS OF THE MARGINALIZED AND…
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Egypt’s revolution also a Hip-Hop Revolution
As the Free Speech Radio News radio documentary –Rhymes to Revolution: A Soundtrack to the Arab Awakenings– makes its way across the United States and the world, we take this opportunity to release a series of articles, interviews, and commentaries that have informed the research and content that have gone into making this documentary. We…
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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. In the days following the July 4 air date, I will feature transcriptions of…
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Lebanon’s Brooklyn, NYC Peeps: The Lo Frequency make good in Beirut
In late October, the Brooklyn-based live hip-hop outfit Chen Lo and the Liberation Family – known now as The Lo Frequency -came to Beirut for a two-month residency in order to establish a Hip-Hop Academy and to perform with local talent (MCs, DJs, and producers). The US embassy initiative was not exactly what they expected.…
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Syrian Revolution and Eslam Jawaad’s response – “Dudd al-Nizam” (Syria)
This post (below) by Greg Schick, the founder of the site World Hip-Hop Market(dot)com, and it concerns the response to the Syrian revolution by Syrian-Lebanese rapper Eslam Jawaad – whose debut album ‘Mammoth Tusk’ I wrote about for Menassat(dot)com, World Hip-Hop Market, UMen and that was republished here on Beats and Breath in its original…
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Arab Revolutions, Arab Spring, Arab hip-hop: Radio Documentary fundraising pitch
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…
#jan25, Amir Sulaiman, Arab Hip-Hop, Arab revolutions, Arabian Knightz, Ayah, Deeb, DJ Lethal Skillz, Egyptian hip-hop, Free Speech Radio News, Freeway, Immortal Entertainment, Johnny Damascus, Laith Majali, Malikah, Nasser Kalaji, Nomadic Wax, omar offendum, Paul Salem, Radio Documentary, Ramcess, Spot.us, The Narcycist -
Arab hip-hop’s Don of the Bass – exclusive interview with Johnny Damascus of Fareeq al Atrash
BEIRUT – Johnny D has to be about the most humble figure in the Lebanese hip-hop scene. He’s a veteran of the 961 old-school and one of the architects of the burgeoning new Arab hip-hop sound. And…I’ve never seen John front; dude’s never been anything but kind and welcoming to both fans and critics. John…
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I-VOICE: LA RICERCA DI ENERGIA ELETTRICA
This article appeared in the Italian-based Near East News Agency. It was written as my documentary film, Life from the BBC (co-directed by Siska) was screened as an official selection at the Human Rights Film Festival in Beirut in late January. For those that read Italian, I’m told it’s a fantastic write-up. Thanks to Ilaria…
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Profile: Hadeel Assali co-founder of Houston Palestine Film Festival
Hadeel Assali is a Palestinian cultural activist raised in Houston who knows all too well the need to redefine stereotypes of her community. Assali is the co-founder and executive director of the Houstone Palestine Film Festival, a four year-old (at the time of posting – 5-year old) festival that Houstonians voted the Best Film Festival…
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The Paranoids – Omar Offendum, The Narcicyst & Ragtop – take over Texas
In mid-March every year, more than 1,800 musical acts convene in Austin, Texas for the biggest music industry festival in the world. An Arab rap super group hit the stage at South by Southwest this year – the first of its kind. Made up of veteran rappers Omar Offendum, Ragtop and The Narcicyst, there’s a…
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Beats and Breath interviewed by Re-Volt Radio
Hass Dennaoui is a unique character – someone who has decided to break out of the confines of his geographical situation to embark on a world-wide media adventure. Hass runs Re-Volt Radio – a new experiment in media that features interviews with the brightest talents in Arab hip-hop and beyond – although he’s not limited to any one…
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Expanding the Dialog: Omar Offendum’s debut album ‘SyrianamericanA’
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…
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Brooklyn Beats to Beirut Streets – Pt. 1
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…
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DJ Sotusura – Holdin’ down Jordan’s hip-hop scene singlehandedly
By Jackson Allers (originally published in UMen Magazine) BEIRUT – Hicham Ibrahim, aka DJ Sotusura, is solid – holding down the hip-hop massive in Amman almost single-handedly, he doesn’t exude the stress you’d expect for someone so damn busy. But don’t let his nonchalance fool you. What I mean to say is that this wiry…
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Rap 3rabi meets Rap Amrikee
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.
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