TRIPOLI, November 18, 2008 (MENASSAT) – They come from the streets, and their message is unique amid the squalor and violence that make up the poorest neighborhoods of Tripoli, Lebanon's second biggest city.

18-year old Kimo, aka Kimawe (chemical substance), and 27-year-old Balsam, aka Bolo B (a sort of knife), are Tripoli's prodigal rapper sons, and together they form the crew, Mic-Rob, a play on the word microbe.

"And we'll rob the mic from anyone who doesn't deserve it," Balsam says.

Kimo and Balsam sat down with MENASSAT in Tripoli over the weekend during a series of acting and multimedia workshops aimed at drawing out the stories of street kids from the Sunni-dominated Bab al Tabaneh neighborhood.

Bab al Tabaneh is Kimo's home base. While the rest of Lebanon took a much needed break from political violence after the Doha peace agreement was signed in May, violence in Tripoli has escalated, and most of it happened right in Kimo's neighborhood.




At least 90 people have died this year in the Tripoli violence that has mainly been between the rival ghetto youth from Bab al Tabaneh and neighboring Jabal Mohsen, wioch is dominated by the Alawites, an offshoot of the Shia branch of Islam.

"The problem is that the majority of the people doing the fighting are poor street kids who are looking for any excuse for a fight. No money. Fucked up families. And here they have guns," says Balsam, who lives in the neighboring area of Bab al Rmeil.

In the political arena, the blame for the violence has been largely placed on Sunni extremists, who have gained influence lately among the disaffected and unemployed youth in Tripoli.

Former Lebanese Prime Minister, Najeeb Mikati, an ex-Tripoli MP said, "Many see Al Tabaneh residents as fundamentalists or terrorists. In point of fact, we (the government) are turning them into extremists, as we leave them with no other choices. I don't blame them."

He added, "But it is also important to notice that the impoverishment of Bab Al Tabaneh is part of the impoverishment of the whole north. The problem is that here it is observable and intense because the area is so densely populated."

It is the lack of attention given to Tripoli that provides the perfect platform for the Mic-Rob crew, who aim their message at the city's youth and the Arab hip-hop audience at large, in large part through social networking sites likes MySpace and Facebook.

"Social networking has been THE method for introducing the youth to Arab hip-hop," says Balsam.

"Because the youth are cut off from even the occasional live performances here. So they… we… listen to crews out of Palestine like Ramallah Underground, crews out of Lebanon, like the 961 Underground Family with MC's like MC Moe, Zoog, RGB and DJ Producers like Lethal Skillz."

On the whole, hip-hop has had no history in Tripoli apart from a fairly active breakdance scene, and neighborhood kids know only the most famous names from the rap scene, like 50-cent, Eminem or Snoop Dogg.




MENASSAT went out with Kimo and Balsam over the weekend in the El-Mina neighborhood of Tripoli to check out one of their rhyme ciphers (rap circles).

"Let me spit it," Kimo said in Arabic, moving into a freestyle (rap) for an impromptu audience of mostly young people in this mainly Christian district of the city.


It is clearly rap with a message.

"We test our own will to survive 'cause we discuss taboo topics," says Balsam. "When we rap, we're hoping to tell the whole world about Tripoli's problems. And there's a lot."

Kimo adds, "We're living a ghetto life but still we're all having to learn and show the real image of the street so people can feel us."

But it's clear when talking to Balsam and Kimo that they're in it for the long haul where hip-hop in Tripoli is concerned.

"This movement is underground; even under the underground, so we're trying to make it breathe," Kimo says.

Balsam chimes in, "I know that the 12- to 14-year-olds are our future, and they're the future of this movement in Tripoli. They're the way we're going to get this thing in the streets."


(More information about Mic-Rob at www.myspace.com/miccrobe.)


For the latest news about MENASSAT's Tripoli workshop, go to the workshop's group on Arab Media Community.