The September 11 generation, hip-hop and human rights

Abstract

This article examines the global human rights activism of young Muslims through their participation in hip-hop culture. The increased awareness of their Muslim identity in the post-September 11 era inadvertently influences and permeates the consumption of popular youth culture. The article contends that there is an attempt by the hip-hop ummah to draw from the struggles of the African American experience to articulate the human rights concerns facing respective communities. The right to appropriate hip-hop as a means to express their predicaments also brings its young practitioners into conflict with moral entrepreneurs who act as gatekeepers to the religion. However, the human rights activism of young Muslims is bridging the seemingly irreconcilable gap between hip-hop and piety, serving not only as an important framework of social identity but also providing the space to forge generational and transnational solidarities.