Now Able to Exhale, Libyan Rappers Find a Voice
Mr. Jerafa, who performs under the stage name Lantern, is part of the GAB Crew, a Libyan hip-hop group whose members, like many young people, are reveling in and grappling with the new freedom of expression that has flourished here since the fall of Colonel Qaddafi.
Libyans lived for decades in the shadow of the long-ago revolution that swept Colonel Qaddafi, who called himself “Brother Leader,” into power. His rule was nasty, brutish and long. But it is over now, ended by a revolution whose fighters are overwhelmingly young.
Under Colonel Qaddafi’s repressive rule, Libyans kept their personal and political opinions to themselves, and unedited thoughts were shared with only a trusted few. Now all that has changed. In a country where politics and public life were for generations violently and obsessively policed, young people are now breathing and speaking more freely than ever before.
Even on a day when there are no classes, students gather on the campus of Tripoli University, where political prisoners were once publicly hanged. The students swap stories from the revolution and debate the merits of the postwar transitional government.
Many find the new freedom to speak one’s mind both exhilarating and disorienting. “We are free, but we don’t know how to live as free people,” said Kareem Saqer, 23, a student studying economics. “So we talk.”
An image from the music video for “Libya Bleeds Just Like Us” by the GAB Crew, rappers who
are reveling in the new climate of freedom in Libya since the fall of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/11/world/africa/young-libyans-revel-in-freedom-to-speak-out.html?_r=1