Hip Hop Harem : Women, Rap and Representation in the Middle East

Hip Hop Harem is the first book solely dedicated to female rap artists in the Middle East and North Africa region. Through the lens of hip hop feminism, Angela Williams seeks to express how the artists’ work affects female audience members who relate to themes of self-determination and liberation within their own lives.

Although hip hop culture has widely been acknowledged as a global cultural movement, little attention has been given to women’s participation in hip hop culture in various parts of the world or how this participation interacts with and impacts the lives of other women. Hip Hop Harem is the first book solely dedicated to female rap artists in the Middle East and North Africa region. Throughout the book, Angela S. Williams explores the work of seven prominent rappers from the region. Through the lens of hip hop feminism, she seeks to express how the artists’ work affects female audience members who relate to themes of self-determination and liberation within their own lives. The popular imagery of the harem is flipped, turned on its head in likely hip hop fashion, as the artists speak back to voices of male dominance and a power structure that has sought to define them and the region.