Revolutionary Rap

By John Ballard

The Lounsbury points to a NY Times feature spotlighting Moroccan rap singer Muhammad Bahri.

The Moroccan rapper Muhammad Bahri � who goes by the stage name of Barry � writes political songs, some criticizing a feared former interior minister and the police, which have gotten him into trouble.

Popular music is usually more than breezy entertainment. Music throughout history has been a bellwether indicator of social and political trends. Savvy politicians keep their senses tuned to many signals beyond public opinion polls and last weekend's gasbags on TV.

Last month Mark "The Aardvark" Lynch looked at US foreign policy through the lens -- or speakers -- of rap music. His post struck me as odd until NPR picked up on it a day or so later. So when Ofeibea Quist-Arcton's report on Senegalese rap music popped up later I was primed and ready to pay attention. This time the music had more to do with social movement than politics but the political implications are easy to grasp. Toward the end of December Steve picked up a link that warmed his Scottish heart documenting a historic connection between modern rap music and Scottish medieval history.

Professor Ferenc Szasz argued that so-called rap battles, where two or more performers trade elaborate insults, derive from the ancient Caledonian art of "flyting".

According to the theory, Scottish slave owners took the tradition with them to the United States, where it was adopted and developed by slaves, emerging many years later asrap.

Professor Szasz is convinced there is a clear link between this tradition for settling scores in Scotland and rap battles, which were famously portrayed in Eminem's 2002 movie 8 Mile.

He said: "The Scots have a lengthy tradition of flyting - intense verbal jousting, often laced with vulgarity, that is similar to the dozens that one finds among contemporary inner-city African-American youth.

"Both cultures accord high marks to satire. The skilled use of satire takes this verbal jousting to its ultimate level - one step short of a fist fight."

As a student of Folklore I was exposed to a competitive verbal game in the African American tradition known as The Dozens which brings rich meaning to the phrase "dirty dozens." My academic exposure recalled an unforgettable performance by a drunk soldier in 1965 of the "Signifying Monkey." He was so entertaining I made a recording of his slobbering delivery. I still have it on an old reel-to-reel tape but no longer have a tape player to hear it. It makes no difference now.  A You Tube search returns many versions, a couple of which are clean but most of which are appropriately filled with profanity. From many possibilities I chose one to be closest to the soul of the piece.

READER ADVISORY: If you play this at work turn the volume down very low.

In the context of US race relations this ditty is relatively easy to interpret but don't let's push the matter too far. I leave interpretations to others more informed than I.

If you don't think this has anything to do with politics or diplomacy you might take another look. My guess is that every culture on the planet has a popular analogue to rap music whether they call it that or not. It would be interesting to know how Americans are symbolically portrayed by Pashtuns.