ALEXANDRA PREITSCHOPF
Between the Local and the Global: The Meaning of the Banlieue, Nation, Religion and Transnational Solidarity
in French Muslim Rap
GLOBAL CONVERSATIONS: An International Journal in Contemporary Philosophy and Culture
Volume I, Number 01 (2018): 104-116

Society and Culture
BETWEEN THE LOCAL AND THE GLOBAL: THE MEANINGOF THE BANLIEUE, NATION, RELIGION AND TRANSNATIONAL
SOLIDARITY IN FRENCH MUSLIM RAP
Alexandra Preitschopf

Abstract
Regarding current trends in popular culture and especially in rap music, the caseof France is especially interesting, considering that French rap artists often arechildren or grandchildren of immigrants and/or from Muslim background. Manyof them are very critical concerning French policies and France’s colonial history or denounce the living conditions in the banlieues (suburbs), discriminations
against migrants, racism, xenophobia or Islamophobia. This is often combinedwith references to Islamic religion and/or a self-presentation of the rappers as
Muslim citizens and goes in many cases along with declarations of solidarity with
Muslims in other parts of the world, especially in Palestine.
In this sense, local, national and historical belongings (the Banlieue,
France, the Maghreb,…) and a transnational, global Muslim identity (the Umma)interact and converge. However, this phenomenon is not found only in rap music;
it rather reflects general contemporary socio-political processes in France, andWestern Europe. On this basis, the present paper aims to take a closer look at selected lyrics of French Muslim rappers and analyse them in the wider context ofongoing debates on integration, Islam, laicism and multiculturalism.
Keywords: Muslims in France, integration, identity, protest, rap, Islam, Palestine
I. Introduction1
In contemporary youth and popular culture, politically conscious rap plays an important roleas an artistic expression of social protest as well as an identity marker and a means of differentiation. In this context, the case of France is especially interesting, considering that French
rap artists often are children or grandchildren of immigrants mostly from former French colonies and/or from Muslim background. Many of them have grown up in poor banlieues (suburbs) of large French cities and use their upbringing in this difficult environment as a source
1This article is mainly based on my PhD thesis: “Umkämpfter Raum.” Palästina-Solidarität, Antizionismus und
Antisemitismus unter MuslimInnen im zeitgenössischen Frankreich (Universität Salzburg: 2016).

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Between the Local and the Global: The Meaning of the Banlieue, Nation, Religion and Transnational Solidarity
in French Muslim Rapof inspiration. In their music, they often denounce French policy and social problems such as
racism, discrimination or Islamophobia.
At the same time, many of them present themselves as proud “banlieusards”, and putemphasis on their origins, their religion and identity as Muslims. Often, this goes along withdeclarations of solidarity with Muslims in other parts of the world, as for instance inAfghanistan, Chechnya, Myanmar or especially in Palestine.
In this sense, local, national and historical belongings (the Banlieue, France, theMaghreb,…), and a global Muslim identity (the Umma) interact and converge. However, thisphenomenon cannot not only be found in rap music, it rather reflects general contemporarysocio-political processes in France, and Western Europe. On this basis, the present paper aims
to take a closer look at selected lyrics of French Muslim rappers2 and analyse them in theirwider socio-political context.
II. French rap between social protest, republicanism and Islamic religion
Historically, rap music has existed in France since the early 1980s – after being dominated by
US-American musicians,3 a specifically French rap has developed since the 1990s, and was tosome extent even promoted by public cultural funding.4 This has to be seen in the generalcontext of promotion of French music culture by the state.5 Today, France is one of the largest
producers and consumers of rap music in the world.6 Subsequently, rap culture is relatively
widely spread in French media (besides the TV and radio domain especially on the Internet).7
This is not only of relevance considering the commercial aspects of rap but also with regard to2

For this purpose, solely songs of French rappers who are well-known on a national level and whose albums
and songs are successfully sold and therefore “heard” by a certain number of people were selected. Nevertheless methodologically, the question how widespread a song effectively is, is hard to answer – given that, besides sales figures of albums and the presence on music channels or on radio stations, the number of legal andillegal downloads, of “clicks” on YouTube and similar platforms etc. ought to be considered as well.
3
Julien Barret, Le rap ou l'artisanat de la rime (Paris: L’Harmattan, 2010), p. 11.
4
Dietmar Hüser, “Sex & crime & rap music – Amerika-Bilder und Französisch-Sein in einer globalen
Weltordnung,” Eva Kimminich, ed., Rap – more than words (Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2004), S 76, andDietmar Hüser and Linda Schüssler, “Klänge aus Algerien, Botschaften für Frankreich – Der Rai-Beur als
Musik französischer Jugendlicher aus maghrebinischen Migrationskontexten,” Dietmar Hüser, ed.,Frankreichs Empire schlägt zurück. Gesellschaftswandel, Kolonialdebatten und Migrationskulturen im frühen
21. Jahrhundert (Kassel: Kassel University Press, 2010), S 318. See also Mary Breatnach and Eric Sterenfeld,“From Messiaen to MC Solaar: music in France in the second half of the twentieth century,” William Kidd andSiân Reynolds, eds., Contemporary French Cultural Studies (New York: Routledge, 2000), p. 251 and Pierre
Mayol, “The Policy of the City and Cultural Action,” Canadian Journal of Communication 27, no. 2-3 (2002),
pp. 225-228.
5
Hüser and Schüssler, Klänge aus Algerien, 318; Hisham Aidi, Rebel Music. Race, Empire, and the New Muslim Youth Culture (New York: Pantheon, 2014), S 208.
6
Susanne Stemmler, “Rap-Musik und Hip-Hop-Kulturen in romanischen Sprachwelten: Einleitung und
Perspektiven der Forschung,” Susanne Stemmler and Timo Skrandies, eds., Hip-Hop und Rap in romanischen
Sprachwelten. Stationen einer globalen Musikkultur (Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2007), S 16, and Samira
Hassa, “Kiff my zikmu: Symbolic Dimensions of Arabic, English and Verlan in French Rap Texts,” Marina
Terkourafi, ed., Languages of Global Hip-Hop (New York: Bloomsbury, 2010), p. 44.
7
Stemmler, Rap-Musik und Hip-Hop-Kulturen, S 15.

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in French Muslim Rap

its role as “carrier” and medium of certain ideas, thought patterns or also resentments. HowHowever, it must be taken into consideration in this context that (at least the so-called “con“conscious”) rap is an artistic expression of rebellion and social protest,8 often using stylistic
devices such as provocations, exaggerations or a relatively “dirty” language.9 Thus, to someextent, this can be seen an essential part of the aesthetics of rap music. At the same time, it
allows the musicians to point out their own disappointments, frustrations as well as
expectations. Significantly, the American philologist Samira Hassa describes rap thus as “asort of refuge in which a marginalized group or minority can express freely who they are,what they suffer from, and their dreams and hopes.”10a) Rapping for multiculturalism and against Islamophobia
This is especially important considering that in France, rap artists are very often, as mentioned
before, children or grandchildren of immigrants mostly from former French colonies in North
Africa and sub-Saharan Africa.11 Many rappers have grown up in poor banlieues of large
cities like Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Strasbourg and are marked by their experiences in thisspecific environment: As a result of the great waves of immigration in the 1960s big dwellinghouses with modest, cheap apartments were constructed at the outskirts or banlieues of big
cities to house as many immigrants as possible. Beside the “practical” aspects of this urban
planning, the creation of these so-called cités or cités-HLM also resulted in problems such as“ghettoisation,” urban violence and from time to time youth revolts. Many French suburbs
gradually have turned out be sites of separation and exclusion since the 1980s, accompanied
by high unemployment rates among the inhabitants, pauperisation, criminality as well as
experiences of discrimination and racism among the migrant or Muslim population.12
Accordingly, many musicians denounce in their music (their own experiences of) exclusion in
the banlieues, racism, discrimination and especially since 9/11 an increasing Islamophobia.13
In this context it is also interesting that several musicians have converted to Islam since the8

See e. g. Barbara Lebrun, Protest Music in France. Production, Identity and Audiences (Surrey: Routledge,2009), p. 4 and Dietmar Hüser, RAPublikanische Synthese. Eine französische Zeitgeschichte populärer Musikund politischer Kultur (Köln: Böhlau, 2004), S 11.
9
Georges Lapassade and Philippe Rousselot, Le rap ou la fureur de dire. Essai (Paris: Loris Talmart, 1990), p.
122.
10
Hassa, Kiff my zikmu, p. 44.
11
More precisely, about 90% of all French rappers are of immigrant descent, which is the highest percentage inEurope in comparison to ca. 60% in Germany, ca. 30% in Spain or only 4% in Italy. Arno Scholz, “Kulturelle
Hybridität und Strategien der Appropriation an Beispielen des romanischen Rap,” Eva Kimminich, ed., Rap –more than words (Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2004), p. 55.
12
See e.g. Robert S. Leiken, Europe’s angry Muslims. The revolt of the second generation (New York: OUP
USA, 2012), pp. 44-47; Michel Wieviorka, L’antisémitisme est-il de retour? (Paris: Larousse, 2008), p. 81;
Dietmar Hüser, “Plurales Frankreich in der unteilbaren Republik. Einwürfe und Auswüchse zwischen
Vorstadt-Krawallen und Kolonial-Debatten,” Deutsch-Französisches Institut, ed., Frankreich Jahrbuch 2006.
Politik und Kommunikation (Wiesbaden: Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, 2007), S 17.
13
Hisham Aidi, “Let us be moors. Islam, Race and Connected Histories,” Middle East Report 229 (2003), p. 47
and Hassa, Kiff my zikmu, p. 45.

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Between the Local and the Global: The Meaning of the Banlieue, Nation, Religion and Transnational Solidarity
in French Muslim Rap

late 1990s and especially since 9/11.14 According to Samira Hassa French rap has, thus, gradually developed to an “oral, visual and artistic expression of the struggle and resistance of theimmigrant youth of France.”15
At the same time, many musicians deal in their texts with multiculturalism in France
and their countries of origin in a very positive way,16 reflected sometimes in quite
romanticized or idealized images of the latter.17 This multicultural character of French rap,
combined with a certain pride of being different and/or of migration background, is – forexample – significantly expressed in the song Citoyen du monde (citizen of the world),
released in 2008 by the French-Tunisian rapper Tunisiano:18
Mes origines / Mes couleurs / Je les ai pas
choisies, N’essayez pas d’me changer /Prenez moi comme je suis. (…) / Ma culture
vaut de l’or, Vaut de l’or !! (…) Je suis filsd’Algérie. Fille de Tunis !! / Parfum d’épices,/ Jasmin et tulipes / Fils des Comores Fille duMali !! / (…) Fierté, famille. / Nous sommes
ceux que nous sommes.

My origin / My colors / I have not chosen
them / Don’t try to change me / Accept me as
I am (…) / My culture is worth a mint, /worth a mint!! (…) / I am a son of Algeria, adaughter of Tunis!! / Smell of spices, Jasminand tulips / son of the Comoros, daughter ofMali!! / (…) Pride, family, / We are what weare.

Similarly the female rapper Diam’s – who is of Cypriot background and has converted to Islam several years ago – sings in L’Honneur d’un Peuple (The people’s honor, 2009) concerning France:19(…) ce pays c’est des Ritales des Noirs desArabes (…) Ce pays c’est des portugais (…)
Guadeloupéens, Martiniquais (…) / Ce pays
c’est tout un tas de couleurs, tout un tas decultures, tout un tas de couleurs, tout un tas(…) this country are Italians, black people,
Arabs, (…) this country are Portuguese people (…) people from Guadeloupe, Martinique (…) / This country is an amount ofcolours, an amount of cultures, an amount of

14

Eva Kimminich, “Rassismus und RAPublikanismus – Islamismus oder Welt,bürgerʻ tum? Geschichte,
Wahrnehmung und Funktionsmechanismus des französischen Rap,” Karin Bock, ed., Hip-Hop meets
Academia. Globale Spuren eines lokalen Kulturphänomens (Bielefeld: Transcript, 2007), S 66. In this context
it is striking that many young people living in French banlieues have converted to Islam in the last years – thisis also due to the work of several Islamic (welfare) organisations which have increasingly gained influence inpoor suburbs. Eva Kimminich, “Ton-Macht-Musik – Populäre Rap-Lieder und die französische Gesellschaft,”Dietmar Hüser, ed., Frankreichs Empire schlägt zurück. Gesellschaftswandel, Kolonialdebatten und
Migrationskulturen im frühen 21. Jahrhundert (Kassel: Kassel University Press, 2010), S 342.
15
Hassa, Kiff my zikmu, p. 46.
16
Ibid., 44 and Mairéad Seery, “Tout finit par des chansons? Developments in French Popular Music,” FrédéricRoyall, ed., Contemporary French Cultures and Societies (Bern: Peter Lang, 2004), p. 199.
17
Hüser and Schüssler, Klänge aus Algerien, S 311.
18
Tunisiano, “Citoyen du monde” (2008); lyrics available on//www.lyricsmania.com/citoyen_du_monde_lyrics_tunisiano.html.
19
Diam’s, “L’Honneur d’un peuple” (2009); lyrics available on http://rapgenius.com/Diams-lhonneurdunpeuple-lyrics.

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de futurs / Ce pays c’est une banlieue qui
aimerait qu’on la regarde, qui fait péter lespétards quand on l’a traite de racaille.20

future / This country is a banlieue who wants
to get attention; who huffs if it is treated like
rabble.

In turn, the central motif of the banlieue, often called “ghetto” in the lyrics, is also essential in
Désillusion du ghetto (2008), released by the Franco-Algerian rapper Kenza Farah. In thesong, the artist deals with the “abandoned and forgotten” banlieue youth and expresses her
wish to escape, together with her “brothers and sisters” all this misery:21(…) On fait partie de l’histoire tout en vivant (…) We are part of the history, evendans l’oubli / (…) On a tous le même rêve, though we are forgotten / (…) We sharecelui de sortir du ghetto / Désillusion du ghetto all the same dream, we want to leave the/ Le bonheur a mis son veto / On veut s’enfuir ghetto / disillusion of the ghetto / Fordu ghetto (…) / On veut s’évader de ces murs tune has exercised its right of veto / Wede béton.
want to escape the ghetto (…) / We wantto escape these concrete walls.
Declaring her solidarity with all the “children of the concrete walls,” suffering all the same
fate and sharing the same dream of escape, Kenza Farah refers to a kind of (constructed) collective “banlieue identity,” which can be found as motif in various French rap lyrics. However, it is striking in this context that many rap artists present themselves, via their music, as
proud banlieusards, criticising the social grievances in French suburbs but aiming, at thesame time, to give a more positive image of their inhabitants. As for instance the German historian Dietmar Hüser points out, the banlieue fulfils thus a dual function in French rap: on the
one hand it gives reason to complaints and social criticism, on the other hand it serves as kindof counter-concept to stereotypical ideas of a failed, solely violent and “not integrable” suburban youth.22b) “History-re-telling,” integration, and the Umma
Besides the (vehement) criticism of grievances and social imbalances in contemporary
France, several rap musicians also deal with crucial, silent aspects of French History and use
their music as a medium to remind France of its colonial past.23 Thus, they explicitly raiseissues such as the role of France in transatlantic slave trade, colonial crimes in North Africa or
torture during the Algerian war. The Romance philologist Eva Kimminich speaks in this con20

Allusion to the banlieue riots in autumn 2005, when the former French interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy
called the revolting young people “racaille” (“rabble”).
21
Kenza Farah, “Désillusion du ghetto” (2008); lyrics available on
http://www.paroles-musique.com/parolesKenza_Farah-Desillusion_Du_Ghetto-lyrics,p48957.
22
Hüser, Sex & crime & rap music, p. 87.
23
Joan Gross, David McMurray, and Ted Swedenburg, “Arab Noise and Ramadan Nights: Rai, Rap, and Franco-Maghrebi Identities,” Diaspora 3, no. 1 (1994), p. 20 and Hassa, Kiff my zikmu, p. 45.

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text of a so-called “History-re-telling” of French rap, questioning French historiography andtrying to get belated recognition in favour of their own ancestors, their history and suffering.24
For instance, this is clearly reflected in Fils du colonisé (Son of a colonized), a song released
in 2008 by the duo Médine (a French Muslim rapper with Algerian roots) and Monsieur R.
(whose family emigrated from Congo to France). In the first couplet, Médine alludes to thetorture that was executed by the French Army during the Algerian war (1954-1962) as well toa tragic incident on 17 October 1961 in Paris.25 On this day, about 30.000 Algerians demonstrated peacefully (following a call by FLN) against a curfew for Algerian people imposed by
the Parisian police prefect Maurice Papon. During the police operation against the demonstration about 300 Algerian protesters were killed by the French police and their bodies werethrown into the Seine. The incident which is closely related to the Algerian War was kept
under silence for years in France and was only examined in recent years:26
Général Massu déguise les crimes en suicides
Dans leurs cellules, électrocutés, jusqu’àl’homicide / Ainsi mon histoire, une si belle
histoire / Et les donneurs de leçons sont placés
faces à leur miroir / Leurs propres reflets reflètent leur fausse probité (…) Pareillement auTiers-Monde, j’ai le cancer du colon / Remplit
nos poumons avec l’eau de la Seine / Nous
jette depuis les ponts (…)

General Massu27 disguises the crimes as
suicides / They have been tortured in theircells by electrical shocks culminating in
intentional killing / This is my history, sucha beautiful history / And those who give
lessons are confronted with their mirror /Their own mirror images reflect their false
probity / Like in the third world, the coloncancer grows in me / fills our lungs withwater of the Seine / throws us from thebridge (…)

Nevertheless, it also has to be taken into consideration that the perspective of the “History-retelling” of French rap itself is often relatively one-sided – thus, the lyrics are marked by astrong “victim-perpetrator dichotomy” and a quite dualistic world view, clearly differentiating
between “good” and “bad.” This is especially significant in the lyrics of Lettre à la République (Letter to the Republic) released in 2012 by the well-known French Muslim rapper
Kery James:28
24

Kimminich, Ton-Macht-Musik, S 339.
Médine and Monsieur R., “Fils du colonisé” (2008); lyrics available on http://rapgenius.com/Medine-filsdecolonise-lyrics. Furthermore, Médine dealt already in 2006 in his song “17 octobre” with the incident of
1961.
26
See for instance Olivier Le Cour Grandmaison and Nils Andersson, Le 17 octobre 1961. Un crime d’État à
Paris (Paris. La Dispute, 2001).
27
The French general Jacques Massu admitted in 2001 in an interview with Le Monde that he had tortured Algerian soldiers during the Algerian war. Henry Frank Carey, Reaping What You Sow. A Comparative Examination of Torture Reform in the United States, France, Argentina, and Israel (Santa Barbara: Praeger, 2012), p.
146.
28
Kery James, “Lettre à la République” (2012); lyrics available on http://rapgenius.com/Kery-james-lettre-alarepublique-lyrics.
25

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A tous ces racistes à la tolérance hypocrite
Qui ont bâti leur nation sur le sang / Maintenant s’érigent en donneurs de leçons /Pilleurs de richesses, tueurs d’africains /Colonisateurs, tortionnaires d’algériens / Cepassé colonial c'est le vôtre / C’est vous qui
avez choisi de lier votre histoire à la nôtre /Maintenant vous devez assumer / L’odeur
du sang vous poursuit même si vous vous
parfumez / Nous les Arabes et les Noirs /On est pas là par hasard (…)
J’n’ai pas peur de l’écrire : La France est islamophobe / D’ailleurs plus personne ne secache dans la France des xénophobes (…)

To all those racists with a hypocritical tolerance / Who built their nation on blood / Now
setting themselves up as sermonizer / Wealth
Looters, Africans’ murderers / Colonizers, Algerians’ torturers / This colonial past is yours /You are those who chose to tie your history toours / Now you must take responsibility / The
smell of blood is chasing you, even though you
wear perfume / We, Arabs and Blacks / We are
not here by accident (…)
I am not scared to write it down: France is Islamophobic / Besides, nobody is hiding anymore in this xenophobic France (…)

As the lyrics suggest, the song is characterised by strong resentments both towards the historical and the contemporary France and is less a letter than a vehement indictment directed to
the Republic. K. James accuses France of hypocrisy, dishonour, of betrayal of its own values,of discrimination, racism, Islamophobia, social inequality and misery in the banlieues as well
as of colonial crimes and their distortion and disguise nowadays. Accordingly, the lyrics express a bitter disappointment concerning the republican values of France and its ideal of the“one and indivisible” nation. Whereas France is portrayed as being full of guilt towards its
immigrants and Muslim population, the latter represent innocence and absolute victimhood.
This is accompanied by a certain self-victimization of Kery James as an immigrant and Muslim “betrayed” by the Republic, respectively as its “unloved child.” Finally, this creates aclear dichotomy between “Arabs and Blacks” and “the” French people who still have the“smell of blood” of colonialism on them and continue a “colonial” racist way of thinking.
However, and despite the many points of criticism, it is, in general, striking that mostof the French rap musicians emphasize at the same time their French citizenship and present
themselves rather as conscious, critical, worried or angry citizens than as anti-French. They
often refer to French Republican symbols such as Marianne or to Republican ideals such as
the much vaunted égalité, liberté, fraternité. On this account, Dietmar Hüser also speaks of“RAPublicanism”29 – according to him, French rap lyrics do not only contrast the universal
republican values of France with social reality, but “reinvigorate” and “reclaim” them constantly. Accordingly, the vehement criticism of French policy and social reality should rather
be seen as a sign of integration – or a desire for integration – than a rejection of France itself.30
Furthermore, this question of integration is also interesting concerning linguistic aspects. It is striking that rap songs are almost exclusively in French. In addition, several Arabic
29
30

Hüser, Sex & crime & rap music, p. 90.
Ibid., p. 88.

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expressions and phrases can be found.31 According to Samira Hassa this “code-switching”
also plays “the role of an identity construction tool and an identity marker”32 – thus, the use of
Arabic can be seen, as she argues, as a simultaneous identification with France and the Maghreb.33 Furthermore, Arabic (religiously connoted) terms allow the respective artists to express their affiliation to Islamic religion and to clearly present themselves as Muslim rappers.
Here, terms such as halal and haram, Allah, kouffar (“unbelievers”) or expressions such as
hak’allah (“I swear in the name of God”) or Inch’allah (“God willing”) are quite recent.34
Beside the aspect of self-presentation as Muslim rappers, references to Islamic religion
also allow their recipients to identify with them or their lyrics and create perhaps some senseof community and belonging. This is not only relevant concerning possibilities for identification as French Muslim but also in a more global sense. Eva Kimminich for instance speaks inthis context of the creation of a transcultural “deterritorialized community,”35 Samy Alim uses
the term “transglobal Hip Hop Umma.”36 Accordingly, many French-Muslim rappers refer intheir lyrics to universal “Islamic values” and/or declare their solidarity with their “Muslim
brothers and sisters” in Palestine, Afghanistan, Chechnya, Myanmar and elsewhere. Rap as a
global culture and the idea of the Umma as a global Muslim community interlink here andconstitute at the same time a new, “fashionable” and “cool” approach to Islam.37
Nevertheless, and although Islamic influenced rap is certainly a part of Islamic youth culture,
it remains a controversial issue within Muslim communities. Generally, it is disputed in Islamic theology whether music – or what kind of music – should be considered as halal orharam and therefore be prohibited. While some Islamic scholars reject music in all forms,
regarding it as distracting from religion, others only refuse the use of drums or wind instruments (which are believed to resemble the voice of Satan) or musical entertainment.38 In contrast, others – especially many young, believing Muslims – emphasize that music can deliberately be chosen as an explicit means of expressing one’s faith and can therefore be regarded
as halal. As Maruta Herding argues, especially with regard to British, German, and French“Islamic rap,” this concerns above all the intention behind the respective music:

31

Stemmler, Rap-Musik und Hip-Hop-Kulturen, S 17.
Hassa, Kiff my zikmu, p. 45.
33
Ibid., p. 50.
34
Cf. e.g. Hassa, Kiff my zikmu, p. 52; Mathias Vicherat, “Au commencement était le verbe: Aspects d’une analyse textuelle du rap en France,” Susanne Stemmler and Timo Skrandies, eds., Hip-Hop und Rap inromanischen Sprachwelten. Stationen einer globalen Musikkultur (Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2007), S
100, and Rupa Huq, Beyond subculture: pop, youth and identity in a postcolonial world (New York:
Routledge, 2006), p. 121.
35
Kimminich, Ton-Macht-Musik, S 332; Seery, Developments in French Popular Music, p. 198.
36
Samy Alim, “A New Research Agenda. Exploring The Transglobal Hip Hop Umma,” Miriam Cooke andBruce B. Lawrence, eds., Muslim Networks from Hajj to Hip Hop (Chapel Hill and London: University ofNorth Carolina Press, 2005), pp. 264-274.
37
Aidi, “Let us be moors,” p. 50.
38
Maruta Herding, Inventing the Muslim Cool. Islamic Youth Culture in Western Europe (Bielefeld: Transcript,2013), p. 93.
32

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Justifying making music with the “right intentions” is a very common approach, and the emphasis placed on the lyrics is therefore strong. If the music is concerned with the remembrance of Allah and the Prophet, the argument that music distracts from religion becomes
invalid. Rap music in particular lends itself to this purpose, because it emphasised the words
more than the music.39
Furthermore, “Islam music” can also be justified – as Herding continues – regarding the topics which are usually not covered in the songs:
sexual reference, love stories (unless clearly relating to marriage), vulgarity, strong language,references to alcohol, drugs or crime, partying or having fun as end in itself. Some or all of
this would be expected in hip-hop and any other youth cultural music scene, and their absence
is a clear trait of contemporary Islamic music. Adhering to these rules – using hip-hop in ahalal manner and disconnecting it from sex, drugs and violence – makes the prohibition lessconvincing.40
However, the clear distinction between a “moral,” only religious-oriented, “halal” rap and amore “typical,” “dirty” rap does not always seem that easy. After all, aspects of the abovementioned topics can also be found in the lyrics of rappers who declare themselves as Muslims. Contrarily, they can be missing in the music of non-Muslim rappers as well.
c) Solidarity with Palestine, anti-Zionism and the question of image cultivation
At the same time it is striking that references to Islamic religion often go along with clearly
political statements. In other words, there seems to be a certain “set” of topics which should
be covered in the songs, especially in those of Muslim rappers. Beside the vehement criticism
of racism, Islamophobia, social injustice, colonial crimes or contemporary wars, this particularly concerns pro-Palestinian and anti-Zionist statements. Even though some musicians also
bring up comprehensible points of criticism of Israeli politics (such as Jewish settlements in
Palestinian areas or the death of innocent civilians during military operations), this doesn’thide the fact that their point of view remains, to a large extent, one-sided, biased and simplifying. Israel is mostly portrayed, or even demonized, as a hard-line, inflexible occupying orcolonial power, as a “heartless” and “bloodthirsty” aggressor and “murderer” of innocent
people. Sometimes it is even compared to Nazi-Germany and accused of committing a genocide against the Palestinians. In contrast, the Palestinians are generally described as oppressed, colonised people struggling (quite peacefully) for independence. The problem ofPalestinian terrorism or especially the terrorist actions of Hamas, however, are either not mentioned or even glorified as brave resistance. In turn, the “Western World” respectively theUnited States and the Western media, are in some songs reproached for unconditionally supporting Israel while ignoring the Palestinians fate.
For instance, these tendencies are clearly reflected in the song Jeteur de pierres (Stone
Thrower) released in 2003 by the French rap group Sniper. In this musical allusion to the sec39
40

Ibid., p. 94.
Ibid., p. 94.

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ond Intifada Sniper directly addresses both to Israel and the Palestinians as in the following
passage:41
Voilà le résultat / D’une puissance colonisatrice / Aidés de l ‘Occident / Ils ont tué etchassé / (…) Laxiste, le monde laisse faire etse défile / Pendant que tu tues des civils / Et
les appelle terroristes / (…) Jeteur de pierres/ Le monde sait que ton pays est en guerre /Pas d’aide humanitaire / Vu que les colons
te volent tes terres (…)

This is the result / Of a colonist power / With
the help of the West / They killed and chased
people away / (…) The world is slack, let it
happen and cops out / While you are killing
civilians / And calling them terrorists / (…)
Stone Thrower / The world knows that yourcountry is at war / No humanitarian aid / Given that the colonists are stealing your land(…).

Generally, the song includes a strong moral component and clearly takes side with the Palestinians without minding Israeli views. Rather, the lyrics portray Israel as solely responsible
for the Arab-Israeli conflict, as the “guilty” oppressor and perpetrator having “poisoned” every chance for peace since its founding in 1948. But instead of admitting its “guilt,” the Israeli
state presents itself, according to Sniper, as a permanent “victim” and “whitewashes” all its“crimes.” Therefore, it would be impossible, especially in France, to criticise Israel without
being accused of anti-Semitism: “Contredis les sionistes et tu passes pour un antisémite endeux secondes”42 (“If you disagree with the Zionists, you’ll be considered as an anti-Semite
within two seconds.”). This statement inevitably arises the question who is exactly meant byZionists, considering that in anti-Semitic discourses “Zionist” often is used as a synonym for“Jew” in general, accompanied by the idea of a kind of powerful “Zionist censorship”. Nevertheless, Sniper interestingly concludes his song with the following “unifying” message, disclaiming deliberately any intention of inappropriate partiality or of anti-Semitism: “Dire Inchallah, bonjour, shalom et salam (...) / Si à tes yeux on prend position, comprend bien /Qu’on parle pas en tant que musulman rien qu’en tant qu’être humain”43 (“To say Inchallah,bonjour, shalom and salam (…) / If in your eyes we take sides, you should understand / That
we don’t speak as Muslims, only as human beings”).
In contrast to the vehement criticism of Israel, the Palestinians are in many songs – asindicated above – idealized and romanticised as faultless, upright, admirable people of (Muslim) martyrs. Sounding quite sentimentally, such lyrics aim above all at the emotions of thelisteners and appeal to their compassion and conscience. Kery James for instance expresses in
his song Avec le coeur et la raison (With the heart and the mind, 2009) all his respect and41

Sniper, “Jeteur de pierres” (2003); lyrics available on
http://musique.ados.fr/Sniper/Jeteur-De-Pierre- t35541.html.
42
Ibid.
43
Ibid.

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affection to the Palestinian people and turns it in a literal “declaration of love” (in French andin Arabic):44
Malgré tout ce qu’ils subissent / Les Palestiniens résistent, les Palestiniens existent / J’ai
rarement vu un peuple si courageux / Safierté brille comme le soleil même par temps
orageux (…) / Hozn fi Qalbi / Hozn fi Qalbi/ ‘Aandi hozn fi qalbi / Lemma ou fakar fi
falastine / ‘Aandi lorfa fi qalbi / Wa ana
nhabekom / Wa ana nhabekom.

Despite every suffering / The Palestinians
resist, the Palestinians exist / I’ve rarely seensuch brave people before / Their pride beams
like the sun even in stormy times (…) / Thereis such a sadness in my heart / There is such asadness in my heart / When I think of Palestine / There is fear in my heart / And I love
you / And I love you.

A similar strategy of emotionalization can be observed in Médine’s song Gaza Soccer Beach,released shortly after the beginning of the Israeli Operation “Protective Edge” in the Gaza
Strip (in July of 2014). As the title suggests, the song is an allusion to the football World Cup(in 2014 in Brazil) as well as to the death of four Palestinian children, playing football at abeach in Gaza and being killed during the Israeli operation. In his song, Médine constantly
transfers the Israel-Gaza conflict into metaphors of football and competition describing it as acruel and lethal “match.” Furthermore, he tells the incident from the perspective of the Palestinian children and thereby expresses a strong identification with the Palestinian people:45
Chacun son camp et la balle au centre / Leurtenue bleue et blanche porte l’étoile à six
branches / Dernier vainqueur de la couped’immonde / On leur tient tête avec nos
joueurs de 3ème division / Mes frères etmoi, et mon cousin aussi (…) / Ô Gaza Soccer Beach, Gaza Soccer Beach (…) / Où lestirs se poursuivent même quand l’arbitre
siffle (…) / On joue la coupe du monde sousl’œil des journalistes (…) / Un premier tir
non cadré fait valser la défense / Doubléd’une frappe aérienne qui leur fauchera lesjambes (…) / Nos quatre Neymar nous quittent sur le brancard / (…) J’crois pas qu’on
fera le match retour / A moins qu’au Paradis
il y ait des stades de foot (…) / Stop au sionisme, stop à l’oligarchie (…) / Stop lescolonies, stop le blocus de l'économie / Stop

Each team is on its own side with the ball at
the centre / Their blue and white outfit wears
the six-pointed star / Last winner of the vile
cup / We stand up to them with our 3rd division players / My brothers and myself and mycousin as well (…) / Oh Gaza Soccer Beach,
Gaza Soccer Beach (…) / Where strikes goon even when the referee whistles (…) /Where the world cup is being played in frontof journalist’s eyes (…) / A first shot off target makes the defence crumble / Followed byan aerial strike that will mow down their legs
/ Our four Neymar leave us on the stretcher /(…) I don’t think we will play the return leg/ Unless there are football pinches in paradise(…) / Stop Zionism, stop oligarchy (…) /Stop settlements, stop economic blockade /Stop hypocrisy, stop missiles from the protec-

44

Kery James, “Avec le coeur et la raison” (2009); lyrics available on http://rapgenius.com/Kery-james-aveclecoeur-et-la-raison-lyrics.
45
Médine, “Gaza Soccer Beach” (2014); lyrics available on http://genius.com/3479658.

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à l’hypocrisie, stop aux tirs de missiles de la tive edge / Oh Gaza Soccer Beach, Gaza Socbordure protectrice / Gaza Soccer Beach, cer Beach / The last beach of martyrs (…).
Gaza Soccer Beach / La dernière plage demartyre (…).
Using this football imagery, Médine does not only accuse Israel of killing innocent people
respectively children in a highly “unfair match” but – similarly to Sniper – also the “world
public” and media of watching it as simple spectators. In contrast, the Palestinians are, once
again, portrayed as brave players at the “soccer beach of martyrs,” having no chance against
the Israeli superiority. Thus, on the one hand, Médine strongly emotionalises the conflict byusing affecting images; on the other hand, his song includes a clearly political appeal against
Israeli settlements, the blockade of the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military strike and finallyagainst Zionism itself.
Surely, one-sided and biased narratives are also due to stylistic characteristics of rap
music in general and a kind of stylistic device. Nevertheless, they inevitably spread and reinforce a problematical and simplifying view on the Middle East conflict. However, in a way,vehemently declared solidarity with Palestine and anti-Israeli positions seem to be – similarly
to anti-Islamophobic or anti-racist positions – expected from Muslim rappers. This is closely
related to the general question what “sells” in rap and what kind of statements are rather unwanted among its listeners. Thus, besides the socio-critical and community-enhancing components of rap, strategies of image cultivation and “self-promotion” of the rap artists have tobe taken into consideration as well. First of all, this concerns the creation of an image as politically conscious Muslim “banlieue rapper”. Contrary to social scientists such as Dietmar
Hüser or Eva Kimminich, cited above, the French literary scholar Jules Barret takes thus amore critical look at contemporary trends in French rap, and argues that rappers criticize
France’s history and present grievances less to change society but more to make money out of
it.46 According to him, this has to be seen in the context of a general “commercialization” of
the “banlieue image” per se: young French people of the middle and upper classes are sometimes imitating the “banlieue” clothing style and language or listening to “banlieue music” todistinguish themselves from their bourgeois parental home.47 At the same time rap sells
among the “banlieue youth” as well and seems to have to “fulfil,” therefore, certain specificcriteria. In turn – and to close the circle – this is also related to declared solidarity with Palestine: in this context it is noteworthy that since the year 2000 and the outbreak of the second
Intifada in Israel “pro-Palestinism,” anti-Zionism and sometimes also crude anti-Semitism
have been relatively widespread in France, especially in certain banlieues.48 Thus finally, rapmusic clearly reflects this contemporary tendency and contributes, to some extent, to the46

Barret, Le rap, p. 25.
Ibid., p. 12.
48
See for instance Michel Wieviorka, La tentation antisémite. Haine des Juifs dans la France d’aujourd’hui(Paris: Hachette Littératures, 2005); ibd., L’antisémitisme est-il de retour?; Didier Lapeyronnie, Ghetto urbain. Ségrégation, violence, pauvreté en France aujourd’hui (Paris: Robert Laffont,2008); Dominique Reynié,
L’antisémitisme dans l’opinion publique française. Nouveaux éclairages (Paris: Fondation pour l’innovation
politique, 2014).
47

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propagation of present ideas and resentments. On the contrary, there are hardly any pro-Israeli
statements in French rap and probably, they would rather harm a rapper’s image instead ofpromoting it.
III. Conclusion
As shown above, many French rappers are very critical concerning French policies andFrance’s colonial history or denounce the living conditions in the banlieues, discriminations
against migrants, racism, xenophobia or Islamophobia. This is often combined with references to Islamic religion and/or a self-presentation of the rappers as Muslim citizens.
However, it is noteworthy as well that the “History-re-telling” and socio-political criticism of many songs are characterized by a rather undifferentiated, illusive black and whiteworld view (expressed in the dichotomy between “the Western World” or an Islamophobic
France and its “Muslim victims” or especially condensed in the dichotomy between “the Israeli perpetrators” and “the Palestinian victims”). These dualistic concepts of “right” and“wrong,” “good” and “bad,” or of “victim” and “perpetrator” are certainly not limited to rap
lyrics but rather reflect – in an exaggerated way – generally existing discourses among partsof the French society. As on the example of different French rappers could be demonstrated,musicians seem to be very aware of these circumstances and eager to reach their audience(especially young people with as well as without Muslim background) via issues which areapparently “in demand.” Thus, presenting oneself as voices of the disadvantaged (Muslim)“banlieue youth” and of Muslim victims worldwide as well as being historically and politically conscious seems to be quite “saleable” as well.
Thus finally, only certain aspects of “the local,” “the national” and “the global” form
the “subject pool” from which French Muslim rappers choose the material for their songs. In
other words, these aspects could be seen as kind of common topoi, excluding other possible
versions of a song: Reaching from the local banlieues of Paris to the global Umma, they fit
perfectly together, at least in the logics of the songs; however, they constantly recreate a quite
narrow world view that does – despite all the criticism in in it – not allow much “in between”
or “on beyond.” For instance, this becomes more than clear considering the fact that it is evenhard to imagine, that a Muslim rapper would or could release a pro-Israeli, Zionist rap song,declaring his solidarity with the Israeli people. However, the questions remain open: why actually not?

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