Palestinian Hip Hop Group
DAM, an innovative and explicitly political Palestinian hip hop group, has been around since 1998. So if you haven't checked them out, then it's about time, get on it!
All three artists were born and raised in the slums of Lod, a mixed Israeli town of Arabs and Jews. Combine dope beats, drenched in that beautiful melancholic middle eastern sound, with tight arabic rhymes inspired by the everyday suffering and resistance of their people, and you've got a hip hop sound that is haunting.
Here's a link to their video for Meen Erhabe (arabic translation = who's the terrorist)
Check out the chorus of the track:
!مين ارهابي ؟! انا ارهابي ؟
!!كيف ارهابي وانا عايش في بلادي؟
!!مين ارهابي ؟! انت ارهابي
!!!ماكلني وانا عايش في بلادي
Who's the terrorist? I'm the terrorist?!
How am I the terrorist when you've taken my land?
Who's the terrorist? You're the terrorist!
You've taken everything I own while I'm living in my homeland
posted by pomegranate queen at 4/14/2006
11 Comments:
haaaaa,
so true i'm speechless.
this is exactly what the poem 'awaken!' talks about on my blog - different context, same situation.
it's very depressing and disillusioning, god damn the human (men) instincts to fight, conquer and kill!
girl, i saw this group at u of m, and used that video in a presentation that i gave comparing detroit to new orleans to palestine--in other words, putting the destruction of people of color communities in the u.s. within the context of a global fight for social justice...
i cry every goddamn time i see that video.
WOW you saw them???! we were thinking of bringing them out here, but my plans fell through. Your video presentation sounds so GOOD! You are such a kick-ass teacher!!
The video is intense and powerful.
That's an amazing video. I'm so glad you linked to it, it sent chills down my spine again. It makes me cry, too. This is what hip hop should be about...
Wow.. I was nearly brought to tears by this video and by it's message. The lyrics were so damn poignant. I don't know what to say, only that I feel some link to them, so I'll have to link to elsewhere.
Thanks.
I agree Rabfish, the roots of hip hop are political, grassroots activism by the people for the people kind of thing - but the meaning has shifted like other types of art that are appropriated and commodified, etc.
wmnha - as for the your comment about feeling some link to the artists (and the video), girl, could you expand on that? I'm wondering why you said you'll have to link elsewhere...i'm not sure I quite get what you meat by that.
I meant I'd have to link to it in a couple of other blogs I have (like livejournal). I have always felt a connection to my brown brothers and sisters in the Middle East, especially Palestine, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, not with their governments, but definitely with the people of those populations. I feel the same connection with POC in the United States. I'm not sure how to explain it though, I'm not sure if solidarity is the word, but there is definitely a feeling that we are all connected in some way on my part.
I thought that's what you meant, but wasn't sure! thanks for clarifying!
what you said is SO IMPORTANT - we need to see intersecting struggles and build - Granted that histories of oppression are different, some of us have certain privileges, and as we know solidarity between POC (and POC on an international level) is such a difficult process...but it's all about building and working towards some form of meaningful "connection" -as in seeing how out struggles are connected....
understanding how are struggles are connected...
making sure we make those important connections.
pq, yeah, they were brought to u of m with the iron shiek and invincible. pretty awesome. the shiek spoke in our class--do you nadine naber? she is really into the arab hip hop community and has brought a lot of these guys back to u of m more than once. she's the one who actually introduced me to DAM. i gave the presentation with her at a detroit meeting of the organization "solidarity"--have you heard of them? the presentation went over really well--and you know that scene at the end where the guy is pointing out the torn up olive trees? i was able to find in both detroit and new orleans incidences where trees--trees that signified the permanance of the community, the meeting place of the community, the place that signified "home" to the community, were totally destroyed by the state who said "it needed that spot for the greater good".
fuckers.
BFP - that is amazing! to make the connection between the olive trees and what was going on in detroit and new orleans neighbourhoods...that is the kind of connecting I'm talking about...that's how we build the links...the connections...different histories but connected the same!
PQ and BFP - damn, women, you inspire me! i agree - our struggles are oppressions maybe separated geographicaly and scattered around the globe, but their nature, intensity and perpetretor are one and the same. hence our resistence should be unified and the same. we have so many points of contact, it's incredible!
Post a Comment
<< Home