Political Rap Songs Made in Diaspora
Last week, I finally watched کسی از گربههای ایرانی خبر نداره (No One Knows About Persian Cats) by Bahman Ghobadi, a banned and controversial Iranian film about the underground music in the late 2000s. I was around 9-10 years old when it was released on the internet. The illegal circulation of the film caused a major mess at the time, given the names involved. One of them was the famous rapper Hichkas, who not only acts in the movie, but also performs one of his very political songs about Tehran’s political climate at that time. For context, the late 2000s were the moment that Iran was going through an economic and ideological chaos thanks to the then-president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who later played a crucial role against the green movement, the mass imprisonment, and political executions in 2010. He was very close to Supreme Leader Khamenei as well. That period was one of the darkest times for Iranians who cared about freedom of speech and art. I think Ghobadi did a good job demonstrating the essence of that period in his work with displaying the issues that underground artists had to go through, and still to this date, they might face similar problems. However, I want to return to the scene with Hichkas, when he refuses to go abroad because he sees his art devoted to the Persian culture and the very people he raps for. For him, art had a specific objective. He didn't rap for "money" or "international accolades," but for a more important goal that can only be achieved in Iran. Even though he later immigrated to Europe, a decision that I can understand as the situation in Iran was getting worse for so-called underground rappers in Ahmadinejad's second term, I still consider his point about the meaning of art for your home country and your own people is somewhat valid to this date.
Since I came to China, I haven't tapped into Rapfarsi (the term we use in Iran for describing Iranian hip-hop), and I missed it so much. As a result, I was going through what the artists I used to follow have released in the last two years. I was quite shocked by the number of redundant political rap songs in the last couple of months. It's understandable that many rappers felt the urge to support the uprising in January and later comment on the war, but I don't think AI-generated music videos or crappy trap beats are the best solution. Likewise, I think the lenses that many rappers used to reflect on the situation were heavily biased by the atmosphere of the diaspora, or they were just lazy to go deeper and come up with some interesting insights on the matter. When I was still in Iran, I felt the same about similar works from Fadaei and that side of Rapfarsi who are outside of the country. Even Hichkas himself used to put out much better political works before leaving Iran, in comparison to what came after.
Undoubtedly, that doesn't mean Iranian rappers should avoid talking about politics, etc., I just believe the way you comment on a certain internal conflict from diaspora, there's a high chance you either look like a clown, or contribute to the endless line of forgotten songs that nobody cares about when everything is set and done. After all, I'm also an Iranian in diaspora with a similar situation, consistently questioning my own views on topics related to Iran. Hopefully, our dear rappers find better ways to articulate their political views in the future, so we can get our TPAB very soon.