Counterorienting the war on terror: Arab hip hop and diasporic resistance. Issue 2 (June 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Drury, Meghan
• Is Part Of: Journal of popular music studies. Volume 29:Issue 2(2017)
• Page Start: n/a
• Page End: n/a
• Publication Date: 2017-06
• Subjects: Popular music -- History and criticism -- Periodicals; Popular music -- Periodicals; 781.6305
• DOI: 10.1111/jpms.12210
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1524-2226

Abstract

Abstract: This article discusses Arab hip hop as a transnational genre produced out of a state of upheaval, resisting political and economic oppression. One impact of the 9/11 attacks was to make Arabs and Muslims increasingly visible in the US public, reflecting what Nadine Naber has termed a "diaspora of empire." Arab hip hop points to a unique nexus reflecting the web of cultural and economic realities in the 21st century. I argue that sampling practices, sonic layering, and linguistic play in Arab hip hop allow artists to enact geographic and temporal flexibility and facilitate a diasporic resistance that challenges public fear and repressive state discourse.