Yemeni hip hop

Edit links
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Yemeni hip hop is a

Yemeni Revolution
.

History

Context

The Yemeni population is one of the poorest of the

Yemeni Revolution. Thus, the dynamicity of the Yemeni youth has been both the spontaneous generator and the vessel of a large hip hop scene in the country, even though facing lack of institutional support.[5]

Origins

The

rap as a means of change.[6]

The second king of Rap in Yemen is Smokie Almo, aka YungYem, known by his American-Arabic Rap where he would mix Yemeni Arabic and American English in his songs. YungYem gained a huge popularity amongst Yemeni people mostly the youth.

One contributing factor to the development of the music is also the creation of Yemen Music House in 2007

Berlin wall.[10]

In 2018 a new Yemeni rapper Yemeknight emerged to the scene with his debut single called “Envision” which gained major popularity within western listeners and Yemeni immigrants in Europe and North America; his unique style of mixing Yemeni street slang with English words while focusing on the eccentric visuals is contributing to taking Yemeni Hiphop to a global scale.

Rap and the revolution

2011–2012 Yemeni revolution (from Al Jazeera) – 20110224

Since the

El Général. In the Yemeni case, one popular artist is Yemen's Monsters
and Kawi, but there are and many other rappers that have been producing independently and publishing on social medias.

Most often, these songs are displayed on YouTube featuring images of the revolution, addressing a call for the Yemeni youth and singing "Erhal" (Arabic for "leave", that has been the slogan of street manifestations)[11] to the former dictator Ali Abdullah Saleh.[12]

Rap has been used to mobilize the youth as a language they can relate to, one example is the employment of this music style by the comedian Adre'i on a public manifestation, and that have also been spread as viral on the internet.[13]

Musical influences

Yemeni rap has strong roots on American rap, differing, for example, from what is made in the Maghreb that gets influences from French rap. AJ himself is American based, but he also mentions

Yemeni music and even incorporates local instruments on their productions.[14]

The American influence is also evident when many artists choose to mix Arabic language with English language on their lyrics. Examples are the young and still independent artists such as Smokie Almo aka YungYem, Monika and Nadir Mohammed Haidar,[6] and also Nadeem "Yung Sheikh" Al-Eryani, who has already made appearances on CNN and Al-Hurra televisions.[15][16] There's also a Yemeni-Polish rap group PSW,[17] which use both Polish and Arabic language in their songs focusing strictly on politics.

Traditional

Yemeni music
of the Jewish community is world widely recognized and has also been influence for foreigner artists of Yemeni origins, such as Diwon an American Jewish DJ that mixes hip hop, afro beat and Arabic music.

Hip hop culture

As Hip Hop is most usually known to be an entire cultural movement that is not restricted to rap music, it has been also developing in Yemen by its other expression, such as breakdancing, as portrayed on the documentary Shake The Dust and considered to be an alternative activity for Yemeni youth rather than other social activities such as 'yukhazan', the social practice of consuming khat.[18]

Street art and graffiti have also been actively emerging after the revolution as a political tool.[19] One example is the artist Mohamed Al-Ansi that has been living on Change Square and feeding mobilization with his art[20]

Artists

See also

References

  1. ^ "The World Factbook: Yemen". CIA. Retrieved 6 April 2013.
  2. ^ Arthur, Beifuss. "Young People in Yemen – Growing Up Just Like Everyone Else?". Goethe Institut. Retrieved 6 April 2013.
  3. ^ Shamlan, Abdulrahman. "The Desperate Reality of Yemeni Youths And Unemployment". National Yemen. Retrieved 6 April 2013.
  4. ^ Ahmed, Amel. "Yemeni youth are guarding the revolution". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 6 April 2013.
  5. ^ "Talking to AJ Hajaj – Rap on the Radio". Mashallah. Retrieved 6 April 2013.
  6. ^ a b Haddash, Nadia. "Rap, Hip-Hop, Breaking and Yemeni Youth". Yemen Times. Retrieved 6 April 2013.
  7. ^ Al-Wesabi, Sadeq. "Music To Be an "Integral Part of Yemen's Development"". Retrieved 6 April 2013.
  8. ^ "Yemen: Between tradition and modernity". Next Music Station. Al Jazeera. Retrieved 6 April 2013.
  9. ^ "Hip Hop Diplomacy: Yemen". Hip Hop Diplomacy. Retrieved 6 April 2013.
  10. ^ "Yemeni-American Musician Tackles Hate With Hip-Hop". NPR Music. Retrieved 6 April 2013.
  11. ^ Hendawi, Hamza (23 January 2008). "Change Square seeks to be genesis for a new Yemen". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 6 April 2013.
  12. ^ "Yemen Revolution Rap selection on an activist Blog". Retrieved 6 April 2013.
  13. ^ "'Yemeni Comedian Adre'i Sings Rap Song about the Revolution, the Masses Chant: "The People Wants to Topple the Regime"'". MEMRI TV. Retrieved 6 April 2013.
  14. ^ Jamjoon, Mohammed (5 October 2010). "Finding hip hop in Yemen". Inside the Middle East CNN. Retrieved 6 April 2013.
  15. ^ "Yemen Hip Hop". CNN. 19 October 2010. Retrieved 6 April 2013.
  16. ^ "موسيقى الراب تحيي حلم العيش في اليمن السعيد". Al-Hurra Official YouTube Channel. Retrieved 6 April 2013.
  17. ^ a b "PSW" – via Facebook.
  18. ^ Wolff, Sarah. "We be Yemen". The National. Retrieved 6 April 2013.
  19. ^ "Street Art Tracks Yemen Disappearances". Gulf News. Retrieved 6 April 2013.
  20. ^ "The Artist of The Revolution". Yemen Times. Retrieved 6 April 2013.
  21. ^ "ABMAN". SoundCloud.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Yemeni_hip_hop&oldid=1220819311"