1982 – Co-written by Duke Bootee and Melle Mel and produced by Clifton “Jiggs” Chase, Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five’s hit single “The Message” becomes a turning point in the genre. Bootee and Melle Mel’s stark descriptions of poverty signal to fans and critics that hip-hop is capable of more than just party music. 1979 – Longtime R&B star and producer Sylvia Robinson launches Sugar Hill Records with her husband, Joe. She discovers their first act in New Jersey, a trio of rapping teenagers — Wonder Mike, Big Bank Hank, and Master Gee — and brands the Sugarhill Gang. The Gang’s first single, “Rapper’s Delight,” sells millions of copies and becomes the first global rap hit.
A Timeline Of Hip-Hop’s Development
In 2019, he appeared on the show New Era, Iran’s version of American Idol, before being eliminated in the final round. In haute couture, you put women on a pedestal, so you can’t help but think of all the other women and their right to freedom, too. In response to his win, and after months of silence, Hajipour posted on his Instagram account “We won”.
Why Iran’s Unofficial Protest Anthem ‘Baraye’ Won a Grammy
- Reportedly featuring over 100 samples and focused on Chuck D, Flavor Flav and Professor Griff’s revolutionary lyrics, it’s often cited as one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all time.
- The hit album makes her a rare female rap star during a dearth of prominent women voices in the genre.
- And this is [the] song that they sing which is called Baraye by an artist called Shervin Hajipour, who is in trouble with the authorities just for writing a song about people being free.
- The album features numerous collaborators, including longtime homie Snoop Dogg and rising lyricist Eminem.
- Her Record Of The Year win for “About Damn Time” at the 2023 GRAMMYs proved that being true to yourself and kind to one another always wins.
The song’s singular overnight success is not a small achievement given the long, rich history of protest songs in Iran. Although Baraye and other songs of the current protest movement continue this strong tradition, they… In 2009, many activists and musicians of the Green Movement called forth songs from the 1979 revolution to stake a claim to the revolution’s original yet unattained promises. People wore headscarves and wristbands in the green of Imam Hussain and went to their rooftops to shout Allahu akbar to invoke God’s help against a corrupt, earthly power.
Who is Shervin Hajipour?
1988 – Thanks to lyrics criticizing law enforcement and depicting raw life in Compton, California, N.W.A spark national controversy with their influential second album, Straight Outta Compton. To honor the legacy https://forexbroker-listing.com/ and influence of this now global culture, GRAMMY.com presents a timeline marking the genre’s biggest moments. Watch the video above for Beyoncé’s full speech for Best Dance/Electronic Album at the 2023 GRAMMYs.
Iranian singer Shervin Hajipour who faces prison wins Grammy for protest anthem
1997 – Days before the release of his diamond-certified second album, Life After Death, the Notorious B.I.G. is killed in Los Angeles. The slaying of two of hip-hop’s biggest artists prompts soul-searching across the music industry and inspired Biggie’s friend, Puff Daddy, to release the GRAMMY Award-winning hit, “I’ll Be Missing You.” Lizzo kicked off her GRAMMY acceptance speech by acknowledging Prince’s influence on her sound. “When we lost Prince, I decided to dedicate my life to making positive music,” she said.
Join us on Social
“This was at a time when positive music and feel-good music wasn’t mainstream at that point and I felt very misunderstood. I felt on the outside looking in. But I stayed true to myself because I wanted to make the world a better place so I had to be that change.” “We are humbled to be able to recognize Shervin and ‘Baraye’ as the first recipient of the Best Song For Social Change Special Merit Award,” said Harvey Mason jr., CEO of the Recording Academy, in a release. After Hajipour was released on bail in October, he thanked his supporters and reiterated his love for Iran, but also denounced the use of the song for political benefit outside of Iran, which some Iranians claim was done under pressure by the Iranian authorities. For many Iranians, the song captures the widespread anger against the Iranian regime that has driven the largest anti-government protest movement in the country’s recent history.
The Academy steadfastly supports freedom of expression and art that’s created to empower communities in need. Because music serves the world, and the Recording Academy exists to serve the music. The Recording Academy received more than 3,200 unique submissions for the first-ever award, and 12 additional nominees were in the category’s first class. Shervin wrote “Baraye” (“Because of”) with the words of fellow Iranians, who had gone online to list the ways their lives had become intolerable.
Revisit the moment Harry Styles accepted the most coveted award of the evening for ‘Harry’s House’ and offered a heartfelt nod to his competitors — Beyoncé, Adele, Lizzo, Coldplay and more. “I’d like to thank my Uncle Johnny, who is not here, but he’s here in spirit,” Beyoncé proclaimed. “I’d like to thank the queer community for your love and inventing this genre.” At the 2023 GRAMMYs, RENAISSANCE won Best Dance/Electronic Album. Marking Beyoncé’s 32nd golden gramophone, the win gave the superstar the record for most gramophones won by an individual act.
Relive the night Beyoncé received a gramophone for Best Dance/Electronic Album for ‘RENAISSANCE’ at the 2023 GRAMMYS — the award that made her the most decorated musician in GRAMMY history. So far, there has been no reaction in Iranian state media or from government officials to Hajipour’s win. Music fxpcm has always been a healing and comforting medium, the glue to all art forms. It’s so powerful to see “Baraye” unite all Iranians across the world. I think every Farsi-speaking (referring to Persian) person can sing that song at the top of their lungs and mean every word regardless of who they are.
Hajipour wrote each verse of the lyrics based on a separate tweet. That’s exactly the spirit that we wrote this in, is that you can kill a revolutionary, but you can’t kill a revolution. When I see the women singing for freedom, for the students, for our futures, this right to freedom, this right to my humanity, to be valued as a person is so powerful that even with the media blackout, they could not silence the song. Hajipour was subsequently released from custody, and his song has become an anthem for a protest movement led by women and young people. When the Recording Academy announced the creation of the Best Song For Social Change Special Merit Award, supporters of the movement seized on the opportunity, and more than 110,000 submissions were made for “Baraye.”
Check back to GRAMMY.com for more new episodes of GRAMMY Rewind. “Thank you so much. I’m trying not to be too emotional,” Beyoncé said at the start of her acceptance speech. In this episode of GRAMMY Rewind, revisit the historic moment Queen Bey took the stage to accept her record-breaking GRAMMY at the 65th Annual GRAMMY Awards.
With production help from Timbaland and kinetic music videos, Elliott establishes herself as one of the most innovative acts of the era. 1988 – Public Enemy release their second album, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. Reportedly featuring over 100 samples and focused on Chuck D, Flavor Flav and Professor Griff’s revolutionary lyrics, it’s often cited as one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all time.
The Islamic Republic has declared war on life, disdaining daily life and imposing unprecedented problems such as corruption, precariousness, the environmental crisis, and serious discrimination and inequality… This song, its rapid rise in popularity, and the singer’s arrest demonstrate the power of ordinary people to disrupt existing norms. 1993 – Wu-Tang Clan release their debut album, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). With nine members led by rapper/producer the RZA, the highly unique Staten Island-based collective spawned dozens of solo albums and affiliated acts over the following decades. Hajipour has released 33 songs, 3 soundtrack songs, 4 music videos, 31 unreleased songs and 3 songs as featured artist. On February 5, 2023, Hajipour became the third Iranian to win a Grammy award.
And this is [the] song that they sing which is called Baraye by an artist called Shervin Hajipour, who is in trouble with the authorities just for writing a song about people being free. You may not know this song, but we’re gonna give it everything because we’re gonna send it with love from here to Iran. Honourable senators, I continue on a somber note and wish to give voice to the brave Iranian women, men, girls, and boys who are facing a brutal regime in Iran. These words, which I will read out shortly, were crowdsourced by 25‑year-old musician Shervin Hajipour who captured their essence and put them to music. On the release of the song, he was, of course, immediately jailed and tortured before being released again. He has gone silent, but the song has gone viral — not just in Iran but, in fact, globally.
But this time around, there are no religious signifiers or any demands for reforms. If classical songs are performed, they are not the icon Mohammad Reza Shajarian’s conciliatory song Language of Fire in 2009, when Iranians were still agitating for reforms from within, but his militant 1979 song Night Traveler… The state security system instantly understood the significance of Baraye as a protest song. Hajipour then was arrested and held for several days before being released on bail in October. The 25-year-old singer faces charges of “propaganda against the regime” and “instigating the violence,” according to Human Rights Activists in Iran, a group that’s been monitoring the monthslong protests.
At least 527 people have been killed amid a violent suppression of the demonstration by authorities. Hajipour was relatively unknown until he released his single, “Baraye,” on Sept. 28, 2022, which he composed and recorded from his bedroom in the coastal Iranian city of Babolsar. Two days after he released his single, he was arrested and put in jail for several days before he was granted bail in early October. We’re gonna sing a song that right now is being sung by many people in Iran and many of the Persian diaspora, people who left Iran after the Revolution. And I don’t know if you’ve seen on the news, but young women and young people are fighting for their freedom, for the right to be themselves, and we believe in this band, that everybody should be able to be themselves as long as you don’t hurt anybody else. So, we fully send our love and support to all of those brave young people fighting for freedom.
He won the new Grammy category, “Best Song for Social Change”, at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards for his song Baraye which had become an anthem for the new Iranian revolution against the Islamic Republic. In late September, Shervin Hajipour sat down at his piano in his apartment in Iran. Protests had raged across the country for more than a week after the death of Mahsa Amini, arrested for how she wore her headscarf. On Sept. 28, Shervin posted a song that, miraculously, managed to say what. Hajipour was forced to remove the song from his social media platforms by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’s security agents shortly after his arrest. The hit album makes her a rare female rap star during a dearth of prominent women voices in the genre.