Persian hip-hop (more broadly known as Persian rap or Rap-e Farsi) started nearly a decade ago. It brought to light and made popular some of the most interesting questions and subjects that were not heard in any other Iranian music genre before. New artists such as Yas, Ghogha, Hichkas and Shahram Najafi brought to light topics familiar to most Iranians, topics no one dared sing about earlier. Persian rap built a platform for expressing injustice, wrongdoings and negative aspects of a culture. It was like a movement had started in which every aspect of a society was brought under a magnifying glass engraved with big question marks. These question marks established a hope for improvements and they sensed a change. 

But it feels like the movement has come to a halt. A few tracks have been released but little of value over the past 8 months. One would ask why? Why has a movement that started so strong and had the potential to stay strong come to an almost full stop? At this moment, we can only speculate on the subject. Soon after the ground-breaking form of the movement, many unprofessional players started entering the scene. These artists often called themselves hip-hop artists though the only thing they were doing was rapping in Persian. Sites were created in which people could download thousands of tracks made by amateurs who either had no musical talent, no quality, no verbal (i.e. rapping) ability or no real message. These sites were also a platform for the most popular artists to distribute their works. This development created an artificial market in which some people could make money by writing music for others. This development gradually changed Persian hip-hop's character. Those who had released expressive tracks have since become quiet. Somehow the art itself lost its priority as they seem to be engaged with other things. The propaganda movie, "Shock", broadcasted by channel 3 of Seda-o-Sima, which was produced to give a bad name to Rock and Hip-hop, gave hope that the hip-hop artists would become much more aggressive and produce even more knife-edged messages in order to fight the propaganda. But no, not even that movie made people go very far with their critics. A handful of tracks and videos were made in response to the propaganda movie, but they did not go far. Somehow the propaganda movie wasted its resources. That's actually quite hilarious.  

Let's speculate what the reasons for this passivity in real hip-hop works could be. In this classification, we have used hip-hop artists as artists who write material about their environment, the injustice and the wrongdoings found in it. We consider only those artists who have demonstrated a certain level of quality in their message, rapping ability, production and arrangement.  

Three possible reasons for passivity can be considered:

1- The artists are not passive but have not released anything yet

2- The current "silence" is the impact of the coming election

3- The artists have been commercialized 

Looking back on how the songs were spread, option 1 seems unlikely. The Internet was (and still is) the medium through which the songs that do not get permission to be released in Iran were (and are) distributed. This distribution channel did not (and does not) limit any of the artists' capabilities in releasing the works in timely fashion. Therefore it is not likely that the artists have been working on new material but not releasing it as neither the distribution channel (i.e. Internet) has changed nor have they lost the capability to distribute their works through this channel. We are assuming that people who have created new tracks have released them without any delay. In supporting that argument, some hip-hop artists have released works but not to the level which would satisfy the expectations. So option 1 cannot be entirely correct. 

Now let's look at option 2. The image of rap is one of revolution. It is therefore understandable that rap would provide reasons for the ultra-conservative establishment to make the environment tough for those artists who want their voices heard. An example of this is Hichkas on whom there is a court order. It's understandable, then, why the environment is as it is. After all, hip-hop is all about telling what's wrong in a society. These restrictions have though not been a blocking stone for the artists. In the past the artists have been able to release works under the existing restrictions and the election should not be a surprise to them. So it is believed that option 2 is not very likely in this context. 

Option 3 --that hip-hop artists are engaged in the commercial aspect of the scene -- has been generally noticed and its signs are everywhere. Following the Iranian music scene, it is clear that some of the artists have become commercialized through "signing up" other artists or being engaged in different fields of the industry (i.e. music scene). Producing tracks for others is a booming business. One wonders whether this platform (the Iranian music market) does actually provide a promising environment where they can earn good money and sustain a constant cash flow. It's commonly known that the Iranian music market is commercially poor. This means there's very little money to make as no one likes to pay for an artist's works. Downloading from the many sites available is widely practiced. At the same time, Persian hip-hop has not reached a high level of sophistication. Most of the rappers just rap for the sake of rapping in hope of becoming a name. They simply are rappers and not hip-hop artists. Many of them lack of a clear understanding of what hip-hop is all about. Therefore it is understandable that an artificial market has been created, a market in which the fundamental structure does not exist for people to make money of out their art. Of course, going on tour would bring in the dollars but due to existing restrictions and the risk of sponsoring someone for gigs outside of Iran, the opportunities are limited for the artists. Rock artists have been able to utilize this more effectively (think Ballgard). All these facts show that the option 3 is probably correct.  

So is Persian hip-hop dying? The answer probably is "If it goes as it has been going, then yes, it is!” Persian hip-hop or rap seems to have lost its way and is about to lose its soul too. It's now clear that it lacks power. What is apparent is that the movement has weakened and is not real. There are many rappers but few hip-hop artists. We truly hope that our artists show their responsibility and meet the expectation they have set. Hip-hop is all about the environment in which an artist lives, about his or her experiences. It's about reflections told through provocative lyrics. It's about waking people up. It's about putting everything under a magnifying glass. We need our hip-hop artists to be heard, for if they aren’t, then who will? We hope that the guys are just taking their own sweet time to develop excellent new tracks and that they have not switched paths. We need these artists to keep inspiring others.  

We welcome you reader to comment and let yourself be heard in this topic. It is time for you to say something as well.