Rapping the Tunisian Crate: “a Day Late and a Dollar Short” / Articles / Khadija Ghzaiel

Released few moments ago, the new rap song of Balti has gone viral. Spread like wildfire, the words of the song were on the lips of many, myself included. The song is entitled “Sokran” or drunk.

It is red and mad – about despair, disappointment, poverty, unemployment, corruption, political double standards, bogus religiosity and it definitely singles out an after-spring nation growing fainter under the current Islamist governance.

To my astonishment, Balti’s song provides a sociopolitical critique of the Tunisian reality. Sad and mournful, it definitely struck a chord. Down in the mouth, the rapper weeps the deplorable image of society, assuming the political responsibility of Ennahdha for the deteriorating conditions of Tunisian living at all levels.

Ever since the making of Tunisian Revolution, Tunisians have imagined themselves spreading wings as a new nation. One year of Ennahda's governing coalition was tragically enough to label their expectation a pipe dream.

Unable to turn their electoral victories into concrete feat, the Islamist party perseveres to justify its multileveled malfunction under the cover story of legitimacy, an ongoing scenario in print since the election of the National Constituent Assembly (or Parliament) on October 23, 2011.

Since then, it seems, the nation has lost its confident dynamics distinguishing the political scene subsequent to Ben Ali’s ouster. Not at all democratic, Ennahdha would use the ballot box to dominate the political vistas and debunk the very democratic apparatuses bringing them to power.

Where is your little dreaming baby, my country?
today my country, i want to speak, i'm longing for my mommy
screw to the entire world, base and unworthy.

No doubt, new and avand-gardist, Rap songs have had a hand in ushering the Tunisian revolutionary Youths. In his track, Balti points out to the estrangement of Tunisians being forcibly divided by the salafists into Muslims and not. It is most lamentable, how, filled with irrational hatred, a Tunisian would label his/fellows blasphemous overlooking more than thirteen century of Islam history.

The image of the drunkard waking up is not only a metaphor the rapper uses to signify his individual predicament, it is also a macro allegory standing for the depressed, appalled and irritated Tunisian youth. With its failure to enclose the risks of social and political unrest ravaging the country north and south, and its incapability to primarily assure a dignified living for all Tunisians mainly through employment services, the sociopolitical and economic input of the government has been a big low blow for every revolutionary dreamer.

My heart bleeds for both you and us my country!
how to stop smoking cigarettes

“font-family: 'Levenim MT'”>My beloved country! they seeded poison in you and us, my country!

It is the rapper's mindfulness and ethical obligation towards his folks that mainly arouses his reproach of the political, social, and cultural iniquities nurtured by the new establishment. Beyond doubt, the ordinary people of the interior suburbs are underfoot inch by inch by the Islamist opportunists grabbing their ropes and keeping their first chairs.

Not only these go-getters islamists are responsible for the eradication of the Tunisian youth dreams, but apart from empoisoing the beloved country with further blowing winds of violence, extra neocolonial financial depts, and social injustice, the rapper perceives them accusable of envenoming both the people and the country with more drug and arms trafficking in light of the absence of real drug and armament policy, too.

The whole country is collapsing into a deep sorrow, dejection, and chaos, fostered by the 'fall in' activity in almost every economic sector, something which is chill, alarming and very discouraging.

today i drank a lot
my glass of wine is filled with sorrow,
don't wake me up my pal!

Back to the glass, to the song, orchestrated around certain images, the lyrics, no exaggeration, do summarize the Tunisian panoramic scene. Balti’s song makes use of street poetry to condemn the ruling government for licking the poor’s blood and for stripping them of their trousers. These are, definitely, two strong metaphors that convey the regime’s responsibility for the continued impoverishment of the people through constant price inflations and unemployment rates.

The image of Tunisia as a cow, milked by the reigning authorities is another metaphor Balti exposes from and to the public. In so doing, he denounces the politics of dishonesty fashioned by the new power and the new ethics of recklessness and political capriciousness recently twisted.

my country is the hypocrite's, double-faced is a must-be
Who made my Tunisia pregnant? zaama Ennahdha or the Ex governing RCD?

Lamenting the nation, the rapper cries the picture of “Tunisia naked” and goes forth to ask a ghostly question: Who made Tunisia pregnant? Is it the present Ennahdha or the Ex governing RCD? (Constitutional Democratic Rally, referring to the ousted system of Ben Ali)

Unless it adheres to genuine democratic horizons towards practicable social critique, the current political agenda, I believe, cannot bring the case to a successful conclusion. Nor could it step, at any rate, outside the bottleneck, a recurring catchphrase all through Tunisian political and intellectual arenas these days.

My heart bleeds for both you and us my country!

To the glass of wine, one would retreat to be able to overlook the real chaos ravaging the beloved nation. From the wineglass, the rapper/Tunisian would get up, take a drug, and then go home back to his leafless country in order to swallow his fears and sears.

Articles: Rapping the Tunisian Crate: “a Day Late and a Dollar Short”

Released few moments ago, the new rap song of Balti has gone viral. Spread like wildfire, the words of the song were on the lips of many, myself included.

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