Music has always been a powerful tool to help manage and change the norm of society and bolster those in desperate need of a revolution. Today the same is true in Libya, as rap artists channel their anger and frustration into the sound of beats and rhymes.
It’s becoming more evident that as the fighting continues, Muammar Gaddafi and his forces will retreat in the face of opposition. The rebels continue fighting for change and much of their inspiration derives from the growing mass appeal of amateur MCs whose powerful music has helped define the revolution and helped turn the country around.
Rap groups like Revolution Beat and Music Matters have been making their voices heard and as they continue to fight, their music inspires those on the front lines who seek to take down Gaddafi one rhyme at a time.
Go to the next page to read more and listen!
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Mohammed Madani, a.k.a. Madani Lion, 22, left, and Milad Faraway, a.k.a. Dark Man, 20, right, of the Music Masters rap group perform during a recording session in a small rooftop studio on top of a residential building in Benghazi, Libya.
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Youssef al-Briki, 24, a.k.a. SWAT, center, Mohammed al-Yemeni, 24, a.k.a. Migo, far left, and other members of the Revolution Beat rap group hang out next to a banner of Libya’s legendary anti-Italian fighter Omar al-Mukhtar, in their makeshift studio in a room of the media center in Benghazi, Libya.
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The Tunisian born MC has been tearing down mics for the longest, but as the uprisings in Tunisa made headlines The General’s voice became one of the loudest in overthrowing President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali.
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“Tripoli Is Calling”
A dope song rapped by a Libyan artist Ibn Thabit, watch and listen.
