Palestinian rap video ‘Who You Are?’ tackles gender inequality

Domestic violence along with gender inequality and stereotypes star as the main themes in a hip hop music video made by Palestinian rap group DAM which already has more than 36,000 views.

“Who You Are?” features the debut of Maysa Daw, DAM’s newest and only female member, and is a joint project with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

“I’m very proud of both the song and the video. I think it is an honest attempt at criticizing our society,” Daw, who raps in the video, is quoted in +972 Magazine as saying.

“Men try to stereotype women all the time, and I just want to ask which stereotypes define men, if any?” she said.

Tamer and Suheil Nafar founded DAM in 1999 with Mahmoud Jreri. They have produced music on the Palestinian – Israeli conflict tackling both societal and political issues.

The video also addresses pseudo-feminists, men who may advocate for women’s rights but their actions speak differently.

“We speak out against our own oppressive society, of course, but I believe it is just as important to criticize the hypocritical part of our society, which likes to play ‘make believe feminism’ from time to time,” Tamer said.

Scandar Qupti, the man behind the award-winning film “Ajami,” directed the video.

“He was the first director we approached, and we were very happy when he said yes. The idea of the video is very creative, and it’s not just the fact that it was filmed in one shot. It is one of the projects I am personally most proud of,” Nafar said.