Hip-Hop from the Land of Fire: Hüseyn Dǝrya Concert in Khachmaz

American celebs at the Azerbaijan rap show

Well it happened, I went to my first Azerbaijan Rap show.  I wasn't expecting this to be the first goal achieved in 2012 and I certainly wasn't it expecting to happen so easily, but last week I saw a poster on the door of the school I work at advertising Hüseyn Dǝrya, performing in Khachmaz this past Saturday.  Hüseyn Dǝrya is not my fave Azeri rapper, he's best known for his hit Keyf Elǝ (which is hilariously translated on youtube as 'Have a Fun') a song that sort of embodies easy, 'can't we all just have a good time' rap.  The video looks like it was made in the 80s at latest, but don't let that fool you-it came out in late 2000.  If anything, its a trip to watch what a rapper of somewhat commercial success in Azerbaijan considers 'having a good time' to be.  Here's a hint: its not what American rappers think.

But I wasn't going to be deterred at this type of cultural experience on the basis of talent!  I want to see any rap show I have opportunity to in this country and this was happening in my hometown.  So go I did, at 5pm, to the Heydar Aliyev Culture House to see Dǝrya.  The show was in a very nice auditorium and everyone sat in their selected seats and, for the most part, didn't get up.  I can't really tell much of what Azeri rappers are saying but Hüseyn Dǝrya was very PG; he was wearing grandmother approved clothes (sweater vest, button down shirt), frequently stopped to say how lucky we all are to be in Azerbaijan, and invited 3 young girls on stage to help him with a chorus to one of his songs.  These weren't girls in the sense of booty dancers, these were girls in the sense of 12 year olds who he swayed awkwardly with as they shyly sung.

Yes, Hüseyn Dǝrya confirmed my suspicion of (lack thereof) cultural relevance.  However, there were some real highlights to the show.  The light show for this concert was unreal and I can only think of a few concerts I've attended that surpassed this.  It was as if they prepared a lightshow for a 10,000 person festival but were then told they would be in a 250 person auditorium.  It was great and really fun.  Secondly, Dǝrya was performing with a young Khachmaz rapper named MC Kamal who basically showed him up every time he got on the mic.  Hüseyn may have realized this because he definitely started cutting MC Kamal off as the show went on.  MC Kamal has absolutely no publicity and no 'laurels' to rest on so he focused on speed and energy and he delivered a highly enjoyable mini-set.

Unfortunately, after a couple hours searching on the sites promoting this concert, youtube, and online in general I can't find any tracks of MC Kamal to post except for this early one, from 2010.  Furthermore, because soundcloud recognizes it as using an unauthorized sample it won't let me upload it.  Is this a new thing soundcloud? I've never encountered this before..