Female rap in Arab countries. The case of Mayam Mahmoud
Rap femenino en países árabes. El caso de Mayam Mahmoud
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.30827/meaharabe.v71.21485Abstract
Female rappers in the Arab world have increased in both number and prominence in recent years. Yet, while there is extensive bibliography on female rap in the Western world, few studies have examined female rap in the Arab world. This paper represents a preliminary approach to this phenomenon, offering a general overview of the fe- male rappers in various Arab countries and the different issues they address. The paper then goes on to analyze a corpus consisting of the texts of the young Egyptian rapper Mayam Mahmoud, who has become internationally famous, highlighting linguistic aspects as well as the themes. The topics preferred by female Arab rappers include political problems in their country and social themes such as the situation of women, their day-to-day reality, the struggle against sexism and solidarity among women. The language used is direct, straightforward and free of social conventions. These aspects are in line with “conscious” rap created by women around the world. Rap music has become a vehicle through which women seek to secure a share of the power, affirm their choices and build alternative visions of their identity.
Downloads
References
ADAMS, Terri M. & FULLER, Douglas B. “The words have changed but the ideology remains the same: misogynistic lyrics in rap music”. Journal of Black Studies, 36, 6 (2005), pp. 938-957. DOI: https://doi.org/ 10.1177/0021934704274072.
BADAWI, El-Said. Mustawayyāt al-ʽarabiyya al-muʽāṣira fī Miṣr. Il Cairo: Dār al-Maʽārif, 1973.
CAUBET, Dominique. “Génération darija!”. Estudios de Dialectología Norte- africana y Andalusí, 9 (2006), pp. 233-243.
DE BLASIO. Emanuela. Il rap nel mondo arabo: una forma d'avanguardia. Ana- lisi di un corpus di area vicinorientale. PUZ Estudios de Dialectologia Arabe 16, 2019.
DURHAM, Aisha. “The stage hip-hop feminism built: A new directions essay”. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 38, 3 (2013), pp. 721-737. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/668843.
EL-TAYEB, Fatima. European others: queering ethnicity in postnational Eu- rope. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 2011.
FILIU, Jean Paul. La révolution arabe. Dix leçons sur le soulèvement démocra- tique. Paris: Fayard, 2011.
FISCHIONE, Fernanda. “A critique of religious sectarianism through satire: a case study of Lebanese rap”. In Sabine Damir-Geilsdorf & Stephan Milich (eds). Creative Resistance, 2020, pp. 297-326.
GAUNT, Kyra D. “Translating double-dutch to hip hop”. In Murray Forman & Mark Anthony Neal (eds.). That’s the Joint! The hip hop Studies Reader. London-New York: Routledge, 2004, pp. 251-263.
GUERRERO, Jairo. “Rap y revolución en el mundo árabe, transcripción y tra- ducción de tres canciones de rap árabe”. Al-Andalus Magreb, 19 (2012a), pp. 455-477.
—. “Zanka Flow: rap en árabe marroquí”. Romano-Arabica 12, (2012b), pp.125-157.
HAERİ, Niloofar. “Synchronic variation in Cairene Arabic: The case of palatali- zation”. In E. Broselow; M. Eid & J. McCarthy (eds.). Perspectives on Arabic linguistics IV. Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 1992, pp. 169-180.
HAUGEN, Jason. “Unladylike divas: language, gender, and female gangsta rap- pers”. Popular Music and Society, 26, 4 (2003), pp. 429-444.
HILL COLLINS, Patricia. From black power to hip hop: racism, nationalism, and feminism. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 2006.
JOMİER, Jacques et KHOUZAM, Joseph. Manuel d'arabe égyptien. Paris: Edi- tions Klincksieck, 1989.
KEYES, Cheryl L. “Empowering self, making choices, creating spaces: black female identity via rap music performance”. In Murray Forman, Mark Antho- ny Neal (eds.). That’s the Joint! The hip hop Studies Reader. London-New York: Routledge, 2004, pp. 265-276.
KOSKOFF, Ellen. “An introduction to women, music, and culture”. Women and Music in Cross-Cultural Perspective. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1987, pp. 1-23.
LANGONE, Angela Daiana. “Facteur D (Darija) et nouvelle generation marocaine: la musique entre innovation et tradition”. In Stephan Procházka & Veronik Ritt-Benmimoun (eds.). Between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, As- sociation Internationale de Dialectologie Arabe, Wien: Lit-Verlag 2008, pp. 273-285.
LOVATT, Hugh. Palestinian hip hop culture and rap music: cultural resistance as an alternative to armed struggle. London: Institute of Arabic and Islamic Studies, Exeter University, 2009.
MAIRA, Sunaina & MAGID, Shihade. Hip hop from ’48 Palestine, youth music and present absent. Fairfax, VA: University Press, 2012.
MASSAD, Joseph. “Liberating songs: Palestine put to music”. In Rebecca Stein & Ted Swedenburg (eds.). Palestine, Israel and politics of popular culture. NC: Duke University Press, 2005, pp. 57-75.
McDONALD, David A. My voice is my weapon: music nationalism and the poe- tics of Palestinian resistance. Illinois, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2006.
MEOUAK, Mohamed y AGUADÉ, Jordi. “La Rhorhomanie et les beurs: l’exemple de deux langues en contact”. Estudios de dialectología norteafrica- na y andalusí 1 (1996), pp. 157-166.
MOTSCHENBACHER, Heiko. Language gender and sexual identity: postculta- rist perspectives. Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2010.
OMOSUPE, Ekua. “Black/lesbian/bulldagger”. Differences A Journal of Feminist Cultural Studies, 3, 2 (1991), pp 101-111.
ORR, Yuval. Legitimating narratives in rhyme: hip-hop and national identity in Israel and Palestine. Pennsylvania, PA: University of Pennsylvania, 2011.
POUGH, Gwendolyn D., Home girls make some noise: Hip hop feminism antho- logy. Mira Loma, CA: Parker Publishing, 2007.
PROCHÁZKA, Stephan. “The voice of freedom: remarks on the language of songs from the Egyptian revolution 2011”. Orient Institut Studies, 2 (2013), pp. 1-12.
ROSE, Tricia. Black noise. Rap music and black culture in contemporary Ameri- ca. Hanover: Wesleyan University Press, 1994.
RYAN, John & CALHOUN, Legare H. “Gender or genre? Emotion models in commercial rap and country music”. Popular Music & Society, 20, 2 (1996), pp. 121-155. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03007769608591624.
STENSTRÖM, Anna B. “It’s not that I really care about him personally you know: the construction of gender identity in London Teenage Talk”. In An- droutsopoulos & Georgakopoulou (eds.). Discourse constructions of youth identities. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2003, pp. 93- 117.
WALKER, Alice. In search of our mothers’ gardens. San Diego, CA: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1983.
WOİDİCH, Manfred. “Egypt”. In K. Versteegh; M. Eid; A. Elgibali; M. Woidich & A. Zaborski (Eds.). Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics II, Leiden/Boston: Brill. 2007, pp.1-12.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
The authors publishing their work in this journal agree to the following terms and conditions:
1. The authors retain the copyright and give the journal the right to be the first publication of the work and also to be licensee under a Creative Commons Attribution License which allows others to share the work, provided the author of the work and the initial publication in this journal are acknowledged.
2. Authors may make additional agreements separately for the non-exclusive distribution of the version of the work published in the journal (for example, putting it in an institutional repository or publishing it in a book), with acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
3. Authors are allowed and encouraged to electronically disseminate (for example, in institutional repositories or on their own web page) the published version of their works (publisher's post-print version) or, if not possible, the author's reviewed and accepted post-print version. This is to facilitate productive exchanges, and allow for earlier and greater citation by third parties of the published works (See The Effect of Open Access).
4. The journal accepts no responsibility for the opinions expressed by the authors.
