Palestinian Rapper Tamer Nafar on His Life, Career & Challenges Inside Israel

Rania Khalek Dispatches

The Palestinian rap group DAM put Palestinian rap on the map and inspired Arab rap in general with songs like Meen Irhabi (Who’s the terrorist?). DAM did not only address Arabs, however. As Palestinian citizens of Israel, they also had Hebrew lyrics, directly challenging their oppressor.

Tamer Nafar, one of the group’s founding members, has since launched a solo career which includes writing and starring in a semi autobiographical film, Junction 48 as well as newly released music. He joined Rania Khalek to discuss his art, his home in the mixed Israeli city of Lydd, and the story of his life.

Songs and movies that were discussed:

The Beat Never Goes Off https://youtu.be/6kJl_pEhvxM

Go There https://youtu.be/gp0tx64Rwos

Meen Irhabi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duwsH-gAmuM

Tamer’s movie Junction 48: https://youtu.be/tDIQcJGdDXs

TIME CODES

0:00 Intro

1:21 Tamer’s new song “Go There”

4:44 Recording “The Beat Never Goes Off” w/ a kid from Gaza

11:37 How Tamer became a rapper

19:49 DAM’s hit song “Who’s the Terrorist?”

25:12 How is the Palestinian rap scene different from the rest of the Arab world?

31:15 Being a conscious rapper in a hyper-commercialized music scene

34:20 Israel using culture and music for normalization

42:52 Tamer’s movie “Junction 48”

48:35 One year after Israeli attacks on Palestinians in Lydd

56:20 Worried about the future