Iran's thriving rap culture
Iranian hip-hop artists have made the music genre their own.
Wearing baggy clothes and starter caps, teenage boys had come to Tehran’s Friday Bazaar to hit on girls. Posing, they threw their hands in the air making gestures — gang signs. The odd concoction of a circle, two fingers and one finger on each hand was symbolic of the Iranian capital’s area code: 021.
021 became the symbol and namesake of Iran’s premier rap clan during the 1990s. Known as Rap-e Farsi, the Tehran movement was established by 021’s lead rapper Soroush Lashkari, better known as Hichkas, or "obody." Today, he is referred to as the father of Iranian rap.
“Hip-hop began in America, but Iran has had one of the longest traditions of poetry of any in the world,” said Iranian rapper Yas, in a 2008 interview. “Poetry is in our blood. If [Tupac] could sing about his life and pain and his culture, why couldn't I do the same thing in my own language, and that's where it all began.”
