Pandemic can’t stop London rap music, as feisty female rappers and hip hop artists release the album
By Dizzle B.Z
A group of female rap music and hip hop artists from around the world have come together in a virtual music studio to create a hard-hitting album on human rights.
It is a remarkable achievement considering very few of the artists have met each other, or shared studio time, because of the global lockdown and even the mastermind behind 20-track Ideologies has yet to meet the women he recruited.
London producer Martin Daniels, aka M W Daniels, saw how the pandemic was destroying the music industry and the arts as theatres, concerts and festivals closed down to the public.
So he went online and, with a few hashtags like #Muslimrappers #Freestylerappers #Halalhiphop, began seeking out female talent from the underground music world of hip hop.
Within weeks he had assembled a team of predominantly Muslim feisty female rappers, singers and spoken word artists drawn from the USA, UK, Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
female rappers
Most of the 18 women use pseudonyms and while some will be known to a few underground fans, others have worked in relative anonymity.
“The issues they address on the album range from human rights, islamophobia, sexism and criminology,” said Daniels, speaking to WTX News from his studio in London.
He believes the collaboration on the label Over The Bunker Music is a world first and is a breath of fresh air to critics of the hip hop genre who claim it is riddled with misogyny and the glorification of drugs and guns.
However, the artists are not from the world of Mary Poppins or Shirley Temple. These women reveal their struggles, pain and challenges with a frankness some will find shocking.
“Some of these women have suffered, others have endured real struggles. I think some tracks will make people angry, others may even get depressed but it is full-on and thought-provoking,” said Daniels.
London Music & Islamophobia
He had read about Islamophobia and niqab-wearing women being attacked for their Islamic dress. “I just thought I needed to raise all this stuff,” he said.
He went on to praise the artists for being “really lyrically inventive, no precious egos so much so I had real faith in everyone. We worked as a team.”
Each artist was invited to send him their lyrics. Daniels, a music producer, created individual tracks which were recorded over the lyrics. Some tracks were re-mixed and returned for their approval, additions or suggestions.
It took more than ten months of international collaboration before he was able to produce Ideologies which can now be downloaded on Spotify.
The artists from America are Maddie the Madz, Sedia B, Combat Pretty, Ambitious Egyptian, Ale-Mer Proud, Renegade the Rapper, Queen De, N.FuZion and Momaboo. Lolo Kahana is from the UK, Taddy So Baddy, Canada; Da Storme, India; Medusa ™, Tunisia. Benita Babel, Omaima and Kyro R are from the Middle East and Africa is represented by Cold Jas and Wonda Yanda.
However, just for WTX viewers, we’ve some sample tracks from the artists courtesy of Daniels. He can be contacted via Instagram at #mwdbeats and all week we will be sharing the sample tracks on Instagram at WTXNews; Follow us to make sure you don’t miss any of the tracks.
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