The (mis)adventures of Super-S

My groggy early morning internet surfing in bed took me to a blog which previewed the trailer for a new “filim” about Arab hip hop, specifically Palestinian hip hop. The trailer looks amazing, and I for one cannot wait to see it.

To me it makes perfect sense that Palestinian dissatisfaction would find its voice in hip hop and rap, not just because historically rap has been a music of the struggling classes, but because the Arabic language and literary past lends itself to it so well. Today’s rap battles were pre-Islamic Arabia’s tribal poetry slams where insults about mamas, virility, and a dude’s ugly face were all par for the course. And maybe now the sampling in rap music can go both ways – Jay Z’s hit, “Big Pimpin” samples one of the most famous Arabic songs by arguably the most beloved singer of the 20th century in the Arab world.

While I’ve long been familiar with DAM’s music, watching the above trailer reminded me to go check out what they’ve been up to recently. I bought their 2006 album, “Dedication”, this morning to give to my brother for his upcoming birthday. These lads are from Lid, one of the poorest cities in Israel, and in addition to rapping about their trials as second class citizens there, they also address issues of poverty, drugs, violence, and plain old love in their music. The lyrics to some of their songs are posted in English on their website (linked above). Check them out.

I really like the below video for DAM’s song “Born here”, not least of all because it features up and coming female hip hop artist, Abeer aka Sabreena Da Witch. (Sabr means “patience” in Arabic, I wonder if her stage name is meant to be a play on that?)

When I first saw the female rap duo aRAPeyat (Arab women) in the trailer for the documentary, I was surprised that young Muslim women could “get away with” dressing like they do and rapping like they do (and upon further inspection traveling as freely as they seem to). But then I thought about all of the sexy female Arab pop stars, a few of whom make X-tina and Britney look like prudes, and I realized why not? And certainly I prefer their lyrics and message which aren’t just about love, romance, and/or wanting a man like the other tired Arab (and otherwise) pop singers. So big ups to aRAPeyat, who back up their “street” look with some incredible skills on the mic. It doesn’t matter if you don’t understand Arabic, there is no mistaking their meaning and fire. I hope to see more of them:

For more links to Arab rap groups and to learn more about the documentary, check out the website at http://www.slingshothiphop.com/links.html.