Something I Said - Abeer Alzinaty a/k/a Sabreena da Witch, Junkyard Empire at Hip-Conference, From Vices To Verses

Something I Said - "From Vices To Verses: A[hip hop] culture so much - and I hate it. How
New Era of Hip-Hop & Action"could you fight for freedom and try to subjugate
Dwight Hobbesme [as a female], own me? A body, my mind,
MN Spokesman-Recorder/Twin Cities Daily Planetmy emotions."
Hip hop has plummeted into two insidious pitfallsShe decries material exploitation by rappers. "I
since its origin as grassroots commentary. One isknow Palestinian artists who started singing
the endorsement of hazardous-to-mental-healthagainst capitalism. Today they make commercials
money-mad thuggery and misogynist propaganda.for phone companies. I talk about women who
The other is a slick, opportunistic co-opting byare killed. I want to bring them back. I want to
academics as think-tank fodder to justify theirbring back Native Americans, who were erased,
status as learned interpreters of the street.who are dead because we're here. These are not
Day two of Voices Merging's hip hop conferencecomfortable conversations."
"From Vices To Verses: A New Era of Hip-HopNeither were the words of pioneers The Last
& Action" at the University of Minnesota is aPoets who shook up sensibilities everywhere for
one-out-of-two-ain't-bad success. Though devoidBlack and White alike. They made, however, an
of knuckle-dragging toxins, it doesn't escape inaneindelible mark on American culture. Abeer Alzinaty
academia.  Removing Borders, Transgressingfollows suit, a voice for personal, social and political
Boundaries' theme: how hip hop transcendschange.
generations and from nation to nation. EnergeticAt Coffman Memorial Union, an afternoon
camaraderie enlivens the chic Weismann Artworkshop previews avant-garde jazz/hip hop
Museum as student artist coalition Voices Mergingband Junkyard Empire's documentary Rock El
tends to business - methodically, with low-keyImperio. Last August, they toured Cuba and
professionalism that could teach some productionreturned with a film about the experience as
companies a few things. As the morning panelself-described "socio-political progressive" artists.
begins, volunteer Marta Merzi, charismatic andBand members Chris Cox, Brihanu and Bryan
competent, takes a moment from multitasking toBerry clue workshop attendees in on how hip hop
reflect on crossing perceived boundaries.is disseminated in Cuba, where artists are
"[It's] a new perspective of hip hop, urban artssubsidized by the government and censorship is
that people don't consider," says Merzi. "You canaltogether different. For instance, U.S. vigilante
make it be about what you need to say. In myboycotts cost The Dixie Chicks airplay and sales
community, street, society, my country. Thisafter Natalie Maine exercised her right to
[forum] is a step on solid ground for people todenounce George Bush. In Cuba, authorities refuse
understand that. I'm nowhere near Gilto let sexism and messages of material obsession
Scott-Heron's generation in terms of activism. But,on the radio.
if we can talk about that, about how, let's do it."That policy would bankrupt U.S. labels and put
On hand are moderator John Thabiti Willis,superstars out of work. Overnight.
post-doctorate fellow, University of Virginia; NaomiRapper-lyricist Brihanu reflects on what he calls
Wood, University of Minnesota; Tou Saiko Lee, hipthe commodification of American hip hop: "It's a
hop group PosNoSys; and Abeer Alzinaty, hip hoptool of a capitalist economy. Dehumanizing people,
artist and activist. Alzinaty salvages whatturning them into objects. Including hip hop culture.
otherwise is an hour and 45 minutes of cerebralYou take a person's artistic expression and we
pap by Wood and formulaic, outmodedsee it as, 'How much can you sell?'"
grandstanding by Lee. Willis is there as patronizing"The Heart of the Beat: Poetry of Rap" follows,
cheerleader.moderated by author Alexs Pate with panelists
Authentic hip hop at once crosses generations andLeola Johnson of Macalester College and Big Zach
nations in the artistry and activism of 26-year-oldand Alicia Steele of the hip hop group Kanser. The
Palestinian Abeer Alzinaty, aka Sabreena da Witch.program description: "This multimedia panel
Alzinaty, born in Lyd, Palestine/Israel, 20 minutesexplores the view that rap is not just the
from Tel Aviv, 40 minutes from Jerusalem, grewemergent African American literary form of the
up a spirited, opinionated Palestinian female livingpostmodern ages, but is responsible for scores of
inside Israel and became politically active in Israeliyoung people improbably embracing all the
and Palestinian territories following the secondtraditional and nontraditional poetic conventions of
Intifada of 2000.the English language (through a mix of cultural
She was present for the emergence of hip hop inosmosis, miming and instincts)."
Palestine. Alzinaty's also in Slingshot Hip Hop, NewAs such why-is-there-air verbiage indicates, it's a
York director-producer Jackie Reem Salloum'sroundtable of pretentious tedium. Big Zach tells
internationally lauded, groundbreaking documentarythe audience that after reading the description, he
of young Palestinians living in Gaza, the West Banksaid to himself, "I don't know what it means."
and in Israel as they discover hip hop as a meansCase closed.
to prevail against divisions imposed by occupationAfter dinner, Bakari Kitwana, author of The
and poverty.Hip-Hop Generation: Young Blacks and the Crisis in
"Hip hop in Palestine started in my home town,"African American Culture, speaks in the
she recalls. "My cousins and friends were doing itWeismann. It's an hour of Kitwana giving an
in their bedrooms." She joined them rather thanoverview of how hip hop qualifies as a
sacrifice safety to suicidal street defiance ofmovement, dropping names and periodically
authority. "I was afraid of getting arrested. And ofchecking how long he has left to speak.
getting shot."Things are capped off with a 9 pm to 2 am hip
Artistic expression being the better part of valor,hop blowout at The Cabooze, an uneven concert
"I started writing political and social lyrics resistingcapably MC'd by DJ Mixwell and Steele. PosNoSys
occupation," Alzinaty continues. Daring as it wasis led by Lee, who picks up where left off in the
for Palestinian males to openly defy convention,morning, faking the funk. His band is pretty good,
Abeer Alzinaty was up against zero tolerance.though, especially vocalist Oskar Ly.
"One day before [a] tour, my parents get aThe duo Ill Chemistry is serviceable with ace
phone call from my father's side [of the family].word-slinging diva Desdamona carrying Carnage,
They said, 'If she goes on-stage, we shoot her.'who relies on hackneyed histrionics and bombast.
That day, my parents decided I'm never gonnaTru Ruts' showcase features powerhouse poetry
do hip hop."by Shà Cage and e.g. bailey. And pathetic
Alzinaty decided differently. She skipped the tour,perpetrator Guante.
but determinedly pursued an outspoken career.Sabreena da Witch works it, exotic, engaging,
"Eight years later, I'm here. I released an album (Acompelling. Maria Isa, self-impressed, strident and
Woman Under the Influence) all by myself. Iway over the top, belies her heavy rep, coming
learned real hip hop comes from the depths ofoff, in fact, pedestrian. Toki Wright coasts on the
your belly. As long as there are honor killings...acrowd's energy, but eventually kicks it into gear
struggle, occupation, injustice, there are gonna befor a creditable set. Dead Prez milk their entrance,
rude women like me."making the audience wait. And wait. Then hit the
The firebrand rapper-vocalist is as passionatestage, turning the air a foul-mouthed blue and
about the integrity of the genre as she waspeppering that infamous epithet.
about her innate right to be an artist. "I fell in loveThe place is packed, mostly with enlightened
with Tupac - until I saw how he behaved aroundyoung men and women from the conference.
women. I loved everything he said against theWho absolutely love it.
police and nothing he said about women. I loveGo figure.