Islam And Hip-Hop

buzzfeed.com, What's The Connection Between Islam And Hip-Hop In America? " So this week on See Something Say Something, Ahmed talks to guests Dr. Su'ad Abdul-Khabeer and artist Salima Rah about the connection between Islam, race, and hip-hop. "

Between Hip-hop and Muhammad

A Saeed, Between Hip-hop and Muhammad, chapter in Postcolonialism and Islam: Theory, Literature, Culture, Society and Film, edited by Geoffrey Nash, Kathleen Kerr-Koch, Sarah Hackett, Routledge, 2013. "Within contemporary European Muslim youth culture the song 'Aicha'by the Denmark based Hip-hop group Outlandish offers an insightful glimpse into how European Muslim youth challenge their 'pariah'-like status in society through art in a dynamic musical form."

Don't Panik! Islam and Europe's 'Hip Hop Wars'

Hishaam Aidi, aljazeera, Don't Panik! Islam and Europe's 'Hip Hop Wars' "Surveying European hip hop today, one notices two things: first, as in America, some of the biggest stars are Muslim, the children of immigrants and/or converts; and second, a number of these artists are (or have been) embroiled in controversies about freedom of expression, national identity and extremism. European government officials are increasingly worried about the influence that Muslim rap artists wield over youth, and are scrutinising hip hop practices in the immigrant neighbourhoods, trying to decide which Muslim hip hop artists to promote and which to push aside." There's also a link in the article to a more detailed piece by Hishaam Aidi entitled The Grand Hip Hop Chessboard

A Brief Introduction to the Female Voices in Arab Hip Hop

The Political Notebook: A Brief Introduction to the Female Voices in Arab Hip Hop

Hip Hop UK/USA

muslimvoices.org, Hip Hop Link between Culture and Faith for Filmmaker "San Francisco filmmaker Mustafa Davis wanted to see how music became a link between Muslim identity and Western culture."

Hope this one gets shown in the UK - it sources UK and US artists.

Revolution soundtrack? Hip-hop response

This is a useful report: also see (or - even better - listen to) Khalas Mixtape Vol. 1 which links to various FB pages of artistes and has a link to a download of the tracks on the mixtape [59 MB]. There are plenty of tracks to download on the Facebook pages, too.

Hip-hop and Islam

Moniza Khokhar, elanthemag.com, Is Hip Hop Helping the Public Image of Muslims? "With the current polarization of opinions in mainstream America about the Muslim American community, I see various discussions on Islam, Muslims and our culture. But what’s most surprising is when listening to hip hop stations particularly these days I hear a lot of references to my people and in turn my beliefs. Now, given public opinion isn’t so favorable about Islam (roughly about 38% say they have an unfavorable opinion about Islam), I think this is pretty risky and bold for the hip hop community to continue their support for Muslims."

Hip-hop stopped in Gaza

meedan, Hamas breaks up hip-hop concert for being "immoral", 26 Apr 2010, "According to one of the dancers of B Boy Gaza group, police forces have broken up the concert under the pretext of hip-hop dancing being "immoral"; shouting "the show is over" at the audience." Also see associated comments.

Hip Hop

Asian News, Debate to discuss relationship between Islam and hip-hop, 10 Oct 08 'The debate will be followed by a live gig in Rich Mix Bar featuring Mecca2Medina, Masika AKA Ffasibillah, Lil Mia, Ppearls of Islam, Baby Muslims, Lemoy, UK Apache and Muhammed Yah Yyah."

"Islam and Hip Hop, Debate and Live Gig will take place on Wed 15 October at Rich Mix, 35 - 47 Bethnal Green Road, London, 5.00pm – 7.00pm. Tickets are £5 - for debate and gig."

Sounds like a good combination.

Details: artsandislam.com. It's a useful site, which also has a Muslim Artist Directory

Hip-hop

qantara.de, The Persian Hip-Hoppers Tapesh 2012: Multicultural Pulsebeat "The musical inspiration behind Tapesh – which means pulse beat – combines an eclectic range of styles – from hip-hop to reggae and ska, all the way to electronic beats with an oriental touch."

Take a look at their MySpace page tapesh-2012.com for more, including videos.

This one came to my attention as I was taking a look at posts on a related theme at Ted Swedenburg's hawgblawg:

SHM.com.au, Celebrity chef under fire for 'jihadi chic', 29 May 08

The Powerpoint slideshow is particularly helpful: SMH.com.au, Jihadi Chic

Hawgblawg has some interesting updates on rap music in Palestine and elsewhere too.

Not exactly a headline for regular readers of this blog: infozine.com, Jihadists Use Internet As Recruiting, Networking Tool, Intel Official Says, 6 Mar 07 "Army Brig. Gen. John Custer and other experts described the effects of terrorists' online recruiting and networking methods during a 60 Minutes interview with correspondent Scott Pelley.

""I see 16-, 17-year-olds who have been indoctrinated on the Internet turn up on the battlefield," Custer said. "We capture them; we kill them every day in Iraq, in Afghanistan.""

Here's the link to the programme, which I have yet to see, so cannot really comment upon: 60 Minutes, Terrorists Take Recruitment Efforts Online, 4 Mar 07 including the video

Should be read/viewed in relation to: Middle East Online, Al-Qaeda fights online, 20 Feb 07 which I have just picked up. Plenty of other recent articles on associated themes, some of which have picked up some lively feedback, such as CapitolHillBlue.com, The ‘Net as terrorist tool, 27 Feb 07

Other topics and issues:

Bernama, M'sia Wants Stereotyping Of Terrorism With Islam To Stop, 5 Mar 07

VoIP News, VoIP Licences For All In Bangladesh, "After spending the last few months hauling illegal VoIP operators out into the open and into the courts, Bangladeshi bureaucrats could be on the verge of granting wholesale approval for the technology.

"According to this report a committee of senior government representatives has recommended that licences for Voice over IP be granted to all the country's operators including mobile and fixed line phone providers and Internet Service Providers."

chron.com, Job lured alleged al-Qaida trainee to Houston, 4 Mar 07 "Under the user name Daniel Aljughaifi, Maldonado was a paid message board moderator for Islamic Network. Before his capture in January while fleeing Somalia, he was one of many members to discuss attempts to establish Islamic law in that African nation."

Traditional Islam for the hip-hop generation, "Abdul-Latif and others at LICC have recently put their musical and rhetorical talents to use online by hosting "Discourse," an internet radio show on Earthbound radio (www.twelvez.com), which airs every Sunday afternoon from 12-2pm. It is a mixture of clean hip hop and conscious discussion." Sounds interesting, so I'll have to listen in. Relates to content within the Muslim Networks book edited by Bruce Lawrence and miriam cooke, which I have a chapter in (my chapter is not about hip-hop ...).

garoweonline.com, Rethinking Islam from Pakistan to Texas, 4 Mar 07 " ... Asani has created a set of educational modules intended to provoke new and innovative understandings of the religion. Starting with lessons on the life of Muhammad and leading into Islamic Modernism and its struggle to adapt to growing Western and international influences, Asani provides teachers with readings, contextual sketches, and discussion questions to lead groups throughout the process. While Asani communicates with the teachers via Internet message boards and visits each of the four international sites to give lectures and elucidate readings through cultural and artistic artifacts, the bulk of the study is done through independent discussion groups moderated by the teachers themselves in a program that typically lasts six months."

GulfNews.com, Execution of 18 Iraqi police posted on Internet, 4 Mar 07 "The three-minute video shows the 18 men kneeling on the ground near a citrus groove. As they are shot one by one in the back of the head they fall to the ground face first.

"Male voices in the background repeatedly chant “At your service sister,” fuelling speculation that the killings are in retaliation for the alleged rape of a Sunni woman by members of the Iraqi police force, which is Shiite dominated."

daijiworld.com, al-Qaeda threat to Price Harry in Iraq, 6 Mra 07 "Terrorists have vowed to kidnap or kill Prince Harry when he fights in Iraq, the Sun reported on Monday March 5."

familysecuritymatters.org, Brave New World - Your Child, Jihad, and the Internet by Susan MacAllen, 5 Mar 07 opinion and commentary