Benghazi Rappers

The art explosion after the end of Col. Moammar Ghadaffi included dozens of musicians of different genres. Most of them are rappers. Unfortunately I was only able to meet two in person during my week in Benghazi. Many of the serious musicians were actually busy in school, because they put their studies on hold because of the revolution.  

 This is "Bugie." He is 18 and has aspirations of rapping for a living. He said getting music to rap over is difficult, as few Libyans have computers and software to produce beats of their own. Bugie said most rapping happens at parties.


The scene in Benghazi resembles rap in the U.S. in the early eighties; it is still very underground, its members misunderstood.

At the moment, there are also no places to perform in public, except parties. Mydey, 17, (below) has never performed before, and downloaded his beats offline. He reminds me of many rappers I've met from my home town of Flint, MI. The music gave him a chance to have some swagger and agency of his own, in a place where freedom of expression was lacking.

Guys like Mydey and Bugie are among many musicians whose bootlegged music can be found on
revolution compilations on CD's sold in stores in the main shopping district in Benghazi. 


The goal isn't necessarily to make it big; they just enjoy they're new found freedom of expression.