Beit Jala REPRESENTZ

Recently we posted an interview with UK-based Palestinian hip-hop artist, Shadia Mansour.

What made the piece particularly interesting was its exploration of hip-hop from a Palestinian cultural perspective. There’s a really mixed reaction here to Western or American styles of music – if you missed it and you’d like to learn more, you can catch the interview here.

Since then, we met a local 18 year old who not only is a massive fan of hip hop but a burgeoning artist himself.

Athal Azza got the details.

Photo: Mohammad Qassim

Suhaib Omar Mislat is 18 years old and lives in Beit Jala. His family are Palestinian refugees from Beit Natef village. When Suhaib was just 11 years old he started listening to hip hop and writing some rhymes.

“Hip hop is a great way to express yourself, and communicate the truth about what’s happening here in Palestine.” He explained.

“I’ve always loved the music – especially from the legendary 2Pac.”

Now, just seven years later, Radio Lajee has helped Suhaib AKA Black Shot’s Band For Change to record his first track.  We think it’s pretty awesome – let us know what you think!

A big thanks to Radio Lajee’s Layan Azza, Hesham Zakai and Asmah Abdul-Hamid for translating the lyrics into English (click ‘show transcript’ below to check them out for yourself.)

Click Here To Show Transcript