Many Palestinian hip hop artists address themes that directly affect Palestinians in the occupied territories, living in Israel and those in exile. These artists use hip hop to address issues including patriarchy, drugs, violence, corruption and police brutality. Unlike the ideals of American rap, Palestinian rappers focus on exposing the lived conditions of the Palestinian people, especially the denial of Palestinian
self-determination in their homeland. Palestinian nationalism is at the center of all Palestinian hip hop, regardless of the artists.
Israeli–Palestinian Conflict Palestinian rappers have been explicit in their criticism of the
current situation between Israel and Palestine. The song "Who is the Terrorist" by DAM is arguably the most explicit criticism of the relationship between Israel and Palestine. These rappers want to address the "paradox inherent in the notion of a state that claims to be both democratic and Jewish".
MC Abdul, a young rapper who has been raised in the conflict, focuses much of his work on the Israeli–Palestinian Conflict.
Living conditions All Palestinian artists, regardless if they are within Palestine or abroad, have addressed their lived experience as Palestinians. For rapper Mahmoud who lives in Israel, he describes his experience as "whenever I walk the streets, my enemy steps to me in ignorance, he demands my ID, sees I’m an Arab. It drives him crazy. He begins to interrogate me, tells me I’m a suspected terrorist". Similarly, in the song, "Who Is The Terrorist", DAM describes the physical conditions, rapping: "Crawling on the ground, smelling the rotting bodies? Demolished homes, lost families, orphans, freedoms with handcuffs?". The Palestinian female rap duo from
Acre, Israel, Arapeyat, address challenges among the Palestinian community by rapping "what’s happening to our society, we’re imprisoning ourselves, with crimes and drugs, we need to make change now".
Palestinian unity and pride For many Palestinian rappers, especially those in exile, their aim is to raise consciousness. In their song "Prisoner," DAM raps, "our future is in our hands, there is still good in the world my brothers, the sky is wide open, take flight my brothers". The song "Born Here" delivers a similar message by saying "when we said hand in hand we should stand, we didn’t mean just a finger, cuz in order to achieve power we shall all be together". Despite location or overall theme, Palestinian rappers all support and wish to give hope to
Palestinians. In his song "Sarah," Emirati-Born Palestinian rapper Ortega (Alhasan) who released a promotional track with Palestinian singer
Rim Banna. ==Palestinian hip hop artists==