AN INTERVIEW WITH A PALESTINIAN-AMERICAN RAPPER: THE IRON SHEIK

"I care more about abstract knowledge and learning than I do about trying to compete in some testosterone contest.."

By M. Junaid Alam
The Palestine Chronicle

I recently got a chance to discuss the political and personal with the radical Palestinian-American activist and rap artist Will Youmans, who dons the moniker 'Iron Sheik' in his clever and powerful music aimed against Israeli oppression of the Palestinians - and more recently, the American occupation of Iraq. Below, the Iron Sheik discusses the roots of his radicalization, how music has helped him convey his politics, and the importance of integrity, solidarity and resistance in the struggle for justice.

In the lyrics to your rap music, you strongly identify with and support the Palestinian cause, fiercely oppose the war in Iraq, and fire rhetorical salvos against the Bush administration. Did you develop your politics and then find music as an avenue of expressing them, or did you first get into rapping and then develop radical politics?

My first musical influence besides the Beatles was Public Enemy. So I came to know music as political expression. Because of Public Enemy, my first political consciousness was centered on American race relations. My early sense of justice gave me a sense of outrage at the American history against blacks, Native peoples, Mexicans, Chinese, etc.

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