Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in the southern Levant region of West Asia recognized by 146 out of 193 UN member states. It encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, collectively known as the occupied Palestinian territories, within the broader geographic and historical Palestine region. Palestine shares most of its borders with Israel, and it borders Jordan to the east and Egypt to the southwest. It has a total land area of 6,020 square kilometres (2,320 sq mi) while its population exceeds five million people. Its proclaimed capital is Jerusalem, while Ramallah serves as its administrative center. Gaza City was its largest city prior to evacuations in 2023.
The music of Palestine is one of many regional subgenres of Arabic music. While it shares much in common with Arabic music, both structurally and instrumentally, there are musical forms and subject matter that are distinctively Palestinian.
Tamer Nafar is a Palestinian rapper, actor, screenwriter and social activist of Israeli citizenship. He is the leader and a founding member of DAM, the first Palestinian hip hop group.
Kareem Dennis, better known by his stage name Lowkey, is a British rapper and activist from London. He first became known through a series of mixtapes he released before he was 18, before taking a hiatus from the music business. He would return in 2008, with appearances on BBC Radio and at various festivals and concerts including the BBC Electric Proms, Glastonbury, T In The Park and Oxegen in the buildup to his first solo album Dear Listener, as well as collaborating with other British musicians to form the supergroup Mongrel. He released his second solo album, Soundtrack to the Struggle, independently in 2011.
Arabic hip-hop is a segment of hip hop music performed in the Arabic-speaking world. Due to variety of dialects and local genres which exist in the localities, Arabic hip-hop music may appear very diverse depending on the country of the song. Like most artists of the genre, the hip-hop artists from the Arabic-speaking world are highly influenced by American hip-hop.
DAM is a Palestinian hip-hop group founded in 1999 by brothers Tamer and Suhell Nafar and their friend Mahmoud Jreri from the mixed city of Lod. In 2015 female singer Maysa Daw joined the group. The group's songs are themed on protest, inequality, Israeli–Palestinian conflict, and self-criticism of Arab-Israeli society, including the violence and drug dealing within Israel's mixed cities. DAM is the best-known and most famous Palestinian hip hop group; it is also often called the "quintessential Palestinian resistance band".
The culture of Palestinians is influenced by the many diverse cultures and religions which have existed in the historical region of Palestine and the state of Palestine. The cultural and linguistic heritage of Palestinian Arabs along with Lebanese, Syrians, and Jordanians is integral part of Levantine Arab culture. Palestinians also have their own dialect of Arabic, the Palestinian dialect.
Palestinian hip hop reportedly started in 1998 with Tamer Nafar's group DAM. These Palestinian youth forged the new Palestinian musical subgenre, which blends Arabic melodies and hip hop beats. Lyrics are often sung in Arabic, Hebrew, English, and sometimes French. Since then, the new Palestinian musical subgenre has grown to include artists in Palestine, Israel, Great Britain, the United States and Canada.
Ahmad Balshe, known professionally as Belly, is a Palestinian-Canadian rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. Born in Jenin, Balshe was raised in Ottawa. His debut mixtape, Death Before Dishonor: Vol. 1 (2005) was followed by eight additional projects until the release of his debut studio album, The Revolution (2007). After an eight-year hiatus in favor of songwriting for fellow Canadian singer the Weeknd, Balshe signed with his record label, XO, as a recording artist in 2015.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the State of Palestine:
The Palestinian National Authority requires their residents register their motor vehicles and display vehicle registration plates. There are two different registration systems in use: one for West Bank and one in the Gaza Strip.
The Al Deira Hotel was a beach hotel located in Gaza, Palestine. It was built in 2000 and had 22 rooms which featured high, domed ceilings and views of the Mediterranean. The hotel was regularly used by foreign journalists covering Gaza.
Benjamin Hammond Haggerty, better known by his stage name Macklemore, is an American rapper. A native of Seattle, Washington, he started his career in 2000 as an independent artist releasing: Open Your Eyes (2000), The Language of My World (2005), and The Unplanned Mixtape (2009). He rose to international success collaborating with producer Ryan Lewis as the duo Macklemore & Ryan Lewis (2009–2016).
Abdel-Rahman Al-Shantti known professionally as MC Abdul or MCA Abdul is a Palestinian rapper from Gaza, Palestine. He gained popularity when he sang a rap about freedom in front of his school in Gaza which garnered hundreds of thousands of views on social media. As of December 2023, his videos for "Shouting At The Wall" and "Palestine" have received more than 2.1 million views and 1.5 million views, respectively, on YouTube.
Marwan Abdelhamid, known as Saint Levant, is a Palestinian singer-songwriter and rapper. A multilingual artist, he is best known for his song "Very Few Friends".
"Hind's Hall" is a protest song by American rapper Macklemore, released as a single on May 6, 2024. Written and produced by Macklemore, it expresses support for the pro-Palestinian protests on university campuses that call for divestment from Israel and a ceasefire in the Israel–Hamas war.
Deira is the debut studio album by Palestinian rapper Saint Levant, released through SALXCO and Universal Arabic Music (UAM) on June 7, 2024. The album features guest appearances from other Palestinian and international artists, namely MC Abdul, Kehlani, Cheb Bilal, TIF and Sol Band, with additional backing vocals by Zeyne and Naïka.
