“Rap is Clear, So Write Clear” (Redux)

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Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi was sentenced to death on April 24 for lyrics that excoriated the Islamic Republic’s rulers and enablers. His uncle tweeted a message for the Iranian diaspora that should be heard by every believer in free speech…

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The following First dispatch was originally posted in January, 2023…

Toomaj Salehi has been imprisoned and tortured by Iran’s regime scum who hate how his lucid rap exposes “the filth behind the clouds.” You can find out more about his music and the international campaign on his behalf here. Toomaj should be free as a bird, free as the Iranian woman he images, sans hijab, “…liberty’s mane blowing in the wind.”

The first rap song here has (imperfect) English subtitles.  There’s a translation below the second video (after “read more”).  A taste from its outro:

Don’t wait for a saviour, there is nothing on the horizon
You are the rescuer, you are the hero
If you and I unite…we are boundless
We are the saviours of eternity, we are the Imām of Time

VERSE 1:
If you saw Peoples’ pain but turned a blind eye
Oppression of the innocent and walked right past by
If you cheated out of fear or self-interest
You too are a partner in crime of the tyrant, you too are a criminal
If you pretended to fall asleep while they were shedding blood
Caught up with your business while they were taking young lives
If you played centrist or stood in the middle and said “politics, what’s that?”
Just know that we don’t have blank votes, there is no neutrality in this war
If you put your hands over your eyes, you have blood on your hands
You are a traitor if you have a platform and your words smell fishy
You are far from the homeland but our binoculars aren’t short-ranged
Remember, the filth behind clouds eventually get exposed
If you covered up murders, you’re equally guilty
To cover up crimes, you’re walking through blood
Just know that without apologists this system is incomplete
Iran has so many prisons that you would all fit in
Ice Spice ‘Bikini…

CHORUS:
Hack journalist, cheap informant, courtier artist, buy a mouse hole
Agent, apologist, order taker
Forced executioner buy a mouse hole
Safety valve, involuntarily appointed
Windy party reformist, buy a mouse hole
Exported, NIAC, betrayer, inciter
Give all your dollars to buy a mouse hole

VERSE 2:
An artist who does not know about income loss
I piss on your Oscar if you are not on the people’s side
I pull apart your yarn ball so you can’t weave bullshit anymore
Whether you are government’s Shahab or Asghar Farhadi
Whether you are a state actor or a Keffiyeh appropriator
Whether you are an exported actor or the Elahe Hicks type
You sell yourselves for money, status hungry
Alack the leeches — ration eaters you are not of the living
Deadbeat, Karoon isn’t going to be filled with bottled mineral water
Khoozestan doesn’t need crumbs, it owns the whole table
Freedom is expensive? Fine then, the free will give with their lives
Remember only blood washes away blood
Shoot me in the back, kill the thirsty
Take pride in the murder of peaceful protest
Outside the borders, paint the crimes
Take it from me — the good news of tomorrow and retribution
Take from me the good news of tomorrow and retribution

CHORUS:
Hack journalist, cheap informant, courtier artist, buy a mouse hole
Agent, apologist, order taker
Forced executioner buy a mouse hole
Safety valve, involuntarily appointed
Windy party reformist, buy a mouse hole
Export, NIAC, betrayer, inciter
Give all your dollars to buy a mouse hole

OUTRO:
Don’t wait for a saviour, there is nothing on the horizon
You are the rescuer, you are the hero
If you and I unite…we are boundless
We are the saviours of eternity, we are the Imām of Time [Imam al-Mahdi]