Rap, racism, and visibility: black music as a mediator of young Israeli-Ethiopians’ experience of being ‘Black’ in a ‘White’ society

ABSTRACT

In the mid-1990s, descriptions of a new topic began to appear in Israeli media as well as in academic writing, of Israeli-Ethiopian youngsters who identified with black music in general and rap/hip-hop in particular. In this paper, I challenge previous interpretations for this phenomenon, arguing that they were insufficiently based on meanings that the youngsters themselves attach to their musical preferences. The study is based on semi-structured in-depth interviews with 40 young Israeli-Ethiopian men. The interviews were focused on meanings young Israeli-Ethiopians attach to rap music, which is their favorite musical style. The study shows that the pivotal experience which associates them with black music and is central to their identity in general is their constant visibility through the white-Israeli people’s gaze. This visibility, reflected in constant reminders by the ‘white’ Israeli society of the Ethiopian adolescents being ‘black’, makes the adolescents fascinated by black music and rap music in particular, which they perceive to be offering them a resonance of their experiences, comfort, and empowerment.

Black music in general, and rap music in particular, resonates with the lived experiences of Black Ethiopian Israelis and it serves as a symbolic bridge through which the youngsters connect to the historical narratives of the African trans-Atlantic diaspora, and draw inspiration from them.

KEYWORDS:

• Israeli-Ethiopians
• rap music
• youth
• racism

Acknowledgements

This paper is partially based on my PhD thesis. I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisors, Dr Sara Helman and Prof. Uri Ram of the Ben Gurion University, for their kind support and encouragement.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 A few examples of that demonstrate an application of this theoretical approach in local contexts: local youth in China combine global hip-hop beats with local dialects to foster a sense of local community (Liu 2014); underground rappers in Tanzania draw inspiration from both the late African-American rapper Tupac Shakur and the late local president Julius Nyerere to come up with music that represents the poor and downtrodden (Kerr 2015); Australian hip-hop scene helps strengthen local multiculturalism and shape a joint future for different ethnic groups (Betz 2014).

2 Initially, both male and female adolescents were supposed to be interviewed. After a preliminary round of interviews, it was evident that the two groups exhibited significant differences in preferred musical styles (a central difference: male interviewees were much more into rap music), in interpretations of social realities and more. It was decided at first stage to concentrate on male interviewees only, with the possibility of extending the target population to females in a following study (which is yet to be materialized). A follow-up study concentrated on female interviewees would indeed be of great value; however, we do believe that despite this limitation, the study does entail findings and generalizations that are important for understanding the Ethiopian-Israeli youth in contemporary Israel, as well as their fascination with rap music.

3 Literally: ‘White’ in Amharic, and a common nickname for non-Ethiopian people used by Israeli-Ethiopians.

4 Literally: Opuntia, a cactus plant common in Israeli landscape, and a common nickname for the native Israeli Jew.

5 A science and history channel on Israeli cable TV.