Vulture Magazine The Michaelmas Issue 2013 | Page 23

news in the Arab world when something on Palestine or Syria comes on we just shift the channel, like it’s normal. It’s not a normal thing.”
The majority of the artists he publicizes on
the revolt blog have directed their work in recent years to support the Arab Spring, and he
speaks passionately about hip-hop as a catalyst
for social change: “I really believe that hip-hop
can be a tool for empowerment, and a tool for
revolution.” He cites Tunisian El-General’s ‘Rais
LeBled’, a hip-hop letter to president Zine El
Abidine which became an anthem of the country’s Jasmine Revolution, as well as the Egyptian collective Arabian Knightz’s ‘Rebel’, played
on mobile phones throughout Tahrir Square.
Discussion of Arabian Knightz’ use of a Lauryn Hill sample on “Rebel”, leads us to the criticism that Laish FM is merely appropriating an
American art form. “I don’t like to talk about Arabic hip-hop, because I believe hip-hop is a universal language. It started in America but America does not own it. Hip-hop is really just poetry
to music, and historically some of the best poets
in the world have been Arabs. Back in the day,
even before Islam, poets used to go to a place
in Saudi called Souq Okaz to compete in what
were essentially rap battles.” Dennaoui explains
that this crossover is also evident in contemporary hip-hop. “At the beginning of the Syrian
uprising this local poet called Ibrahim Qarshush
came up with a slogan, something like, ‘now
leave the president, now leave the president’,
which became the slogan of the revolution. The
regime found this guy, and not only killed him
but took out his vocal chords and dumped him in
the Aasi river. Following this, the Syrian-American hip-hop artist Omar Offendum wrote a song
called ‘#Syria’, and the beautiful thing is at the
end of the video he pays Qarshush tribute with a
sample of his voice and the Syrian people chant-

ing the same slogan. So though he’s part American he made this track with the people of Syria,
and used hip-hop to challenge the president.”
Arabic hip-hop is not riddled with the same
misogyny as its western counterpart, and the
aforementioned Palestinian rapper Shadia
Mansour is one of the most prominent artists
on the scene. I ask about her female contemporaries, but Dennaoui says she only has one
- Lebanese rapper Malika. More common are
female poets who perform in a spoken-word
style, like talented Palestinians Suheir Hammad and Farah Chamma. As far as Dennaoui
knows, female hip-hop artists are non-existent
in Saudi: “Male artists don’t have the platform
here, so female artists definitely don’t. I’d love
to support women in Saudi Arabia. They’re becoming more vocal and things are changing, so
hopefully more will come out.”
Though Dennaoui continually emphasizes
its power, it’s clear Arabic hip-hop is still a relatively niche interest: “The middle east is full
of bands, full of talent. The problem is that the
media in the Arab world is so corrupt and so
stupid that they’re not going to promote this,
partly I think because it’s something to empower the brain, not dumb you down. But when one
of the guys is interviewed for the BBC or CNN,
then suddenly the Arabic media takes interest.
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