The black bar mitzvah : Representations of Jews in US hip-hop lyrics

References to Jews and to matters included in Jewish discourse are commonplace in US popular culture in general and in US-produced hip-hop lyrics in particular. This article deals with the latter, and aims to analyse how Jews are represented there. It is suggested here that 1. these representations are rendered comprehensible by analysing them in the light of the term coined by Zygmunt Bauman: allosemitism, which denotes that Jews are ‘other’. This article further suggests that 2. the representations of Jews featured in the lyrics cannot be made comprehensible without looking into the historical relations between American Jews and African Americans. According to Jeffrey Melnick, this relation is characterised by ‘robust ambivalences’. This article arrives at the conclusion that the representations of Jews draw on classical conspiratorial and economic antisemitic ideas that situate Jews within the realms of shadowy (economic and instrumental) power, but which at times can be understood as philosemitic, as Jews are represented as wealthy and influential role models. Hence the usage of the term allosemitism to analyse the empirics

Review: Representing Islam: Hip-Hop of the September 11 Generation

The book Representing Islam: Hip-Hop of the September 11 Generation (2020) by Kamaludeen Mohmed Nasir explores the entangled relationship between Islam and hip-hop. The book centers around Muslim hip-hop artists affected by the war on terror and the long-term consequences of the 9/11 attacks; increased surveillance, a securitization of Islam, and an amplified islamophobia, not only in the United States but around the world. The centrality of 9/11 for this diverse group of young Muslim artists is reflected in the fact that references to the attacks have been staples in aural, visual, and textual modes and occur as t-shirt prints, in punch lines, and metaphors as well as on record covers and sound bites

Islamic Semiotic Resources in US Hip-Hop Culture

This dissertation contributes to the field of Islamic Studies by analyzing how the production of Islam can be seen as the outcome of interactions between actors who define themselves as Muslims as well as those who do not. The argument of this dissertation is that Muslims as well as non-Muslims have used Islamic themes in their artistic productions throughout the history of African American music making, making this historical legacy essential to this musical tradition because parts of it are repeatedly evoked in lyrics, sounds, and imagery. The dissertation develops and gives empirical weight to this argument by using the theory of social semiotics to examine how Islamic themes feature in US hip-hop culture. More specifically, it does so by analyzing three case studies or sites of semiotic contestation. The first case study investigates the use of Islamic semiotic resources in the music video “Paid in Full (Mini Madness: The Coldcut Remix)” (1987) performed by Eric B and Rakim, and remixed by the British electronic music duo Coldcut. The second case study explores and discusses the radically different ways in which US hip-hop artists have made use of Malcolm X and his legacy as Islamic semiotic resources. The third and final site of semiotic contestation examines the ways in which 9/11 and its legacy has been articulated by US hip-hop artists, stressing shifts in the nature of the multimodal articulations over time on the one hand and, on the other, the fact that 9/11—and the following narratives of the “War on Terror”— has become crucial to the framing and understanding of the usage of Islamic semiotic resources within American hip-hop music

“Imma march’ toward Ka’ba”: Islam in Swedish hip-hop

The common history of Islam and the hip-hop culture can be traced back to the early expression of the culture. Since the early days of hip-hop, Muslims have used hip-hop to convey Islamic messages. Artists driven, in equal parts, by a strong personal belief in Islam and a love for hip-hop music have taken Islamic-themed hip-hop outside its country of birth, the U.S., and have made it into a matter of global concern. In an attempt to contribute to and, hopefully, complicate the picture of what has been called the transglobal hip-hop umma, this article explores how Swedish Muslims articulate their beliefs through hip-hop in Sweden. With examples from both the Swedish mainstream and the underground, it highlights hip-hop music with an Islamic engagement whose aim is to promote and perform what is understood as “Islamic values,” such as ethics, peace, social responsibility, and a strong personal belief

The Semiotics of Malcolm X from Harlem to Tahrir

With no ambition to provide a complete inventory, this article introducesthe reader to the ways in which Malcolm X and his legacy have been usedwithin US hip-hop music. The central argument is that US hip-hop artists,since the birth of hip-hop, have been participating in the processes ofreinventing Malcolm X and his legacy by not only casting him as a symbolof local African American resistance against racial inequalities, but alsoby fashioning him as a global Sunni Muslim revolutionary by creativelyname-, image-, or sound-dropping him in different sound and visual settings.More extensive usages mainly involve key quotes of Malcolm X orlengthy sound bites of classic speeches. The usage of certain iconic photosis comparable to key quotes as these are clearly meant to trigger establishedassociations. It is important to stress that the legacy of MalcolmX and his political theology within hip-hop culture goes beyond nationalborders, religious beliefs, and political goals

I Am Malcolm X” – Islamic Themes in Hip-hop Video Clips Online

The Internet provides a space for new interpretations and conversations concerning religious practices to take place without the direct interference of religious authorities. The intention of this article is to highlight one vivid aspect of this development, Islamic themed hip-hop video clips distributed online. The visual aesthetics, the selection of pictures (or no pictures), themes and storylines supplementing the musical message can be used to mobilize and promote different traditions of interpretation of Islam. They can also convey interesting insights in the negotiations and compromises of Muslim identities in the consumer culture logic of the modern society. Lastly, they can provide a route to analyze the articulations of alternative interpretations of Islam often, but not always, rooted in a deep social-justice activism that connects marginalized communities within and beyond the Middle Eas