Exclusive Interview: Iranian Rapper Salome

Contrary to Western generalizations, and a hidden secret of sorts, Iranian women often exhibit the stronger personality and willingly engage themselves in the heat of pressing political and social issues.  This was never more evident than in the countless feeds from last summer’s protests depicting scores of women actively involved with and leading anti-Ahmadinejad rallies on the streets.  One such example of the strong-willed Iranian woman is Salome.  She is recognized by the BBC as the first female rapper in the Islamic Republic of Iran and was gracious enough to answer our brief questions.  A sample track with English subtitles is available below:

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How does a young woman such as yourself become a rapper in a country like Iran?

I’ve been writing poems from an early age. I tried playing different instruments but I don’t have the talent for that. I don’t actually see myself as a musician, I just write poems and tell them in the rhythm. I started listening to rap when I was in high school, the age that I felt outcast and found shelter in hip hop. I never had the courage to start to actually record my poems until a friend of mine who is one of the pioneers in Iranian hip hop, Hichkas, gave me a part in one of his songs and that is how it all started.

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Do your family and friends worry about your safety?

No, I don’t do anything too risky. I have a lot of things going on in my life, so as much as I love poetry and hip hop, I have to consider a lot of things. So I am kinda conservative when it comes to how I do my thing here, and it has worked quite well until now. I’ve never faced any problems.

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I understand you have a number of professions outside of rapping.

Well I have a B.A. in textile design and I am doing an M.A. in Japanese Print making now. Other than that I translate between Turkish and Farsi and had a translated novel published 3 years ago in Iran.

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Do you have any music influences from America? Any rappers that inspired you to become a hip hop artist?

Yes, Immortal Technique, Everlast and Aesop Rock influenced me both technically and emotionally.

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How has the internet helped you spread your music to people beyond Tehran?

It didn’t help, it’s all there is for me . All I do is record and mix my work and then put it on the net. I don’t do any extra things for distribution.

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Your music sometimes focuses on political issues. Is there a reason for this?

My poetry tends to focus on Me. Whatever effects me. Whatever occupies my mind. I have more love songs than political ones in that regard. But the political ones are more spread around because I made videos for them with subtitles, since I find it important to send the message beyond the borders of language when it is political.

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What was it like collaborating with legendary Iranian rapper Hichkas? If there is another rapper Iranian or otherwise that you would want to collaborate with who would it be?

Well Hichkas wasn’t that legendary when I collaborated with him, he was a great helping friend and he still is. I am not a Persian Rap listener so I don’t know what is going on lately. But I also worked with Taham and Ghogha from Iran, both talented.

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Do you have any message for our Western audience?

All my message is in the songs.

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