COM- 2303
Kaddouri Kaoutar
Project: Hip Hop Culture & the Moroccan Youth
Submitted to: Dr. Ibahrine
October 27, 2008
Outline
I- Introduction:
-Talking about the phenomenon of pop culture in general and the changes that Moroccans started to notice within their youth.
- Introducing the topic of the project which is the impact of pop culture on Moroccan youth attitudes
- Stating the Research Question: How global pop culture influences young Moroccans.
II- Body
- Definition of pop culture
- How the pop culture became global (Media, internet etc …)
- Why Moroccan youth are consuming the global pop life style (use of global English)
- How Moroccan youth perceive global Media (Negative/positive)
- Interview1: Pop follower
- Interview 2: Pop follower
- Interview 3: National Champion of break dance
- Interview 4: the view of parents on this phenomenon
- Current situation of Hip Hop culture in Morocco
II- Conclusion
In the last decade, Moroccans have started to notice among our youth a phenomenon that is new to our culture, which is Hip Hop culture. This phenomenon has attracted a huge number of young Moroccans, who saw in this lifestyle, liberation from the conservative features of our society. Young Moroccans have been attracted by famous American Hip Hop artists in all features, namely the openness and the freedom to express one's self, a fashion, which depicts coolness and self confidence with a unique perspective. Hip Hop culture has become common in Morocco thanks, to many Moroccan groups who pursued the new flow and have become famous not only at the national level but also at the international level. However, Moroccan society still undermines pop culture and considers it to be one of the causes of delinquency. In order to understand thoroughly the Hip Hop phenomenon on the Moroccan culture one should examine factors behind the quick spread of this culture among Moroccan youth. This paper will study how Moroccan youth were impacted by the Hip Hop culture and how this new culture shaped their attitudes and behaviors as well as the current situation of Hip Hop culture in Morocco.
Before starting to elaborate on this phenomenon, I am going to define the Hip Hop concept. David Madden points out that popular culture "is anything produced or disseminated by the mass media or mass production or transportation, either directly or indirectly and that reaches a majority of people" (DeFleur, Dennis, 2002). Hence, pop culture was disseminated by the power of the media to reach people from all over the world. "The international flow of television programs was overwhelmingly one way, from the United States (and to a lesser extent Western Europe) to the rest of the world" (Kamalipour, 2007). One can highlight that the core countries, namely the US, have been in a position of power to own the technological tools to spread information and a new style to a world that has become borderless. There is now a global village in which every conservative culture has started to encounter changes especially on its youth who often have already started to question the conservative features of their respective countries. Everything in the world has changed from the era of imperialism; in this way one sees the media as a kind of soft power of a new imperialism to gather the world. Namely, Television and Internet which become the important mediums that people use in order to know what is happening in the world. More importantly, youth access to the internet in Morocco is significant thanks to cyber cafés. One should not ignore that the flow of this new culture might either be followed negatively or positively by youth who have started to know this new culture.
Morocco is a conservative society in which youth behaviors are both questioned and criticized when they go against the norms of the society. In the last decade, Moroccan youth have started to be fascinated by the Hip Hop style in which they see a relief from the conservative features of their country where their behaviors are controlled by either their parents or the government. With the easy access to the Internet and TV programs through Satellite dishes which have now become cheap, Moroccan youth have started to follow the American pop style in all facets: clothes, music consumption, and dancing. With the eagerness of youth to express themselves through the Hip Hop style, in which they see liberation and freedom, one needs to highlight an important point, the socio-political world of pop music. The later can be depicted in the lyrics of the Hip Hop songs that talk about love, poverty, drugs, frustration, and migration etc. The youth frustration through this new style reveals a form of protest. Now music is taking another form, one of rebellion against the society. In order to understand more thoroughly the impact of this phenomenon on Moroccan youth and how it has started, I am going to depict real examples of Moroccan pop followers on this phenomenon:
Interview 1: Youssef, a pop follower, 23 years old
Youssef has been following the pop culture since 1996, due to the influence of his brother who was initially fascinated only by 2 Pac and other America Hip Hop artists. His brother hid this fascination from his parents as they would have condemned this behavior. He began to consume pop music as he felt more relaxed when he would listen to it. In order to understand the conveyed messages and the doctrine of this new style, he started to learn English. Once he started to understand the lyrics he learned of many concepts that he had not yet considered such as the free style, freedom of expression, and living for the sake of openness and coolness. He realized that he was deprived from many things which his parents had forbidden such as signing and dancing. They considered it a shame and a waste of time; for them studying was the only thing he should have been focusing on. Youssef then questioned why his brother hid, when he was either dancing or imitating the Hip Hop American styles. Youssef realized that the Hip Hop style was a new and a good style and that opened his eyes to many things such as the importance of the Internet in getting all the information he needed about this style and the lyrics that he enjoyed downloading and signing. Also, he realized that his brother did not think about the good features of the pop culture and did not do any research to more thoroughly understand the positive side of the Hip Hop style, which encouraged him to learn English. For his brother, Hip Hop was a new fashion that he followed to impress his friends and to show them that he did not fear his parents and he could do what he liked. In imitating American pop artists, he got tattoos and started smoking. For his family this was a new form of delinquency. Youssef considered Pop culture a hobby; as he listened to music, dance, and enjoyed his friends' new style of dance. He pointed out that before this style get more popular in Morocco, youth pop followers would meet in streets late at night holding a stereo and dancing the break dance, which is a kind of the Hip Hop dance. At the beginning they found many problems as neighbors would call the police when they were disturbed by the youth. They also downloaded videos and music clips and played them slowly in order to learn the break dance movements. Lately, with the increase of the adoption of this new style, many sport clubs included break dance lessons, so that youth may go to develop their dancing styles. He concluded in the end that the pop culture is a new culture that encouraged people to question the social structure of their country as well as the ability to criticize the governments of their countries.
Interview 2: Kamal, a Pop follower, 17 years old
Kamal started following the Hip Hop style in 2000 influenced by his friends in the High school. He pointed out that this new style changed his personality and made him not care about the judgments of people on the way he started to dress or talk. Hip Hop also changed his perception about life where openness and coolness were the main concepts that youth strived to reach. He highlighted that because of depression youth were facing and their angriness about the corruption of the government and other social issues, they began to be creative and express themselves in the underground style. This includes songs that are forbidden in Morocco from becoming commercialized in as they contain lyrics that are against the government. After the increase of underground songs, the government punished the holders of these songs. Parallel to the emergence of the underground style otherwise the black market of the youth free style production. The commercial side of the Hip Hop style caused it to flow out into the mainstream and was encouraged by many DJ producer companies such as Funky Noise and DJ Key. For instance, Funky Noise is a DJ school based in Casablanca, and teaches the latest techniques in DJ-ing with the newest materials. DJ key works collaboratively with Funky Noise as well as other stars to record songs. Kamal pointed out that DJ Key teaches others how to use DJ instruments and how to perform well in this area. DJ Key works internationally in Belgium, France, and Holland where he animates famous night clubs and works with other famous Hip Hop groups. Kamal also pointed out that he cannot deny that the Hip Hop style in its beginning in Morocco faced many constraints and rejections by the society towards this new style.
Kamal stated that Moroccans followed the Hip Hop style either positively or negatively. The negative characteristics of this new culture on youth is that they would borrow clothes from each other to attend parties or to dance to give the impression that they are following the style in all its characteristics. Youth became overwhelmed with the Hip Hop fashion. Kamal pointed out that Moroccan Hip Hop followers, who are not famous and are excellent break-dancers, make a good profit out of their style especially in the summer. A lot of swimming pools in the summer have entertainment for people by inviting those break-dancers to swim freely, sing, and entertain people. In fact, they have gotten big audiences who encouraged them to come always to the swimming pool to create a fun atmosphere. Kamal pointed out that lately the situation of the Hip Hop style has started to change. For instance, in the latest elections Hoba Hoba spirit, a famous Moroccan Hip Hop group, was invited along with rapper Bigg by the socialist party to gain a lot of audience from the youth Cohort. The two stars sang political songs under the theme of elections.
Interview 3: Benchekroun, Moroccan champion of break-dance, 22 years old
Benchekroun refers to Rap as a culture and break dance as a sport. He points out that this dance first emerged in the US, followed by France, and then Morocco. He said that pop culture and Hip Hop dance are an art that came out in the street. He was attracted to break dance in swimming pools where he was fascinated watching boys dancing, this style attracted him and he has been following the break-dance since 1997. He was fascinated by this new dancing style as for him it combines both art and sport and requires thinking while dancing. Television was another factor that influenced him to follow this style. He used to watch 2M channel, which broadcasted once a week a clip of German singers. He said that he used to watch it as there were not other means like Internet to know more about this style. He points out that he is fascinated by Hip Hop star from the US, France, and Korea. What attracted him the most in the pop style were the lyrics as they can be transmitted through different means whether underground or in comic style in order to talk about social phenomenon, suffering as well as the crisis of humanity. He used to train both in the street and in sport complexes. He said that even though some sport clubs give space to break-dancers, this style still faced some constraints concerning the space where youth can practice it. He said his parents did not mind him following this style and that it would be better than hanging with bad friends and following delinquent behaviors. Benchekroun explained that some Hip Hop stars when they sing, they appear in different characters, smokers or drug consumers, just to give an image of their sufferings and show the social phenomenon that the society is facing. Yet, some Moroccan Hip Hop followers might chase after the negative sides to imitate a pop star in all aspects, clothes and behaviors. Moroccans have had a negative perception of Hip Hop followers and ignore them. He said that Moroccans would label pop followers as crazy, unemployed, and having nothing to do. Lately things have started to change with the appearance of break dance concerts and competitions and the media which has given it more coverage and has helped people to begin considering this new style that is followed by a large number of youth. He said that at the beginning when Moroccan youth started following this new style, they did not expect some of them to be famous and make a career of it. In fact, it was a style that attracted them because it matches their taste and they liked it. Benchekroun participated in different competitions that were organized to promote this style and encourage youth. His first competition was in 2002, he was eliminated in the semi-final, after that another competition was held in 2005 in Meknes, which was organized by the French institute under the title of Journée nationale de free Style, in which he won the second prize. He got the first prize at the National level in 2006 "label of the Moroccan champion in the break dance", he then signed two contracts with the French institute to do an internship in the free dance style where he worked with French dancers. In 2007 he participated in a group competition in Al Jadida sponsored by the Royal Federation of sports Aerobic and Fitness, where he again received first prize at the national level. In the same year, he got the award of the best spectacle and second place in a dance-off, as well as the best show in Morocco. He created a group called Stunt Boys. Benchekroun highlighted the importance of hard work to achieve excellent results as well as the necessity to choose a group not based on friendship but on professionalism to perform well. The new thing that Hip Hop professional followers do now is to create a group show of 30 minutes and compete with other groups instead of competing individually.
Interview 4: with a parent of a Hip Hop follower
This parent criticized the behaviors that youth are following lately. They point out that this new fashion is the cause of many bad behaviors that are foreign to the Moroccan norms and culture. They said that it is not only a sport as the youth claim but as way of delinquency and following the bad behaviors of the West. They said that instead of copying good things and being aware of what is happening in the world concerning research and study, they follow useless things and that impacts their studies. They also say that it is not only parents complaining about this but also teachers in schools. They complain that the Hip Hop style has taught students offensive speech. They also point out that the freedom youth desire is not beneficial in the end. It will make them follow every new thing without criticizing it and end up losing their future for an unworthy career. This parent also complained about the offensive clothes youth are wearing which does not comply with Islamic tradition.
The situation of the Hip Hop style in Morocco has started to change with the increase of its audience who are fascinated with this new style. Festivals, conferences, and competitions have encouraged Moroccan youth who like this style to develop their styles and performance adding to the increase of DJ companies who support Moroccans who have the Hip Hop talent to produce and be famous. One important festival is Boulevard des jeunes musiciens, festival des musiques urbaines, which is organized yearly by EAC (l'Education Artistique & Culturelle ) Association, and sponsored by many companies such as Red Bull, Maroc Telecom. Since 1998, this festival has given Moroccan youth an opportunity to show their talents and compete with other famous Moroccan hip hop followers (Boulevard des jeunes Website). Thanks to The Boulevard and other festivals, as well as the media coverage which increased to shed the light on this new style, Morocco saw the emergence of famous groups who become now the famous Hip Hop groups not only nationally, but also internationally. The famous groups that emerged out of Boulevard des jeunes under the media coverage are (Darga, Hoba Hoba Spirit, H-Kayne, Barry, Total Eclypse, Aba'Raz, Fnaïre, Haoussa, etc.) (Boulevard des jeunes Website). This unique initiative offers to the participants a chance to meet with other famous western Hip Hop groups in workshops to exchange ideas about the Hip Hop style of the two cultures. This is an example that highlights how Moroccan Hip Hop style has evolved and is no longer ignored as it was in the beginning. Famous Hip Hop stars in Morocco such as Hoba Hoba Spirit, a group created in 1998, participated in Boulevard des jeunes musiciens. The main themes in their lyrics are illegal immigration, political issues, and Casablanca, which is the center of the flow of Hip Hop to all the cities in Morocco. They participated in many concerts in Morocco; namely, Essaouira festival in which their presence was significant. They become not only famous in Morocco but also made their presence welcomed in other countries such as France, Switzerland, England, Spain, and Tunisia (Hoba Hoba Spirit Website). This example clearly shows the power of the American media and how it has targeted the Moroccan youth, especially the ones in Casablanca where the famous groups emerged.
Hip Hop is new style that was perceived at the beginning negatively by the Moroccan society. At the beginning of its emergence, Hip Hop followers did not receive any support from either the government or society. In fact, it was conceived as a kind of social rebellion and delinquency. However, with the organization of festivals and concerts, the perception of this style has started to change as people start to understand that each generation has its own style and talent. Hip Hop style has also become used by many companies such as Maroc Telecom to advertise its telephone brands and target the young audience. Even 2007 Daba used Hip Hop style in its electoral campaign, where they invited some young people sing and dressed in Hip Hop fashion to influence youth with the necessity to vote. Hence, Hip Hop style in Morocco is the result of the power of the American media to spread its culture.
Reference
DeFleur, Melvin L; Dennis, Everette (2002). Understanding Mass Communication: A liberal Arts Perspective. Houghton Mifflin Company.
Kamalipour, Yahya R (2007). Global Communication. Thomson Corporation.
Hoba Hoba Spirit. A Moroccan Hip Hop Group Website.
www.hobahobaspirit.com
L'Boulevard. Boulevard des jeunes musiciens, festival des musiques urbaines Web Site.
www.boulevard.ma/photos/photos.htm - 39k -
