Jihadism and hip-hop

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While many Islamist jihadists view hip-hop negatively due to its Western origins[ citation needed ], there have also been examples of hip-hop songs with pro-jihadist lyrics, and of jihadists embracing hip-hop and gangsta culture as a way of attracting Westerners to join their organizations. The phenomenon is sometimes known as "Jihad Cool" and includes music, clothing, magazine, videos and other media.[ citation needed ]

Contents

Notable examples

German rapper Deso Dogg later took the names Abu Talha al-Almani [1] and Abou Maleeq, and joined ISIL in 2014.

British-born Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary rapped under the name L Jinny, is the son of Egyptian militant Adel Abdel Bari. Jinny once tweeted a photo of himself holding a man's severed head, with the words "Chillin' with my homie or what's left of him." [2]

One American rapper, Omar Hamaami, who later joined al-Shabaab, released a song with the lyrics "Bomb by bomb, blast by blast, only going to bring back the glorious past." [3]

In 2006, Aki Nawaz of the group Fun-Da-Mental released an album with lyrics comparing Osama bin Laden to Che Guevara and depicting the Statue of Liberty as an Abu Ghraib prisoner. [4]

Analysis

Kamaludeen Mohamed Nasir's book, Representing Islam: Hip-hop of the September 11 Generation, states that the unproblematic internalisation of gangsta hip-hop has led to what these rappers are calling a G-had. [5] The phenomenon of jihadi rap has been around since at least 2004, when the song "Dirty Kuffar" was released.

Anthropologist Scott Atran argues that the phenomenon results from a search for "sacred values" and what Edmund Burke called "the sublime"; a "quest for greatness, glory, eternal meaning in an inherently chaotic world". [2]

Political historian Mohamed Mahmoud Ould Mohamedou argues in his book A Theory of ISIS - Political Violence and the Transformation of the Global Order that the choreography and the soundscape (notably the nasheeds) of the transnational re-imagined and 'remixed' violence of the Islamic State partly borrows from the urban culture of hip-hop. [6]

Amil Khan has cited Douglas McCain as yet another example of this phenomenon, and said that both Islamism and gangsta rap foster a "sense of grievance towards wider society" and "focus on vengeance and fetishize violence as a way of redressing the balance". Khan says that while researching young Islamists in London, he found that they looked to the works of 50 Cent and Tupac Shakur for inspiration. Khan argues that what sets ISIL apart from other jihadist groups, and makes it far more dangerous as a result, is its ability to harness hip-hop to "bestow on its struggle a counter-culture sense of subversive 'cool' that mainstream political parties and even commercial brands might envy." ISIL's marketing methods and overall strategies are also reminiscent of those used by street gangs. [7]

Hisham Aidi has written a book, Rebel Music: Race, Empire, and the New Muslim Youth Culture describing the phenomenon of Islamist hip-hop. Aidi also mentions that the United States and other Western governments have attempted to use hip-hop and Sufi music to fight terrorism by deradicalizing young Muslims.[ citation needed ]

See also

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jihadi John</span> Kuwaiti-British militant and ISIS executioner (1988–2015)

Mohammed Emwazi was a British militant of Kuwaiti origin seen in several videos produced by the Islamist extremist group Islamic State (IS) showing the beheadings of a number of captives in 2014 and 2015. A group of his hostages nicknamed him "John" since he was part of a four-person terrorist cell with English accents whom they called 'The Beatles'; the press later began calling him "Jihadi John".

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Islamic State beheadings</span> Mostly 2014–2015 beheadings by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abu Muslim al-Turkmani</span> ISIL deputy leader (died 2015)

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Derna campaign (2014–2016)</span> Military campaign in Libya

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The Bethnal Green trio are Amira Abase, Shamima Begum, and Kadiza Sultana, three British girls who attended the Bethnal Green Academy in London before leaving home in February 2015 to join the Islamic State. According to the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, they were among an estimated 550 women and girls from Western countries who had travelled to join IS—part of what some have called "a jihadi, girl-power subculture", the so-called Brides of ISIL. As of 2024, one girl has been reported killed (Sultana), one girl has been stripped of her British citizenship and denied re-entry into the country (Begum) while the third's fate is unknown (Abase).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sheikh Omar Hadid Brigade</span> Islamist militant group active in the Gaza Strip

The Sheikh Omar Hadid Brigade, also known as Islamic State in Gaza, was an Islamist militant group affiliated with the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant that was reportedly active in the Gaza Strip around 2015. Its goals have consistently matched those of the Islamic State, in that it seeks to establish the al-Sham caliphate. As such, it opposes all forms of Palestinian nationalism while also supporting the elimination of all Jews and other ethno-religious 'infidels' from the region.

Collaboration with the Islamic State refers to the cooperation and assistance given by governments, non-state actors, and private individuals to the Islamic State (IS) during the Syrian Civil War, Iraqi Civil War, and Libyan Civil War.

Abu Khalid al-Suri, also known as Mohamed al-Bahaiya or Abu Umayr al-Shami, was a Syrian Islamist insurgent who was often affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, Osama Bin Laden and the Syrian Islamist group Ahrar al-Sham. Al-Suri is also said to be a veteran, having participated in fighting in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Iraq. He was believed to be assassinated by an ISIL suicide attack in 2014, however ISIL denied involvement in the attack or regarded it as friendly fire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of al-Yaarubiyah</span> Fought in late October 2013 at al-Yaarubiyah

The Battle of al-Yaarubiyah was fought in late October 2013 at al-Yaarubiyah, a strategically important town at the border of Syria with Iraq. Affiliates of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), namely the YPG/YPJ and local Arab tribes, attacked the settlement in an attempt to capture it from Jihadist and Islamist groups, led by the Al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. After four days of heavy fighting, the Islamists were defeated and expelled from al-Yaarubiyah.

References

  1. ↑ Tharoor, Ishaan (25 August 2014). "The strange role of rappers in the Islamic State's jihad". The Washington Post . Retrieved 29 September 2014.
  2. 1 2 Dickey, Christopher (25 August 2014). "ISIS, Hip-Hop Jihadists and the Man Who Killed James Foley". The Daily Beast . Retrieved 29 September 2014.
  3. ↑ Stuster, J. Dana (29 April 2013). "9 Disturbingly Good Jihadi Raps". Foreign Policy . Retrieved 29 September 2014.
  4. ↑ Aidi, Hisham (25 August 2014). "Is Extremist Hip Hop Helping ISIS?". Cicero . Retrieved 29 September 2014.
  5. ↑ Mohamed Nasir, Kamaludeen (2020). Representing Islam: Hip-Hop of the September 11 Generation. Indiana University Press. ISBN   9780253053053 . Retrieved April 29, 2021.
  6. ↑ "A Theory of ISIS".
  7. ↑ Kahn, Amil (31 August 2014). "Al Qaeda's New Front: Jihadi Rap". Politico . Retrieved 29 September 2014.
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