French Hip Hop - Islam in French Hip Hop

Islam in French Hip Hop

A large number of the hip hop artists in France are children of North and West African Muslim immigrants. This multilayered identity presents itself in the content of their music and Islamic ideals are ever present in their music. In the current atmosphere of distrust of Islam, Islamic hip hop has become an art of protest especially in the post 9-11 world. Muslim hip hop artist and groups such as IAM have utilized their art to address these social issues.

In France today the Arab community has an enormous participation in the hip hop scene and fuels much of its growth. Despite the fact that much of their work is discounted by the traditional French audience, Arab rappers use their work to explore issues surrounding this sense of exclusion and tensions in the community. The Arab community has made a major contribution to French hip hop by discussing the difficulties that they go through every day in France as a minority group via their music.

The youth of the Arab community, like the children of immigrants to Britain, struggles to find their identity in these colonial countries where much of the older, French generation thinks of the music listen to by the younger generation (like reggae and hip-hop) to be "noise", not art. As a result, most artists incorporate their roots into the present by fusing hip-hop with the music listened to by their parents (African, or North African music). Instead of this fusion being celebrated, it is looked down upon, and is often unacknowledged. Hip-hop, known as a powerful instrument of protest and rebellion draws in French minorities that are frequently disrespected in French society. This is one of the reasons that hip-hop in France is readily dismissed as "other" and associated with immigrants.

One of the most prominent Islamic hip-hop artists is the rapper Akhenaton from the group IAM. Akhenaton was born Philippe Fragione, to Italian immigrants and converted to Islam despite his family ties to Catholicism. His stage name "Akhenaton" was chosen after the first monotheistic pharaoh in Egypt. The goal of Akhenaton's music is to represent the spiritual Islam which is tolerant and mystical in order to loosen the high tension in France due to the prejudice against Muslim immigrants. The group IAM is an anti-establishment group as they want "nothing to do with the state", thus actively rejecting the way the French government is handling the tensions in the country. The group IAM spreads positive messages about Islam and tolerance, a philosophy revealed by the group's multi-ethnic make-up including members that are "Madagascaran, Senegalese, Algerian, Spanish, and Italian plus one white French Native". Muslim hip hop artist and groups such as IAM have utilized their art to address social issues as well as religious ones. Many scholars and Muslim clerics have studied whether hip-hop and music in general is permissible (Halal) in Islam. There have been many different opinions and controversy regarding this subject: "But for some conservative Muslims this verges on blasphemy; they say music is "haram" - or not allowed - in their strict interpretation of Islam". Thus, there are clearly two opposing sides within Islam on the subject of hip-hop not only in France but around the world. However, regardless of whether conservative Islam permits hip-hop or not, Islamic influences on hip-hop continue to shape the future of Hip Hop globally, as it speaks to the more than 1 billion believers in the religion.