hip hop as a medium to express the issues of Islamophobia
This page gives several examples of artists using lyrics to express common misbeliefs about Muslims.
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Lupe Fiasco is a rapper from Chicago, Illinois who was raised as a Muslim. In the song called Words I Never Said, he discusses many political issues.
One of his lyrics in the second verse is "Murdering is not Islam and you are not observant." Using these lyrics, he is trying to change the common thought of associating murder with Islam, which has been a very common Islamophobic view since 9/11. |
In another song by Lupe Fiasco, called American Terrorist, he discusses Islamic people in America, and how they are perceived.
In the second verse, he uses the lyrics "Now if a muslim woman strapped with a bomb on a bus with the seconds running give you the jitters? Just imagine a American-based Christian organization planning to poison water supplies to bring the second-coming quicker." Here, he is pointing out how any person of any religion can do something horrible and this train of thought should not be specifically applied to Muslims. He is asking that people be less narrow minded, so that Muslims can feel less alienated by society. This relates back to Abdullah Sajid's piece: Islamophobia: A new word for an old fear, where Sajid says, “The cumulative effect of Islamophobia… is that Muslims are made to feel that they do not truly belong in their respective host countries – they feel that they are not accepted, let alone welcomed, as full members of society.” |
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In this song, Simon discusses many of the issues Muslims face today. He talks about several topics ranging from the war on terror to media propaganda about Muslims.
At the of the song, he uses the lyrics "Nationality, religion and politics have been amalgamated. So now Arab, Islam and terrorism are equally hated." Here he means that the terms Islam and Arab have become almost synonymous with terrorism. |
Talib Kweli is a rapper from New York. In this song, he talks about several religions and what they mean to him.
In the second verse, he uses the lyrics "They got us thinking that Muslims like to make bombs. But real Muslims believe in paradise and they resist the Shaitan." Here, he is saying how the media exposes the Islamophobic view of Muslims being associated with bombs, yet he says Muslims believe in peace and paradise and reject Shaitan, which means Devil in Muslim countries. |
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