Shadia Mansour (; born 1985), also known as "the first lady of Arabic hip hop"[ See also ] is a British Arabs
Biography
Early life
Mansour was born in London in 1985. Her parents are Christian Palestinians originally from
Haifa and
Nazareth.
She grew up in the UK and spent summers visiting relatives in Haifa and Nazareth, including her cousin, Juliano Mer-Khamis.
Influenced by other Arabic performers such as
Fairouz,
Umm Kulthum and Mohammed Abdel Wahab,
[ She went on to study performing arts before launching her career as an MC.]
Career
Mansour began rapping in 2003 and has gained recognition in the Middle East, Europe and the United States for her own songs and collaborations with other artists. She performs wearing a traditional Palestinian thawb and has said that she considers herself to be part of a "musical intifada" against the occupation of Palestine, conservatism and oppression of women.
In 2007, Mansour called for Hamas and Fatah to stop fighting. In 2008, Mansour's track "Kulun 'Andun Dababat” (They All Have Tanks) included Tamer and Suhell Nafar from an Israel-based Palestinian hip-hop group DAM; Suhell's lyrics made clear that neither Fatah nor Hamas received his support.
Mansour has recorded music with producer Johnny "Juice" Rosado, formerly of Public Enemy,
Mansour has toured with Existence is Resistance, an organization supporting hip-hop shows in Palestine, and is part of the "Arab League" of Hip Hop, a collection of performers who share views on the Middle East.
In 2014, Mansour collaborated with Ana Tijoux on the song "Somos Sur" ("We are South") about the importance of the global resistance movement.
In 2020, Mansour collaborated with Palestinian Jordan electronic music and shamstep group 47Soul, as well as Fedzilla - a German-Chilean rapper and MC, on the song "Border Ctrl" about the shared experiences of border violence and colonialism in Palestinians and Latin Americans.
Political views
Mansour's political raps have criticized Israel's occupation of Palestine[ Mansour said, "My music sometimes sounds hostile. It's my anger coming out and it's resistance. It's non-violent resistance."][ Mansour's early work emphatically supported the Palestinian resistance movement with what Rolling Stone called a "hardcore stance on Palestinian nationalism".]
Over time her views evolved to appreciate more of the complexity in the region, and her music came to reflect that; Monsour describes that she has become more “realistic” in her lyrics.
While challenging Israel's policies, Mansour also takes a stand against gender stereotyping of women both in hip-hop culture and Palestinian society.
Style
She initially tried to change her voice to sound more like male MCs, but over time Mansour has developed her own style as a female MC while rejecting the sexualization of women in hip-hop.
External links
