Personal Info
- Country of residence: Denmark
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He used to call himself the Stateless Palestinian; now he is hitting the Danish charts with his album P.E.R.K.E.R. - the Danish equivalent to the American term “nigga.”
Twenty-six-year-old Mohammad Marwan has created an album that many critics describe as an artistically expressed political manifesto. Marwan’s texts tell the story about life on the street and express indignation toward high-level political affairs. Palestine is “the reason I do music,” he says.
Perker reality rap
Marwan interprets “perker” as “the black sheep in the fold” - the one who doesn’t give a shit and is often perceived as a problem. Danes can be perkere too; it’s not related to nationality. Marwan has been living in Denmark since 1990, when he and his family arrived as refugees. His family are descendents of the Palestinian refugees of the Nakba, and with the outbreak of the Lebanon War, they were again forced into exile. “Palestinians aren’t treated very well in many countries; but Denmark is one of the better ones,” he says.
There are still issues that need attention, however, and Marwan sheds light on these with his lyrics. His debut album delivers invaluable insight into life in the “ghettos” in Denmark, like the one where Marwan grew up. Filled with stories about the darker aspects of life involving crime and drugs, it paints a picture that many people in the Danish welfare state never really become acquainted with. Marwan draws his musical inspiration from the American Hip-Hop scene, especially the gangsta-rap style known from the likes of 2pac, Ice Cube, and NWA.
“It is rap with a scent of realism. I rap about stuff that is happening in Denmark, but I address the negative sides. That’s how it is where I am from, and this is the style of our music.”
Marwan comes from the rap community/Hip-Hop label Pimp-A-LOT, a highly explosive cocktail of Danish rap’s toughest guys - the unadjusted and unstable. With this album, however, he is working with some of Denmark’s most famous funky hip-hop producers. The critics call the album “one of the most intense and honest Danish rap albums of its time.” His flow is brilliant, his voice is dark, and the unique immigrant-Danish local dialect gives the music an indefinable trustworthiness.
“Palestine in my heart”
Marwan’s music is greatly influenced by his Palestinian identity, which “means everything to me. It’s the reason I do music - the thing that gives me fuel to speak my case ... our case. Rap is also an outlet for the anger and feelings of despair and powerlessness that rest in my heart and soul.”
With the song “Stone in His Hand,” Marwan makes a statement on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict: “An M-16 against a stone in his hand/Choppers and missiles against a stone in his hand/A whole army against a stone in his hand/A whole government against a stone in his hand/The world power against a stone in his hand.”
For Marwan, the internal political situation in Palestine is “a big nightmare that never ends, and I feel helpless. It is like a knife that cuts through my heart. And I wonder: if my pain is that intense by only reading, hearing, or watching it, then how intense is the pain if you live in it? I am proud to see a people - my people - who have fought and suffered for so many years, without ever losing their power and strength to live in dignity.
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