Iranian Rap

So I just watched this documentary on Iranian Rap featuring one of the most prominent Iranian rappers of today, Yas. See it here. There are some things about the video and the interview that I liked and disliked at the same time. First, I liked how he spoke about the origins of rap in the US. I hope he stays true to those origins and doesn’t commercialize his rap like other Iranian rappers. If he does, then he loses the right to talk about the origins of rap in my opinion. I disliked, however, how he said that he’s proud to be Iranian because of this and that which occurred 10 billion years ago in Iranian history. I’m sick and tired of people glorifying Iran’s past. Also, I disliked even more how he said that there’s something special about Iranians because you can see specific Iranians doing big things in the world. I’m sorry, but there’s nothing special about that. It does not speak volumes about Iranians but about those specific individuals. Indeed, there are people within different nations and ethnicities doing big things. To say that there is something special about Iranians because of people like Christiane Amanpour demonstrates a little ignorance about the wider world and a little self-aggrandizing… or maybe a lot. I DID like the fact that he also said that we should not just focus on the past but look to the present and the future as well. The documentary ends with a clip of him rapping in LA and one of the lyrics made me a bit feel a little like throwing up. He said something about how Iran is “khak-e Aryiai” (Aryan land). Ugh. What does that mean? Did he interview the dirt and have it say to him: “I’m Aryan” or are ALL the inhabitants of that land “Aryan”? No, they are not, and for those “Persians” who claim to be “Aryan” in race, get over it. There’s been so much assimilation in the region that that no longer means anything and if it did, who cares. There is ABSOLUTELY nothing special about belonging to any ridiculous conception of race, especially Aryanism. That’s it, good night.