Readings Regarding Rap

I am once again excited to be dealing with the topic of music and how it impacts the world around us.  Just throwing that out there.

To start, it shocks me how much importance people halfway across the world place on the United States, its politics, and its involvement in international issues.  Especially surprising is how closely our internal politics are watched, because the politics of one powerful nation may affect many other nations as well.  Tamer’s lyrics make a reference to the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal, an event that I would not expect the people of other countries to know and care about.

The article on Israeli hip-hop irritated me when it questioned whether a well-off Israeli could pass as a rapper just as much as a black American in the west could.  A musical genre is not limited to a particular ethnicity or culture, and can be modified to reflect the emotions and styles of the audience that the artist hopes to attract. 

The author even goes as far as to say that Israeli rap is an “inherent contradiction,” attempting to imitate a culture that they know nothing about.  I just have to disagree.  Here is another way to look at it: At its heart, rap music is poetry in rhythm, an ancient form of self-expression used, in some way or form, by  all groups of people on earth.  I realize that in the current day-in-age, rap in an African-American context is prevalent and powerful, but it is not a crime to be inspired by it and adopt this art form to express the thoughts and needs of one’s own society.  In other words, we are the ones who put rap in a box, not rap music itself.

Moving on to the Subliminal interview, I think it would have been interesting to ask him what his experience in the military was like.  He obviously felt that he needed to hide his talents until he was out, and he did not talk about his specific experiences during his mandatory service, or how he felt about serving.  However, he did give insight into growing up in a politically charged world.  The second reading about him said infinitely more about his rise to rap, and the particular flavor of his music in contrast with other forms in the region.

“Rap is CNN for us,” explains Tamar Nafar in “Hip-Hop and the Palestinians.”  To Nafar, Palestinian rap music really did stem from a socioeconomic similarity.  Like African Americans here, Palestinians are the destitute minority who feel ignored and even oppressed by their government.  This suggests contrast between the meaning of Palestinian and Israeli rap at the core.  However, both types of rap can potentially be used toward the cause of peace, and be effective at that.  The final article regarding honor killings is a powerful example of how influential this kind of music can be, when many young people are listening.