American Muslims Use Hip-Hop to Address French Headscarf Ban

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1/19/2012. Berkeley, CA. Inspired by the acts of Rachid Nekkaz, two American Muslim Converts use hip-hop to tackle the controversy created by the niqab ban and the French public school headscarf ban. Professor A.L.I.’s song Black Jacobinsfeatures fellow Muslim and Bay Area artist Tyson Amir. The Professor borrows the name for the song from the seminal work by historian C.L.R. James of the same title, and in his lyrics tackles the hypocrisy of the French nation with regards to its relationship with Muslims and other colonized peoples. Stating “Scarves upon Mary lest you get an eyeful, yet you ban elementary school disciples, how dare you deny a Muslim education, don’t you realize the kind of beast your facing?”

Tyson does the same and utilizes images of the Declarations of the Rights of Man, and asks, whether those rights cease when one sits in a mosque. The video for the song depicts Tyson playing on a special chessboard, in which the white European colonizing pieces are defeated by the black indigenous pieces, in a unique manner. All this spliced with images of Professor A.L.I. rhyming while images of Battle of Algiers and of various French riots play over his face.

In a day and age where hip-hop has become music which degrades women and speaks to the abuse of drugs and alcohol it is refreshing to hear two positive M.C.’s speak on an issue of liberty and equity that effects millions half way across the globe. Black Jacobins is a song off of the Carbon Cycle Diaries album by Professor A.L.I.