The politics of taqlidi rap: reimagining Moroccanness in the era of global flows

Abstract

This paper presents a multilayered cultural field where Moroccan rappers contribute to the debate on the complex and varied meanings of local, national, and global aesthetics. It showcases myriad angles from which to consider the politics of aesthetics in rap music. Within the last decade, taqlidi rap (traditional rap) has emerged as a music concept that aims to combine Moroccan traditional music and instruments with contemporary genres as a way to broaden popular music. Rap beats inspired by Moroccan music genres like Gnawa or Andalusi aesthetically express different perceptions of national identity, thus allowing rappers to reshape the boundaries of perceived Moroccanness. Taqlidi rap, however, also plays into the agenda of the Makhzen's (the Moroccan ruling elite), which promotes Morocco as a ‘modern’ yet traditional, moderate yet diverse country. At the same time, taqlidi rap is able to respond to a main concern of Moroccan artists: to show national identity in their music production as a main identity marker within a global cultural flow such as rap. This paper unpacks the work of Fnaïre, a Moroccan rap group, and considers other groups from the country such as H-Kayne, Don Bigg, and younger rappers like Dizzy DROS, to examine the role of national identity in a contemporary music genre established in Morocco during the 1990s. It aims to show that a sole focus on the national cultural field may not provide a complete picture of the predominant presence of national identity in Moroccan rap, but also that overlooking the local and national specificities of Moroccan identity politics may result in a simplistic consideration of the field.