The song, titled “Rebel,” by Egyptian hip-hop group, Arabian Knightz, is the first song to come out of Egypt since the revolution and Internet/communication blackout. Produced by Iron Curtain and featuring a sample of Lauryn Hill on the hook, it is an emotionally empowering song that captures the heart, courage and spirit of the Egyptian people who are currently embattled in a revolution against their current government.
Due to the uncertainty of the communications situation in Egypt right now, Arabian Knightz has opted to release the raw, unmixed track because they need the world to hear their message. The Cairo-based rap outfit comprises emcees Rush, Sphinx and E-Money and record music in both Arabic and English. As of right now, they are the voice for the people of Egypt. Their debut album, “Uknighted State of Arabia,” is set to be released in mid 2011. I had a quick discussion with Sphinx and Rush about the track:
Sphinx: My part was written about five months before the revolution. The Arabian Knightz movement is “Arabs Stand Up” and that’s what we push constantly in our lyrics. This song was actually being kept for the right time; therefore when this happened, I felt there was no better time to release it. So, I sent it back to Rush and he immediately wrote his verse right before he was called by his neighbors to come down and protect his building from the looting thugs.
Rush: It’s crazy how his part fit perfectly.
Sphinx: Of course! Whenever we release music with this type of content, we get some frowns from censorship, but we don’t care about that because like I say in my verse: “The truth is my ammunition. And, I will stop at nothing to tell the truth regardless of who it may hurt.” We were actually kind of sweating the censorship of our upcoming album, “Unknighted State of Arabia,” because it’s filled with content of revolution and uprising. However, we always stay away from mentioning names.
Rush: It was a now or never thing for us! Before the uprising, everything was harder to do. Even this interview was a risk then.
Sphinx: The message is to rebel; to rebel against oppression; to rebel against the divide and conquer of our society and to rebel against the dumbing down of our people. We, as humans, all need to stand up against such things whenever we see it. And, as Muslims, we are demanded to do so by our God. We all need to do what we can to speak out against the wrongs of the world.
Rush: The message is to speak out and rebel. You have a voice, so use it.
Sphinx: We always hope to inspire the people to speak out against the issues we bring up in our music. So, from this track, we hope that people would begin to stand up for their rights and take back what is rightfully theirs.
Rush: I hope the listener gets the actual message and starts sticking up for him/herself and what he/she stands for. People need to be more straight and vocal about what they think. There shouldn’t be room for fear; some smarter people use your fear to control you and this shouldn’t be allowed.
Sphinx: My message is: Just listen to the people and do exactly what they need you to do. Do it quickly and as peacefully as possible and protect the people that are in charge of the process.
They will all stand up one day before God where they will be judged about the way they treated the people that were under their power and how they abused their power.
Rush: My message is: Leave! You had your time. It’s not your time or age now.
All people who have been in the big positions since a long time need to back off. They literally messed up the planet and drove it to its darkest times ever. Egypt proved through the youth and our generation that this generation can do anything. We are the first ever nonviolent and nonmilitant revolution that beat a violent regime.
Sphinx: The situation was and still is really hectic. The criminals that were sent out to cause havoc in the streets and towns of Cairo are the worst thing that I had ever seen in my life. I saw men jumping into balconies with guns trying to kill the men of the house and rape the women!
Then, on the other hand, I am very proud of the young men and women who actually stood up for their rights and demanded that there be a change. It really took a lot of guts and I’ve never been so proud as I am today to say that I am an Egyptian and I witnessed a revolution.
Rush: The situation is a war of wits and tolerance now between the government and the people. They are using old tactics that we are able to read right through. First, they used violence and oppression of the police system till the people literally destroyed the whole police force in four hours.
You can’t oppress a whole nation! No matter how many weapons you use and how many cops you have, the masses win once they win over their own fear first and unite — Egypt proved that and so did Tunisia!
Then came releasing prisoners from jails and paying thugs to go perform drive-by shooting all over Egypt to scare people. That was a plan to basically scare people into begging the regime to stay and protect them, but the thugs that got caught told the media about the plan right away. They miscalculated the fact that the media now is not like it was in the 1980s — there is Internet and cable channels. The media is not controlled anymore to spread lies!
So, when that failed, along came a speech by the president that was filled with emotions and sorrow to get to the people’s hearts and give promises to answer the peoples’ demands without giving action or even a single guarantee. Yet, many people bought it.
All the pro Mubarak rallies by the way were paid thugs that were paid to attack anti Mubarak rallies and cause violence, but as you have seen today, three million anti-Mubarak protesters rallied filling Tahrir square.
People who are scared are effect-less... The revolution is for freedom and freedom is not for cowards... Freedom is not free!
Sphinx: Well, I believe the majority of the media distorted it to be more or less than what it was. For example, the Egyptian media really played the situation and made it seem like nothing was happening, as if they were all just reading a script. And, the International media was really blowing things out of proportion. There was no real truth being shown. It was as if they were trying to make our revolution a reality show.
Rush: Egyptian TV wasn’t maybe aware that now-a-days people have YouTube and satellite channels that broadcast many things. I am disgusted at how the local papers portrayed the Jan. 25 Revolt. Can you believe they wrote, “the cops and the people exchanged flowers?” Where was that report written in? Disney Land?!
The vice president of Nile TV even resigned from disgust with their lies and a lot of local celebrities called them in anger of how they report things.
Now, with hip-hop, the truth will reach even more masses!
