Hip Hop Spirituality: Expanding the Tent
Judith Corbett Carter

Abstract
Hip hop continues to spread globally and has gained popularity in the Middle East and North Africa. It is an art form that allows marginalized youths to speak about specific issues regarding their circumstances. Sociopolitical Arabic hip hop has received much media attention and is the focus of this paper. While Arab hip hop is not explicitly religious, lyrics that speak to struggle and suffering can be linked to hip hop spirituality. At the heart of hip hop spirituality is the concern for human struggle and suffering with the understanding that oppression is evil. In this paper I will examine hip hop spirituality from the Arabic hip hop perspective as it relates to Islamic Liberation Ideology and ‘expand the tents’ ofhip hop spirituality theory beyond the borders of the United States.

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