Arabian Knightz - Rappers Address the Crisis in Egypt

When we were filming in Paris this past weekend, we stumbled upon a rally for the crisis in Egypt. Throngs of Arabic men and women of all ages paraded through the streets with signs, banners, megaphones, and flags, shouting rally cries demanding change. At that point, we knew we had to take some time on the blog to address this issue.

And then we found Arabian Knightz on MTV Iggy. This group of Egyptian emcees from Cairo have been steady working on their English/Arabic debut, United States of Arabia, when all hell broke loose in Egypt just a few weeks ago. They immediately put that project on hold and began to write songs addressing the upheaval in their country. This resulted in 2 singles: Rebel, which samples Lauryn Hill, and Not Your Prisoner, featuring Palestinian rapper/singer Shadia Mansour.

Here is a music video for the latter. The video is made up of news reels and homemade videos direct from the streets of Egypt where violence and protest has erupted.

Hip Hop has always served as a tool for revolution, freedom of speech and social commentary, and Arabian Knightz prove that this sentiment in Rap music lives on.