I love Hip Hop in Morocco

            The movie “I Love Hip-Hop in Morocco” tells the story of a group of hip-hop artists in Morocco who want to create a huge concert and perform for their community. The hip-hop groups struggles with organizing this concert due to the social and political setbacks in Morocco.  The movie documents the difficulty of being a hip-hop artist in a country that is founded on the strict beliefs of the Islamic faith. The group is faced with strong resistance from the Moroccan community. They also have very few of the resources needed to put on the concert they all dream of performing. The documentary shows how the groups manage to overcome these difficulties and put on the concert. It also explains to viewers where the groups get their passion for hip-hop and why they work so hard to put on their concert.

            Every group that took part in creating the concert shared a passion for hip-hop music. They all face difficulty in their community because of what they do.  However, they continue to make their music because they feel it is important. H-Kayne is the most popular hip-hop group in Morocco and they believe that hip-hop is more than just music. They use hip-hop to express themselves and make themselves heard.  In the documentary, they say that two things are sacred in Morocco: Islam, and the king. The king in Morocco has complete power and to speak out against him would be breaking the rules. This leaves the Moroccan people with extremely little, if any, freedom of speech. H-Kayne uses hip-hop as a way to obtain some freedom of speech. They create songs with lyrics that have double meanings. They hide what they are really saying in a way that only the right people would be able to understand. H-Kayne also uses hip-hop as a means of escape from the world they live in. In Morocco no one has money and everyone is poor.  H-Kayne is able to separate themselves from the surrounding poverty through their music. When they are performing they go to a place where everything is good. They don’t have to think about being poor or their struggles with money. The music sets them free and just lets them be happy. The benefits like these that H-Kayne experiences through hip-hop are what make them so passionate about sharing hip-hop. They want to become pioneers of other hip-hop artists in Morocco. They want to help other people find their voice through hip-hop and create a movement. 

            The hip-hop group Mot de Passe also sees hip-hop as more than just music. They too use hip-hop as a way to express themselves and promote a message to the Moroccan people. The hip-hop group Mot de Passe is duo group one of whom, Fati, is a girl. Being a female hip-hop artist presents even more of a challenge.  In Morocco, women are meant to get an education and work at home. To be a hip-hop artist and dress in western clothes is considered shameful.  The hip-hop group Mot de Passe uses hip-hop as a way to try and break the barrier between the sexes in Morocco. As a female hip-hop artist, Fati is often discriminated against. The Moroccan people believe that a woman dressing in western clothes is shameful because it does not follow the beliefs of the Islamic faith. Many people tell her that she is not showing respect for herself when she dresses in western clothes, but Fati disagrees. Mot de Passe believes that hip-hop expresses truth and what they believe. Therefore, Fati believes that when she dresses in western clothes she is showing respect for herself because she is showing who she really is. She is also discriminated against by the fans of hip-hop as well. Many of the hip-hop fans in Morocco believe that a woman has no place in hip-hop. When she steps out on stage to perform, she is booed by the fans. After her performance, however, the fans begin to cheer for her. She is able to use her talent of hip-hop to break the barriers between the sexes by showing people that women can succeed at things they believe to be meant only for men.

            The biggest dilemma that hip-hop artists in Morocco are faced with is religion. The people in Morocco are raised in a very strict Islamic culture.  As members of the Islamic faith, they are not supposed to take part in music. In the documentary, DJ Keys talks about his struggle between his love for hip-hop and his love for the Islamic faith. He often wonders how he is supposed to follow his love for hip-hop when it goes against everything he believes. This is a question that he failed to find an answer to throughout the documentary, and I imagine he still struggles with it. The values of the Islamic faith, which the artists were raised with, often carry over into their music. In America, cursing is often a large part of hip-hop music. In Morocco cursing in front of other people, especially your elders, is shameful. Many artists cannot curse in their music because it is against their beliefs. Many people in Morocco believe that incorporating hip-hop into their society increases the westernization of their society. The westernization of Morocco corrupts their Islamic roots and culture.

            One of the biggest problems that they had in creating the concert was finding funding. Morocco is a very poor country and it is very hard to find an organization with enough money to sponsor events like concerts.  Finding a sponsor was made even more difficult due to the wide disapproval of hip-hop in Morocco. One of the places they went to in search of sponsors was the American embassy.  The American embassy did agree to help fund the concert and with their help, and the help of a few others, they were able to fund and put on the hip-hop concert.  The American embassy providing funding to a hip-hop concert in Morocco can be interpreted as both bad and good. Some may say that America is trying to manipulate Morocco by encouraging the westernization of its culture and destroying its Islamic roots. Helping to fund “I Love Hip-Hop in Morocco” changes how America is seen in the eyes of the hip-hop fans in Morocco. They see America funding a hip-hop concert as them supporting freedom of speech.  The fans at the concert now see America as on their side. They equate America with freedom of speech and political change in their country.

            The documentary really captured the effect music can have on culture.  Hip-hop in Morocco became so much more than entertainment.  Hip-hop became part of a movement. The people used music to inspire change among their community. It gave people the voice that they were being deprived of from their government and changed an entire group of people. The thing to take away from this is the power that music holds and how it can be used as a tool to shape the world we live in.