Ramallah Underground

Ramallah Underground, based in Ramallah, Palestine, is a musical collective born in 2002, from the desire to give voice to a generation of Palestinians, in a situation of great economic, artistic, and political difficulty. The collective was founded by artists Stormtrap and Boikutt, later joined by Aswatt, who aim to rejuvenate Arabic culture by creating "music that Arabic youth can relate to," in the words of Boikutt. They rap in Arabic, and are credited as some of the founders of Palestinian hip-hop. Their music combines hip-hop, trip hop, and downtempo, besides more traditional Middle-Eastern music, with a commitment to their local culture and an awareness of the imposing presence of Palestine in their lives.