From the outside it looks like any other dusty brown building in Egypt. But when you get closer you see paint on the wall outside the building announcing that something interesting is happening on the second floor. If you dare to enter and climb the old rusty staircase you will find a hidden treasure.

Behind tall doors there is an unexpected world: walls painted with all styles of graffiti; a studio with sound-isolated rooms and professional equipment for recording music; and training facilities for graffiti art and music production. Last but not least, you will find a place full of young hopeful rappers and artists.

When the doors opened for the official opening event Saturday 22nd of June, it was not only the culmination of years’ struggle and several months of hard manual work. It was also the beginning of a new dream. TeMraz, one of the raptivists behind Revolution Records, says:

This was my biggest dream, now the next will be to win a Grammy!

The grand opening

With hard work, great ambitions and a little bit of luck, RAPOLITICS and Revolution Records got in touch about a year ago. This was the beginning of what is now the center of the underground music and especially hip hop scene in Alexandria, Egypt.

The center will be a base for the Alexandrian hip hop scene – a place where everybody interested in hip hop can meet and exchange ideas and create music and art together. Only a few days after the grand opening, the center has already attracted a great number of youth. We visited the center a random Monday evening and it was full. There were at least 30 young people involved in activities and conversations. Not even power cuts – a great problem in Egypt these days – stopped them from doing what they came for. They beatboxed instead using the power of their tongue and had electrifying cyphers accompanied by unplugged instruments, we even heard a harmonica at a certain point. Politics in Egypt cannot stop the youth, it cannot stop the raptivists!

Two days after the opening, Revolution Records already had the first track ready – recorded, mixed and mastered in their own new studio. In a few days, workshops will start up for those interested in both rap and graffiti. And soon the first hip hop workshops at schools in Alexandria ever will be started up. The past couple of months everybody has been working tirelessly on making the place ready for the opening: isolating, rebuilding, painting, cleaning up and practically living in the studio to be able to work as many hours as possible. Now it’s time for Revolution Records to put away the tools and paint and get back to what they really want to do.

Revolutionaries by heart

Revolution Records started out as the first underground hip hop label in Egypt in 2006 consisting of nine young men. Today, Revolution Records mainly consists of the rappers Ahmed Rock, Rooney, C-Zar and TeMraz, but around them are a lot of friends, fans and supporters all helping out. They are not just talented rappers, they see themselves as revolutionaries. Not only because they took part in the revolution in Egypt, and shared their revolutionary songs at the Tahrir Square with thousands of people. But also because they are taking up the fight to live the kind of life they wish too, they insist in pursuing their goals and dreams despite the obstacles and challenges they face from conservative and religious powers in Egypt. They insist in being raptivists. Text from the song ‘Kalam Shaware3’ (Street language):

Raised and coming up from the street school – the revolution is coming from my heart. We all need a revolution and we are the music revolution.

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Revolution runs in the veins of Revolution Records and they want to contribute to revolutionizing Egypt by expressing their opinions and giving a voice to the protesters on the streets. Also, they want to address the importance of creating a functioning hip-hop scene in Alexandria where young people can find the needed space and support to be creative. They told NY Times 17.05.2012:

We think that Egypt wants a revolution, not only a political revolution but an everything revolution: revolution for the way of thinking, revolution for our life style and the old bad traditions.

Revolution Records not only participated in the 2011-revolution in Egypt, they predicted the revolution with their track ‘Wa2t el Thawrageya’ (Revolutionary time) from December 2010:

They say that the revolution in the people’s hearts has died / but I see it growing. I see anger inside a silent people / inside the hearts of a whole generation that’s standing in place, stuck.

Social and political roots

With songs like this, Revolution Records has been in the very front of the Egyptian hip hop scene, as revolutionaries, as artists, as raptivists. Since the hip hop scene started blossoming in the aftermath of the revolution, a lot of other rap groups have followed their lead. Revolution Records has – with their honest and authentic style – been true to what they believe in and what they believe to be good hip hop.

What appeals us about rap are the social and political roots. Not the commercial hip-hop which is so popular today”, Ahmed Rock said to the Danish newspaper Politiken 6.10.2012

Another young rapper who has stepped into the Alexandrian hip hop scene is the young female rapper Yukka. She started rapping in 2010 inspired by other young rappers like Revolution Records. Today, she is also part of the crew behind the new center and very much engaged with RAPOLITICS. She is coming to Denmark later this year to participate in a RAPOLITICS-project about female artists in Egypt and about how it is to be a female in the Middle East. She recently finished this track together with a handful of other Egyptian rappers.

The whole crew around Revolution Records has been working non-stop the last 4 days to finish their newest track ‘May3rafsh Skoot’ (My voice couldn’t be silent). The track, which is done together with the group Wasla, is their comment on what is happening these days in Egypt, with the manifestations against President Morsi after a chaothic year on power. Therefore, it was particularly important for them to finish it just now before they themselves went to the streets. With the new track they also released a new music video – check it out:

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Yukka, Revolution Records and the upcoming rappers in Alexandria are showing the world the power of hip hop to transform mindsets, to connect people, and to challenge the status-quo. The opening of the center is the first step in an exciting journey, which will culminate with a hip-hop festival in Alexandria in January 2014, where RAPOLITICS also will be represented. But it will not end there. With the opening of the new center, youth in Alexandria has gained a valuable platform for self-expression, artistic creation and learning.

Check out more info about the project here and watch a video interview of Revolution Records and other Egyptian raptivists that visited RAPOLITICS in Denmark last year!

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Kiki Hynding Hansen is a member of the RAPOLITICS’ board. She was involved in RAPOLITICS-projects in Bolivia and Denmark, and has studied the rap scene in Vietnam. She is currently responsible for the partnership project with Revolution Records funded by the Danish Center for Culture and Development. kiki@rapolitics.org