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Unsettled businessPalestinian rappers DAM say you
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by CHRISTOPHER HAZOU “We don’t bling bling and we don’t talk about bitches,” says Tamer Nafar of Palestinian hip hop group DAM (Da Arabian MCs) over the phone from Jaffa, Israel. “We talk about surviving.” Credited with being the first Palestinian rappers, DAM—Nafar, his brother Suhell and Mahmoud Jreri—began making music in the late 1990s and became known internationally in 2001 with their single “Min Irhabi?” (or “Who’s the Terrorist?”). This week, they roll into Montreal to launch their latest North American tour, part of the ninth edition of the Artists Against Apartheid series at Café Campus. Citing influences ranging from 2Pac, Nas and Mos Def to Lebanese oud master Marcel Khalifé and Syrian singer George Wassouf, DAM’s lyrics are political and their beats rooted in their Middle Eastern heritage. Nafar describes hearing 2Pac for the first time as a life-altering experience. “It wasn’t my language, but at the same time, it was,” he says. In 2006, DAM released their debut CD, Dedication. The following year, they were profiled in Time. But it was their featured role in the 2008 documentary Slingshot Hip Hop by Palestinian-American director Jackie Salloum that really got the ball rolling in North America, leading to several tours. “Slingshot definitely opened the door in the U.S.,” says Nafar. Many of DAM’s songs are inspired by the difficulties of being Arab citizens of Israel. When prodded with the inevitable question about music bridging the divide between Palestinians and Israelis, Arabs and Jews, Nafar is dismissive. “This bring-people-together thing isn’t our style,” he says. “We have a saying—we can’t talk about coexistence if we don’t exist. We’re working more on our own existence at the moment.” Now one of the elder statesmen of Palestinian hip hop, Nafar says the path that DAM helped to forge is being followed by a new generation. “Hip hop is not dead,” he says, referencing the Nas song. “It lives in Palestine. We have studios, we have graffiti artists, breakdancers and a lot of rappers and MCs.” WITH NARCICYST AT CAFÉ CAMPUS |
