A music review on “Deev” an
Iranian MC and his track “Dasstaa Baalaa”
Nassir Mashkouri
March/ 2003
www.interconnect-iranian.com
Rap music
is one of the biggest and an important part of Afro American subculture called Hip-Hop
culture, which is also comprised of graffiti art, break dancing, fashion,
attitude, and basically the lifestyle of the people who subscribe to its' mores
and traditions. Rap is a musical art form that has been growing ever more
popular since it first appeared on the radar around 20 or so years ago in the
However in
contrast to the Iranian Rock and Alternative music scene that has been evolving
so rapidly over the past few years, Persian Rap still seems to be stuck exactly
where Sandy was a decade ago with impersonal and somewhat humorous lyrics, with
no social relevance, laid on some synthetic rhythms. It sounded idiotic back
then and it still does today.
Every art
form has its ground and roots and its own public. Hip-Hop has always had its
roots in the heart of the ghettos and the streets where misery and poverty is
everyday life. That is the place where the socially relevant words form in the
minds of the youth and become a message that is expressed through rhythms and
blues. This is exactly what our Persian rappers are missing, the connection
with the youth of the streets of
A few
months ago, we heard of a 30-years-old Deev living in
the
The
following is a portion of "Dastaa Baalaa":
… from the grasp of this evil
Arab-loving traitors
my country is burning at their shameless' hand
… it's time to topple you with an uprising
it's time for your public execution
know that this is not a threat, it's just a message!
And this only
happens to be a part of his message for the freedom and liberty of our country!
Quite a peaceful man, isn't he? It is not my business to review his belief but
when he defends himself on his web site by announcing that he is not a racist
against Arabs, and all that he wants is to express his love for the Persian
culture that has been taken over by Arab culture, then it makes me wonder about
his claims. Deev seems to have forgotten that he is
using the Afro American art form, Rap music, to save our Persian culture, from
the Arabs! I personally believe that the Western culture is the most
progressive and vital culture and that's why it is the dominating one today and
I have nothing against letting our culture as the older and non-progressive one
become a crossover for giving birth to a new and living culture. But dear Mr Deev, how about some perspective? So is it just fine to be
influenced by the Yankees, but simply not those Arabs?
Musically, Deev seems to have no idea what Rap music or Hip Hop is
about. "Dastaa Baalaa"
consists of a sample of a boring drum machine, which goes on and on forever
with a sound of a keyboard in the background that has no creativity of any kind
whatsoever. It is the experimental part of Hip-Hop, from Scratching to Sampling
and different styles of rapping that gives it the
interesting and colorful sound. Of course I'm not
talking about the ones that are played all the time on MTV which get their color from experimenting with the shapes and sizes of butts
and breasts.
What you get
from Deev in the track "Dastaa
Baalaa" is a music that has no roots in its own
generation, with only some hot political sound bites and nothing more. However,
there is always hope. What Deev should do to in my
opinion to progress on the path of becoming a real Persian Rapper is:
1- Take
a trip to
2- Learn more about the Hip-Hop culture and hopefully if you don't hate Afro
Americans, try to become one of them in order to learn and feel the rhythms and
philosophy of the real Hip-Hop style!
3- Free your mind.
We have
heard only one track from Deev to this date. I hope
that if he plans to continue working in this field, he would show us some signs
of creativity with his music, and frankly whatever he wants to say or express
then, is his own business.
استفاده از
این اثر با
ذکر منبع
بلامانع است.
تمام
حقوق این سایت
متعلق به نویسنده
است.