Wednesday, January 9, 2008

DEDICATION

D.A.M.

Successful American rap artists squandered their political bully pulpit long ago. Now they're bullies, plain and simple. But abroad, hip-hop is still the voice of the oppressed, influencing politics and moving the masses.

From the Middle East comes D.A.M. (Da Arabic MCs), three Palestinian rappers and citizens of Israel who mock the widely accepted notion of equal rights for so-called "Israeli Arabs." In so doing, D.A.M. has become one of the most powerful and popular cultural voices for the global Palestinian diaspora. Its first single, 2001's "Min Irhabe?" ("Who's the Terrorist?"), was reportedly downloaded more than 1 million times from D.A.M.'s Web site.

Its follow-up track, "Born Here," was rapped in Hebrew in a direct appeal to Israeli youth. In 2007, D.A.M. visited the United States to support its first full album, "Dedication," a collection of political anthems rapped almost entirely in Arabic, but packaged cleverly for the English-speaking consumer with liner notes and translated lyrics.

D.A.M.'s cross-cultural approach is largely the work of its leader, Tamer Nafar, who began his career in the late 1990s as a member of a peacefully coexisting posse of Jewish and Palestinian rappers led by Israeli rapper Subliminal. When the Second Intifada ignited and negotiations withered, it also severed the friendship of Subliminal and Tamer, each taking a more polar, polemical stance in a public war of words.

D.A.M.'s rappers aren't demagogues. "Don't grab a gun, grab a pen and write," Mahmoud Jreri raps in Arabic on "Change Tomorrow." But their indictment of Israel is unflinching. So it's ironic that one of the most powerful songs on "Dedication" is "Usset Hub," literally "A Love Story," exploring the metaphorical minefield of young love within the confines of a closed and enclosed community. Even in Palestine, politics need a break.

-- Dan Charnas

DOWNLOAD THESE:"Da DAM" ("It's DAM"), "Mali Huriye" ("I Don't Have Freedom"), "Usset Hub" ("A Love Story")