DJ Besho - Hip-Hop in Afghanistan

in the Wash Post.. I wish every piece about international hip-hop didn't have to start with the same "unlike American rappers who are all gangstas" premise.. but then again, maybe it would help if we stopped shooting each other in the ass.

Afghan rapper wins fans with message of peace

Rap may have been born on the gritty, violent streets of American cities, but Afghan rapper DJ Besho says he wants to send a message of peace to the new generation of war-torn Afghanistan.

Besho, 28, looks the part with his baseball cap, dark glasses and combat trousers, but he's no gangster...

...Besho first got hooked on rap as a boy while living in China. He heard a hit by Nigerian star Dr Alban and started singing along. His friends laughed and told him he couldn't do Afghan rap.

"I said, 'It is easy and I will show you in 10 years'," he said...

...In Kabul at least, Besho is winning legions of enthusiastic if at times bemused fans.

"Kids love this kind of music he's introduced to our country. But in my opinion, it would be more interesting if he wore our own national dress," said 21-year-old student, Farhad. "His songs express our national unity and we like the kind of music he makes. He is young and talented and it's very interesting to listen to his songs," said another man, Nasratullah.

Even President Hamid Karzai wanted to meet the rapper but Besho was an hour late for their appointment. "It was really not good. I thought maybe he was waiting for me but no," said Besho, who's a big fan of the president...

while Besho said he's encountered no negative reaction to his music, not everyone in deeply conservative Afghanistan is a fan.

"I don't like music at all but this, in my opinion, is the worst," said a prominent Kabul Islamic cleric, Abdul Raouf.

How are you an hour late for a meeting with the President of your country?