Hip-Hop!

Hip-Hop is a way to express yourself with a way of words and not really trying to hit perfect pitch. Some religion won’t let you speak your mind with the words of a rap or hip-hop song and some people are very connected with the music they love doing. In I Love Hip Hop in Morocco, there were a few artists who went against their religion just to do something they love. One of the artists is DJ Key he was the one who started the hip-hop movement of Morocco. Another performer was Brownfingaz was one of the Moroccan rappers who would rap in English.

DJ Key was the one who started the movement in Morocco. He also brought a lot of hip-hop music into the night clubs. He was very into rapping and performing but, he also had a strong view on religion. He wants to try to stay faithful to being a Muslim but, in the end he wants to do something he loves for a living. He gets involved in performing at local shows but, he talks about how hard it is to make money trying to do something you love in a Muslim community. He described some of the ways he makes money by being DJ and to me it really is hard work. He talks about how he performs at events that are “underground” where you put all your money into setting it up and, make very little. Being a DJ means a lot to DJ Key. He actually use to make really good money but, later quit to perform music. The way that he talks about how he wants to please his God but, do something he loves shows us that we have it good in America having a freedom of speech. We really don’t have a King to serve and be his perfect people.

Brownfingaz is very expressive through his rapping. He doesn’t rap in his countries language and expresses himself through English. He uses very vulgar words to express his feelings and, he uses the word “nigga” a lot! But he looks at it as if he doesn’t see it as a racist term h uses it naturally. He learned English by watching and listening to American rapper’s and after a while ended up writing his own songs, it eventually became a natural language. In the movie he showed where he grew up at and he called it “the streets”. It was a very beat up town area, he talked about how he grew out of the town but, he will always talk back on his experiences there. His love for hip-hop music is very strong; he gave up a lot to do what he loves. He took time to learn English just to be able to rap.     

Hip-hop was adapted from America and American artists. It goes against the Islamic views in religion and it actually causes a big uproar. A lot of people think that hip-hop is just a fad and will eventually grow away just like other music fads did. The older folks are the ones that generally disagree with the music in the words and beats of it. The parents of the young performer surprisingly are supportive of what their children are doing. The families as you can tell are very family orientated they were always showing the families as they were at home.

The performers were trying to get either Coke or Pepsi to sponsor their show; it was more difficult than thought. The program was looking for a lot more money than what the companies would offer. They also had a hard time getting the American Embassy on board with supporting and giving money. I see a lot of consequences coming out of what they did for the program. One may be the fact that America is giving their money to support a concert in Morocco rather than putting it towards something in America. Other things that might be an influence are the sponsorship of Coke being there.

In a lot of ways the entire artists were almost the same, one interesting story was a Fati. She is a girl rapper who doesn’t wear a rap like most women are supposed to because of their religion. Men actually booed her when she came on the stage to perform because; their views are it isn’t normal for a woman to be a part of musical culture.

In the end their shows ended up being a huge success. They raised money and ended up showing the people in Morocco what it is to perform something they all love doing. They care about their religion but at the same time they want to do something they love. They are all committed to doing something to make money and that is what they are going to stick to no matter the consequences. Brownfingaz is now known as Big Moor and he is currently in New York City recording and helping with the translation of Arabic music.