"Blowing Up The Spot With Mics, Not Their Bodies"

The seeds of Hip-hop have blown across the globe and sprouted in places where conditions are ripe: Oppression, disenfranchisment and untapped human potential.

So it always makes me smile when the flowers of the rap diaspora return for the first time to hip-hop's original soil.

Last night, Palestinian Hip-Hop came home to New York.

DAM (Da Arabic MCs) are Tamar Nafer's group. Tamar, as you might recall, is the Palestinian rapper who played Tupac to Israeli MC Subliminal's Biggie. Their friendship ended with the return of Intifada in 2001.

Their performance last night was impressive. DAM rapped mostly in Arabic, but they graciously translated a few choice concepts in breezy, hip-hop inflected English. Three guys, good routines, great beats, and a lot of fire. Highly recommend checking them out if they swing through your town.

Tamar and DAM have it doubly difficult because they are Israeli Arabs, meaning they don't live in the occupied territories, but in Israel proper. So not only do they get treated like second-class citizens by the government of Israel, but they're called "traitors" by Palestinians who live outside the Green Line.

A diverse crowd: arabs, flag-waving Palestinian expatriates, Palestinian-Americans, African-Americans, Latinos and gringos. I was particularly glad to see a lot of Jews up in the mix last night, lefties coming down on the right side of history. Some, like me, were against the insanity, immorality and illegality of Israel's policies. And some were against the insanity, immorality and illegality of Israel, period. Slight, uh, difference. But glad we can all be in a room together nonetheless.

As for me, I resonate with something a friend said last night. He liked DAM, but called them "very old school." After he explained what he meant, I completely understood. Subliminal and Tamar represent a new generation in an age-old conflict. Yet their politics seem as stagnant as their elders': Subliminal is Sharon with a microphone, and DAM is Fatah over breakbeats. I'm not hearing any new ideas from either of them yet, nothing like the breath of fresh air I received from a young Palestinian-American I met at a party recently.

But then again, I think of what Bill Stephney -- co-creator of Public Enemy -- had to say: if you're turning to rappers to provide political leadership, you're in trouble already.

Still, DAM could soon be in the same position that P.E. occupied once: The widely-acknowledged Voice of their Generation. That means they would have powers that, say, Abu Mazen will never have.

Mark my words and watch for them.

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Also in the house last night: La Bruja, Immortal Technique, Rosa Clemente

Invincible, especially, blew me away. I hadn't seen her since we worked together on The Lyricist Lounge Show out in L.A. Anyway, she came in from Detroit and simply wrecked it. Don't know too many female emcees that can stand next to her.

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Thomas Olson was wearing this t-shirt last night, a comment on the exodus of this boro's religious wackos to the West Bank.