Earlier this month, the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) hosted “Mic Check: Hip- Hop from North Africa and the Middle East”. The event, which ran from March 7 to 9, featured artists who use their music as a way to spread messages of hope and self-determination to those involved in the continuing struggles in North Africa and the Middle East.

With the recent revolutions in North Africa and the Middle East the artists – Amkoullel (Mali), El Général (Tunisia), Deeb (Egypt), Brahim Fribgane (Morocco) and Shadia Mansour (London born Palestinian) – have emerged as torchbearers for the movement’s progressive energy and defiant spirit. The rappers and musicians who performed in front of a packed house were welcomed to Brooklyn, hip-hop’s home, with open arms.

Zeyba Rahman, the event’s curator, spoke to the BBC on the role that hip-hop artists play in North Africa and The Middle East and why the BAM is the ideal venue for this once in a lifetime event.

From BBC:

“In the Middle East and North Africa it is a very popular means for MC’s to be social commentators who give voice to burning social and political issues and, as such, hip-hop culture and rap music has wide appeal across the region,” said Zeyba Rahman. “Over the last couple of years, with so many Arab countries in the grip of a social-political tsunami, hip hop has emerged as a prominent form of cultural resistance, an alternative to armed movement, and a strong voice for change.”

Rahman thinks that BAM is a great place to host African and Arab artists because it is located in a multi-cultural neighbourhood. “The institution is situated close to the long established Arab section along Atlantic Avenue, the Nigerian mosque and community center on Myrtle Avenue as well as other, diverse, Muslim populations within the BAM radius in Brooklyn’s Fort Greene Cultural District.”

This is not the first time that the BAM hosts an African themed event. In May the centre will be hosting DanceAfrica, BAM’s longest running program is a festival that celebrates the cultural vitality of Africa and its diaspora through dance, art, film and an outdoor bazaar.

Source: http://afri-culture.com/revolutionary-north-african-rappers-welcomed-to-hip-hops-home/

good for them