On breaks from studying this week, I’ve spent a ton of time watching hiphop videos. And unless you’re a hardcore fan, this has probably flown under your radar:
chinese rappers battle
The first is a trailer for the documentary “Slingshot Hiphop”, about the hiphop movement in Palestine–featuring rappers like DAM, Sabreena da Witch (Abeer). The second is a pic of an underground rap battle in Shanghai, China–a thriving subculture recently covered in the NY Times..
I love my underground hiphop. “Underground” meaning hiphop music that isn’t that Soulja Boy bullshit that somehow makes onto American radio- we’re talking hip hop straight from the street. Political ish, ghetto ish, stuff that speaks the voice of people without privilege and power–a medium through which you can say what you want and all you need is a mic and your mouth. Unfortunately, I’m of the opinion that’s all but died off in the United States. The true frontier of the culture and music is abroad my friends: in places as far-flung as the West Bank, Palestine and Shanghai, China.
It was really interesting to see the similarities between the two movements. I happened to read about Slingshot hiphop and the article on Chinese hiphop at the same time, and both shared some common threads. The major one was that hip hop was a medium for young people from both these places to describe their experiences of oppression and deligitimization in a dominant society.
For the Palestinians, it’s the Israeli occupation. For the Chinese, its young working class urban youth living under government suppression. For these artists, the personal is political. And their rhymes entertain as well actually mean something–not sex, drugs, money or any combination of the three. Making music in both these places is an act of rebellion against a dominant power that really isn’t afraid to crush dissent.
Palestine and China aren’t the only places with native hiphop movements. France and England, South Africa and Central America and countless other nations have homegrown hiphop. What started as an American medium has gone global–and gone back to its roots. Beautiful irony.
Homegrown Hiphop
Posted in random, social commentary with tags arts on January 24, 2009 by SultanaOn breaks from studying this week, I’ve spent a ton of time watching hiphop videos. And unless you’re a hardcore fan, this has probably flown under your radar:
chinese rappers battle
The first is a trailer for the documentary “Slingshot Hiphop”, about the hiphop movement in Palestine–featuring rappers like DAM, Sabreena da Witch (Abeer). The second is a pic of an underground rap battle in Shanghai, China–a thriving subculture recently covered in the NY Times..
I love my underground hiphop. “Underground” meaning hiphop music that isn’t that Soulja Boy bullshit that somehow makes onto American radio- we’re talking hip hop straight from the street. Political ish, ghetto ish, stuff that speaks the voice of people without privilege and power–a medium through which you can say what you want and all you need is a mic and your mouth. Unfortunately, I’m of the opinion that’s all but died off in the United States. The true frontier of the culture and music is abroad my friends: in places as far-flung as the West Bank, Palestine and Shanghai, China.
It was really interesting to see the similarities between the two movements. I happened to read about Slingshot hiphop and the article on Chinese hiphop at the same time, and both shared some common threads. The major one was that hip hop was a medium for young people from both these places to describe their experiences of oppression and deligitimization in a dominant society.
For the Palestinians, it’s the Israeli occupation. For the Chinese, its young working class urban youth living under government suppression. For these artists, the personal is political. And their rhymes entertain as well actually mean something–not sex, drugs, money or any combination of the three. Making music in both these places is an act of rebellion against a dominant power that really isn’t afraid to crush dissent.
Palestine and China aren’t the only places with native hiphop movements. France and England, South Africa and Central America and countless other nations have homegrown hiphop. What started as an American medium has gone global–and gone back to its roots. Beautiful irony.
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