I Love Hip-Hop In Morocco

Finding a middle ground between your passion and religion has proven to be extremely difficult for rap artists in Morocco. The culture of Hip-Hop worldwide has not fully been accepted into the lives of certain individuals, and unfortunately for some it never will be. Rap music can be used as a social weapon and motivation towards religious and political change. With a positive and clear message artists can convey any certain feeling towards a specific audience. In order to communicate this urgent need for change rap artists in Morocco decided to join together in a cohesive Hip-Hop festival known as “I love Hip-Hop in Morocco”. With one goal in mind they set out to enlighten, empower, and embrace social change in order to inspire a society bound by restrictions.

            The artists that were introduced in the documentary contributed various valuable thoughts as to what they thought Hip-Hop meant. DJ Key, a talented young performer, strongly represented the idea that social change would be inevitable through the continuity of music. As a large advocate for change in a time of strife and restriction, he ingeniously recognizes the fundamental missing aspect of what his country lacks- organized effort. Involvement is essential towards the distant first step of change in his country he argues. Although faced with the constant dissent towards hip-hop culture in Islam he explains to viewers that without music nothing would influence a movement towards change.

            Another extremely influential group in Morocco known as “H-Kayne” describes the continuous want of guidance that they feel the need to offer to other aspiring artists. Notoriety and the establishment of a large diverse fan base adds to the idea of being the first example to revolutionize social change. With the complete absence of freedom of speech H-Kayne describes how their lyrics must be manipulated into tricking the public eye. Double meanings and insinuations are used in order to express certain feelings that are deemed as ‘anti- Islam’. With severe restrictions on freedom of speech they feel that their music can only be decoded by a certain group of people. With their fame they can essentially spark a movement of change throughout their country by guiding others.

            The last group that I found to be influential in the rap culture of Morocco was the duo “Mot de Passe”. For this essay I chose to speak solely on Fati Show, and how her influence as a female rapper has the potential to not only weaken a common stereotype, but also rally a completely different group of people towards social change- women. Evident throughout the hip-hop culture rap music has been portrayed as a more male dominated form of music. Not only is Fati Show faced with the constant issue of religion and rap music, but she is also faced with prominent set gender roles in rap culture. Admiration is the first feeling that comes to mind when I think about the difficulties she must overcome. She believes that a rapper is someone who enlightens and sends a message to the public. Her devout sense of perseverance pushes her to continue spreading the message repeatedly until the public fully grasps the concept. Performance is essential towards her facilitation of social change, and by having a platform in which she can perform she is able to fully express her ideas.

            I felt the need to clearly define Islam and globalization in order to highlight the major differences between both. Islam is a religious faith of Muslims whom believe in absolute submission to a unique and personal god- Allah. Globalization is the processes of international integration that is made up from increasing human connectivity and interchange of view and different aspects of culture. Both ideas are complete odds in which rap artists are faced with. They are constantly searching for a way in which they can integrate both religion and rap without eliminating one. Each artist interviewed in the documentary expresses this hardship they face, but not one person offers one set solution. Perspective, in my opinion, plays an important role on how you perceive the mix of religion and globalization. In DJ Key’s perspective, he finds it extremely difficult to mediate between the two and uses a ‘wall’ as a metaphor. With prayer he searches for a harmonious peace that one day he hopes to see between his religion and passion. H-Kayne approaches this obstacle in a different way using their lyricism as a tool to essentially ‘trick’ certain aspects of their religion that forbids vulgar ideas. Although they are aware that even lyrics do not have the power to demolish the invisible wall between religion and rap they at least attempt to negotiate their freedom of speech. Fati Show on the other hand is blessed to have an open minded supportive family whom embrace the idea of rap culture while still focusing on the core structure of faith. Her father states, “she is a good student, and she does her prayers” this form of thinking reflects a more democratic stance on life. Although the goal would be the acceptance of Western culture, like rap music and democratic ideals such as freedom of speech, and its integration in fundamental core religious practices; these artists for now must accept the clear division until a middle ground is discovered.

            A music festival that was partly funded by the American Embassy offers a nuanced manner of promoting and globalizing Western culture worldwide. Ten thousand dollars of taxpayer money was funded into this attempt of sparking a movement of social change in a nonviolent manner. Again perspective plays an extremely essential role when it comes to determining underlying consequences for the American government. People in America might view it from a perspective of wasting money especially if they do not support this specific genre of music. The culture of Hip-Hop even in America is frowned upon by certain people as vulgar, degrading towards women, and meaningless. With that type of mindset my question is how are those people going to let a rap festival represent who they are and what they believe in to other parts of the world when they strongly disagree? The audience’s response to the festival was incredible and they showed endless support to the artists. One interesting part of the festival was when Fati Show came out to perform and the crowd initially gave her no support. After she proved her credibility and talent through her performance she gained unlimited respect. She was able to weaken the stereotype of female rappers through one performance and I could only imagine how much power she could have initiating change in the future. The reaction of the audience foreshadows what could possibly happen if they continue performing. If the crowd of people at the festival understood what exactly was being communicated to them then I believe they are beginning to open their minds towards the understanding of rap culture. Although different from their culture they would begin to grasp the similarities between American and Moroccan culture and values. If America became more involved in their foreign policy by funding more nonviolent festivals and concerts similar to this I believe it would make our goal easier. This type of involvement in foreign countries is exactly what individuals need in America in order to learn from Middle Eastern culture, and in order to shift from a mindset of fear towards a more egalitarian perspective.

            By using hip-hop as a tool to connect both American and Moroccan values we see an inevitable mix between ‘enemies’. Hip-hop not only stands for a social weapon of change, but in terms of American society it connects us to innocent people that we perceive as a threat. Now it not only proves to be effective in Morocco, but it allows Americans to begin to think of these people as equals. Just as bad, good, happy, and innocent as we think of ourselves.