Post by anansi on Feb 19, 2021 8:15:54 GMT -5
Young people from local hip hop community hang out in the street during a festival/ Tunisia, 27 January 2017/Emeric Fohlen/NurPhoto via Getty Images
n the first few seconds of the clip, Koast leaves a building to smoke a cigarette alone, in the fall evening in Paris, her facial expression suggesting a reflective mood. As she finishes smoking, the haunting piano intro of the song starts to play, and the scene cuts to her walking — then running — to an empty courtyard, where she puts her headphones on and listens to music.
The opening lyric of the song, called “Se’aat,” is already enough to draw you in:
Lady, are you high? I said le netkayyef se’aat (I smoke for hours)
The beat, produced by Ratchopper, a fellow Tunisian, immediately puts you in a state of trance and dark emotion. Koast effortlessly flows through the intricate mix of trap and hip-hop that later incorporates elements of a rhythmic tambourine reminiscent of traditional Middle Eastern music.
Koast has been on the rap scene since she was 17, when a friend first introduced hip-hop to her in Tunisia. But back then, she says, rap in the country was still underground.
Koast moved to Paris four years ago with the “well-defined goal to do music freely,” she told Newlines. She has done so successfully, cementing her place in a Tunisian rap scene dominated primarily by men.
Still, even as rap and hip-hop gain more prominence in Tunisia and across the Middle East and North Africa, Koast believes more needs to be done to showcase the talent coming out of her home country
The opening lyric of the song, called “Se’aat,” is already enough to draw you in:
Lady, are you high? I said le netkayyef se’aat (I smoke for hours)
The beat, produced by Ratchopper, a fellow Tunisian, immediately puts you in a state of trance and dark emotion. Koast effortlessly flows through the intricate mix of trap and hip-hop that later incorporates elements of a rhythmic tambourine reminiscent of traditional Middle Eastern music.
Koast has been on the rap scene since she was 17, when a friend first introduced hip-hop to her in Tunisia. But back then, she says, rap in the country was still underground.
Koast moved to Paris four years ago with the “well-defined goal to do music freely,” she told Newlines. She has done so successfully, cementing her place in a Tunisian rap scene dominated primarily by men.
Still, even as rap and hip-hop gain more prominence in Tunisia and across the Middle East and North Africa, Koast believes more needs to be done to showcase the talent coming out of her home country
rtists like Koast have benefited from this exposure, but hip-hop for her remains just a natural way of “living and being,” and she continues to draw upon her lived experiences for inspiration.
“My backgrounds, influences, references, way of thinking and being are mainly impacted by everything I got to experience through different periods of my life, whether back home in Tunisia or in Europe and probably everywhere else.”
Her rise in the broader North African rap scene is notable given the male-dominated culture of the region and of hip-hop. Many other female rappers from North Africa, like Khtek and Psychoqueen, have challenged the patriarchal status quo of society by masterfully bringing a fierce lyrical skillset to their music — and frankly out-rapping many of their male counterparts.
But Perrie, an up-and-coming Egyptian Moroccan rapper who has shocked the mahraganat scene with her fast rise as one of the top emcees in the region, stressed that she doesn’t feel like she has a responsibility to talk about feminism or anything other than what she has been through in her life.
“I don’t like the whole throwing responsibility at someone when they haven’t even asked for it just because they’re a certain sex or sexual orientation,” she said. “If my human experience includes being a woman in a misogynistic society, a male-driven industry, yes then it plays a role.”
Unapologetically herself, Perrie says hip-hop in particular represented a kind of freedom that aligned with her personality in a way that embodies “breaking the code and breaking the rules and not giving a fuck about anyone.”
Throughout her life and her career, identity has played a central role for Perrie and the way she approaches her humanity. Perrie does not identify as Arab, and proudly identifies as African and Egyptian Moroccan. But because of the racism Moroccans face in Egypt, Perrie endured bullying and prejudice growing up, which made her feel “ashamed” of her Moroccan identity in particular. And while she has since turned that into a position of strength and has embraced her roots, Perrie continues to explore who she is through her music.
“We just have to go back to our history, and we need to start loving ourselves and we need to recognize who we truly are because we’re not Arabs. 100% being Egyptian and being Moroccan is straight up being African and straight up being proud. And this is why I never have any issue representing mahraganat in my music because this is Egyptian music. I’m proud of my double cultures. I’m proud of my continent, and I really want to showcase it everywhere.”
“My backgrounds, influences, references, way of thinking and being are mainly impacted by everything I got to experience through different periods of my life, whether back home in Tunisia or in Europe and probably everywhere else.”
Her rise in the broader North African rap scene is notable given the male-dominated culture of the region and of hip-hop. Many other female rappers from North Africa, like Khtek and Psychoqueen, have challenged the patriarchal status quo of society by masterfully bringing a fierce lyrical skillset to their music — and frankly out-rapping many of their male counterparts.
But Perrie, an up-and-coming Egyptian Moroccan rapper who has shocked the mahraganat scene with her fast rise as one of the top emcees in the region, stressed that she doesn’t feel like she has a responsibility to talk about feminism or anything other than what she has been through in her life.
“I don’t like the whole throwing responsibility at someone when they haven’t even asked for it just because they’re a certain sex or sexual orientation,” she said. “If my human experience includes being a woman in a misogynistic society, a male-driven industry, yes then it plays a role.”
Unapologetically herself, Perrie says hip-hop in particular represented a kind of freedom that aligned with her personality in a way that embodies “breaking the code and breaking the rules and not giving a fuck about anyone.”
Throughout her life and her career, identity has played a central role for Perrie and the way she approaches her humanity. Perrie does not identify as Arab, and proudly identifies as African and Egyptian Moroccan. But because of the racism Moroccans face in Egypt, Perrie endured bullying and prejudice growing up, which made her feel “ashamed” of her Moroccan identity in particular. And while she has since turned that into a position of strength and has embraced her roots, Perrie continues to explore who she is through her music.
“We just have to go back to our history, and we need to start loving ourselves and we need to recognize who we truly are because we’re not Arabs. 100% being Egyptian and being Moroccan is straight up being African and straight up being proud. And this is why I never have any issue representing mahraganat in my music because this is Egyptian music. I’m proud of my double cultures. I’m proud of my continent, and I really want to showcase it everywhere.”
newlinesmag.com/reportage/hip-hop-finds-its-groove-in-north-africa/
Go here for full article , the above was disjoint and highlighted by me.