Connecting the Arab Spring and hip-hop in reel time

The influence of hip-hop on the Arab Spring has been widely dissected by the media. Now, a full-length film is approaching the subject, with the documentary Lyrics Revolt premier at the Doha Tribeca Film Festival.

A still from the hip-hop documentary Lyrics Revolt, which premiers at the Doha Tribeca Film Festival. Courtesy Torath Production

When Tunisians took to the streets in December 2010, on the lips of many of the protesters - alongside the name Mohamed Bouazizi, whose act of self-immolation was the catalyst for the revolt - were the words of Hamada Ben Amor, then just 21 years old. Otherwise known as the rapper El Général, Ben Amor's song Rais Lebled (Head of State) had been posted online weeks earlier and its angry lyrics, speaking out against corruption, poverty and the then president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, captured the mood.

With Ben Ali stepping down in January of last year and Rais Lebled picked up by the crowds in Tahrir Square searching for an anthem, El Général quickly became something of a celebrity. Later that year, Time magazine included him in its annual list of the world's most influential people.

The influence of El Général, and Arab hip-hop in general, on the Arab Spring has since been well covered by journalists looking for a sideways or artistic angle on the issues behind the conflicts that are still raging today. But finally, thanks to a group of filmmakers based in Qatar, there's now a feature-length documentary dedicated to the subject.

Lyrics Revolt, which premieres tonight at the Doha Tribeca Film Festival, features performances and interviews with 15 rappers from across the Gulf and North Africa, including El Général. The film is the work of four recent graduates of Northwestern University of Qatar: Shannon Farhoud, Melanie Fridgant, Rana Khaled Al Khatib and Ashlene Ramadan. Together they have founded Torath Production and Lyrics Revolt is their first co-directorial effort.

"We originally made a 30-minute documentary about hip-hop artists called Broken Records, which was screened on National Geographic and across the US," says Al Khatib. This was before the Arab Spring. But once this exploded into the headlines and TV channels were discussing hip-hop, the women realised they had to do something.

"Everyone was talking about how hip-hop was affecting the Arab Spring and that people were noticing what they were saying in their music. We said to each other that we had to [add to] this and make a full-length documentary."

Having sourced funding, the four headed off to Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon, spending about a week in each country, interviewing not just rappers but beatboxers, graffiti artists and breakdancers. In Tunisia they spoke to El Général, while in Egypt they caught up with the three-piece rap group Arabian Knightz.

"These guys were actually rapping in Tahrir Square and doing it freestyle so people could really listen to the lyrics," says Al Khatib. "They were talking about social issues, things people talk about on the street every day, but doing it through an art form. And they were using poetry and a lot of Arabic techniques that people could really relate to it."

The journey also saw the young filmmakers speak to the female Lebanese MC Malikah, who has performed across the region and now plies her trade in Dubai. They also met Omar Offendum, a Syrian-American rapper who was one of the musicians behind #Jan25, which was released just days before Mubarak stepped down and became another Tahrir anthem and racked up hundreds of thousands of views online. By and large, all of the artists rap in Arabic, with the occasional smattering of English.

"What we came to conclude was that Arabic hip-hop definitely did affect the Arab Spring," says Al Khatib. "But also that the Arab Spring affected Arab hip-hop. They worked well together, but really it helped Arabic hip-hop become much more popular."

The likes of El Général and Offendum were relatively unknown before the uprisings catapulted them to online stardom and Time lists. And just as the likes of Public Enemy rose to prominence by offering a highly politicised voice to the disenfranchised youth of the US in the 1980s, the emerging rappers of the Arab world are now doing the same, with potentially even bigger consequences.

"When I first heard of Arab hip-hop I just thought they were American gangster rap wannabes," says Al Khatib. "But it really isn't the same. They're talking about real stuff. And I think it's effective because it's entertaining and it's an art form that the youth can connect to. And, at the end of the day, it was the youth who started the Arab Spring."

Lyrics Revolt screens at the Doha Tribeca Film Festival tonight at 7.30pm, followed by performances from several of the rap artists