Graffiti and hip-hop. It's a classic combination, no matter where you go in the world.
In Tunisia, Franco-Algerian street artists 'Zoo Project' is painting the town with murals in commemoration of the people and actions that helped oust Ben Ali from power, while Foreign Policy magazine profiles the music of El General (the nom de guerre of 21-year-old Hamada Ben Amor), the young rapper whose incendiary underground song Rais el bled ("President of the country") got him into hot water and motivated thousands more into action.
Excerpt from the interview:
They've done a quick overview of other major hip-hop acts from the region as well, from Morocco to Iraq.
Read the full article 'Rapping the Revolution' on FP.com.
In Tunisia, Franco-Algerian street artists 'Zoo Project' is painting the town with murals in commemoration of the people and actions that helped oust Ben Ali from power, while Foreign Policy magazine profiles the music of El General (the nom de guerre of 21-year-old Hamada Ben Amor), the young rapper whose incendiary underground song Rais el bled ("President of the country") got him into hot water and motivated thousands more into action.
Excerpt from the interview:
LB: Who inspires you musically?
HBA: I'm mainly inspired by two revolutionary rappers: Lotfi Double Kanon in Algeria, and in the west, Tupac Shukar. Tupac raged against the police. That's what I did. But I'm not following blindly the models of these rappers. For example, I don't use bad words in my songs. I'm just serving my art.
-- Everywhere I travel, it amazes me how often Tupac Shakur is a cultural reference (and undoubtedly a greater motivator for learning English than say, Shakespeare...) in every country I've been to. The unemployed guys I met who spent time listening to Tupac (and Michael Jackson) always spoke English to a level of fluidity that surpassed their peers spending hours studying English literature in the Faculté des Lettres. Just sayin'...
They've done a quick overview of other major hip-hop acts from the region as well, from Morocco to Iraq.
Read the full article 'Rapping the Revolution' on FP.com.
Zoo Project found via Out & About Africa
