Refugees, Hip hop, and the Terms of Engagement

Across the world, refugees are producing, writing, remixing, and mastering hip hop despite their circumstances, environmental constraints, or lack of resources. Predictably, hip hop produced by refugees often have overtly political messages that depict realities on the ground. This bottom-up production of hip-hop is reflective of hip hop’s origin and emphasis on knowledge of self. However, they are also subject to forces of globalization, commodification, and commercialization. Ultimately, whether, and how, the messages of hip hop produced by refugees change is heavily dependent on the artists themselves and how they engage with globalizing forces.

            Hip hop has a long history of being used as a source of cultural diplomacy by the United States. Former Ambassador to the Netherlands Cynthia P. Schnieder remarks that in the 1950s, jazz artists such as Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, and Charlie Parker would be paid by the Department of State to play in Iran, Egypt, Nigeria, and eastern European nations (Schneider 2006). However, Schneider fails to mention that while these praised were upheld overseas, they faced racial discrimination daily at home (Aidi 2011). More recently, hip hop artists from the US that are supported by the State Department are often apolitical and sing about issues that have no political nuance. The irony here is that while hip hop artists are condemned domestically for producing images of resistance, they are touted internationally as patriotic symbols. However, the hip hop that is exported is a very watered down version of the politically-savvy hip hop that resonates with youth and refugees across the world.

            The image and messages of music produced by refugees do change as they interact with outside entities, whether it be NGOs, a new audience, political realities, or government-financed programs. In Tunisia, Somali-born hip hop artist Saber performs regularly at the community center within the refugee camp. While his first couple of songs focused on Somalia and the journey of escaping from Mogadishu, his most recent song warns about the dangers of trying to return to Libya in order to make the dangerous sea crossing to Europe. (UNHCR 2012) DAM, one of the most well-known Palestinian hip hop groups that have emerged over the past decade highlights how their music has changed over the decade. When they started, much of their music focused on resistance and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. However, as they became more famous, toured across the US and Europe, they began to sing in English, incorporate humor, and address gender issues within their own community. (Shalev 2012) The emergence of female rappers is a sign of changing politics as well as welcoming a new audience within communities that traditionally excluded them. Soosan Firooz, one of Afghanistan’s only female rappers, fled Afghanistan with her family after the Taliban took over in the nineties. However, with the support of her family and the improvement of women’s rights in Afghanistan, Firooz was able to return and create hip hop music that is heavily focused on gender issues. (Tupman 2013) Hip hop has been used not only to relay realities on the ground to an external audience but also as a tool of introspection. K’naan, a Somali-born artist now based in New York City, was able to cross borders and cultural boundaries into mainstream American pop. However, as his fame increased, record labels wanted to decrease the politics of his music. As an artist whose homeland heavily influences his music, he struggled with whether to give in to the industry’s demands and pursue mainstream success or continue to create music that highlighted his sense of self and homeland. (K’naan 2012) K’naan chose the latter and ultimately fell out of the Top 40 radio in America. However, this act alone is more emblematic of what it means to be a hip hop artist.

            The effect of commercial success on music produced by refugees largely depends on who their new audience is. Similar to the rejection of hip hop by middle-class blacks, hip hop receives backlash from refugee communities who claim that the music is the result of Westernization a distraction from the cause. Real resistance, they argue, is achieved through political action, not music. Ultimately, hip hop music is a conversation between producer and consumer where the terms of engagement define its worth.

Image downloaded from Flickr: Refugees in UNHCR camp participate in hip hop workshop.

Aidi, H. (2011). The Grand (Hip-Hop) Chessboard: Race, Rap and Raison d'État. Middle East Report, (260), 25–39. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/41408017

K’naan. (2012, December 8). Censoring myself for success. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/09/opinion/sunday/knaan-on-censoring-himself-for-success.html?_r=0

Schneider, Cynthia P. (2006). Cultural diplomacy: hard to define, but you’d know it if you saw it. Brown Journal of World Affairs, (8). Retrieved from http://web.a.ebscohost.com.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=3&sid=be9318ea-14ad-486d-a2c1-ddf20f85c25a%40sessionmgr4001&hid=4204

Shalev, Ben. (2012, December 7). It’s more than a hip-hop and a jump to the moon for this Arab-Israeli band. Haaretz. Retrieved from http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/it-s-more-than-a-hip-hop-and-a-jump-to-the-moon-for-this-arab-israeli-band.premium-1.483309

Tupman, Jake. (2013, October 17). From refugee to rap star: Soosan Firooz, Afghan woman rapper. Muftah. Retrieved from http://muftah.org/from-refugee-to-rap-star-soosan-firooz-afghan-woman-rapper/#.VvKzj5MrLVr

UNHCR. (2012, March 29). Teenage Somali refugee aims to become hip hop star. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Retrieved from http://www.unhcr.org/4f7433aa9.html