Hey so another forum that I'm on (one of the leftist ones) had a thread on non-English-language songs, and I ended up posting a really long series of links and recommendations. Due to the forum, this list skews way more politics-heavy ("conscious rap", e.g.), but putting this together ended up getting me to go back and re-listen to a lot of groups I hadn't listened to in a while. Figured was worth posting the same list up here.
Since this is a lot of links and goes through like four continents, I'm not embedding any of the YouTube links. Here goes.
First: I listen to a lot of French hip-hop. The genre's dominated by French Arab/African and African artists; I connect with a lot of it (though my French is pretty bad - I usually get by via translations, cognates, and my limited French ability), and, yeah, there's a lot of great recommendations I can give - here're a few:
Sniper: first group I started listening to, going back to the early 00s and still active now. Two songs to suggest:
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Jeteur de Pierres: "Stone Thrower", about Israel-Palestine, the right to resist occupation, etc. (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-lTfJdHyhU - audio only)
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Blood Diamondz: one of my favorite songs, collab b/t Sniper and Sexion d'Assaut, really blunt song about colonization and exploitation of Africa for resources (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzvFZgb64zI - unofficial video)
Tunisiano: one of the members of Sniper, he's got a lot of solo stuff I also like. Just one song I'm linking here:
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Je Porte Plainte: "I'm filing a complaint", the video is pretty good at carrying across the meaning whether or not you understand the lyrics (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3i1sJ8RSDs)
Youssouppha: Congolese rapper with wide recognition; some recs:
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Menace de Mort: "Death Threat", song in response to right-wing politicians likening rap music to 'death threats', plus one of my favorite lines comparing La Marseillaise to gangsta rap (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Arve4ZB8jog)
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Dreamin': ok only non-political song on this list, duo with the singer/artist Indila, and something I'll usually play as a teaser to get someone into the genre (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwtAg1V_kQk)
Mokobé: West African rapper with a smaller discography, but several good songs - just one rec for now:
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Nuit de Flammes: "Night of Fire", in response to a fire that happened at a housing complex with a high West African immigrant population, where the building itself was neglected (similar to Grenfell in London, it's impossible to decouple neglect of the building from disregard of African immigrants) (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJOXNqnUG0A)
Medine: One of my favorites, Medine is an often controversial rapper that includes a lot of themes of being Muslim in France, and anti-imperialism/anti-colonialism. ...three recs this time:
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Camp Delta: about Guantanamo (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8IXWNziH-4 - video with English subtitles,
]trigger warning: scenes of prisoners being abused)
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Gaza Soccer Beach: written and released shortly after four kids playing soccer on a beach in Gaza were killed by Israeli fire; a lot of invectives about both the West and complicit Arab governments (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsNgkKKMabU)
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Nour, Enfant du Destin: song about genocide of Rohingya in Burma, and about as dark as the subject matter (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GH1cOFInMuw ]severe content/trigger warning: sexual assault, violence - I have trouble watching this video at times)
Keny Arkana: Another of my favorites, she's a rapper born in Marseille of French-Argentinian origin, with a lot of leftist and ecosocialist themes in her work. ...also three recs this time:
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V pour Vérités: "V for Truth" (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=622QUs5aZeQ - video with English subtitles)
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Terre Mère n'est pas à Vendre: "Mother Earth Is Not for Sale", personal favorite ecosocialist song (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHcktjivvsg - video with English subtitles)
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Gens Pressés: "People in a Hurry", this one's more personal to me since... it captured a lot of what I was feeling during bad crunch times at my previous job, when it felt like I was just crunching numbers and needed to be doing something with an actual benefit (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ek--9tnmaDg - video with English subtitles)
Second: Spanish - I won't go as all-out here, but just list a few groups and songs I want to give more recommendations on. Been listening to a lot of these artists/songs since the 90s (er, and my Spanish is workable, unlike my French).
Maná: One of my favorite rock bands ever since high school. They've been around since the early 90s and are still playing now (I'm planning to see them on tour this fall). Here're a few standouts that have some more specific meaning in the lyrics:
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Cuando los Angeles Lloran: "When the Angels Cry", a song about Chico Mendes (Brazilian rubber tapper, union leader, and environmentalist, who was assassinated in 1988) that's also my favorite Spanish-language song period (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOO5vAB26sE - linking the unplugged version here since the guitar solo is so much better in it)
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Justicia, Tierra, y Libertad: "Justice, Land, and Liberty" partly written with the background of uprisings in Chiapas since the 1990s, with references to Zapata/Zapatistas in the lyrics (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJkRKldWgwo - audio only)
Maná and others: Maná has also covered a few famous songs, so I'm including two ones here along with the originals:
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Desapariciones: song originally by Ruben Blades; the song refers to disappearances done by various military governments - I first heard the song in Argentina so that's where my mind usually goes (original:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGl-fQxMY9E, Maná's cover:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02b6WQLQwl4)
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Somos Más Americanos: a more recent cover of a song originally by Los Tigres del Norte, very bluntly about the -Dung Beetle- of borders declaring people subhuman based on which side they're on (original w/ translation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OljZou-Z1Ps, Maná's cover:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oY8mjtUaek)
Molotov: I'm actually not too big on this band, but there's at least one song of there's I gotta recommend:
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Frijolero: mostly on hypocrisy of US racism towards Mexicans, note that this was from the early '00s so they toss in references to Bush/Blair and Iraq (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iJMOBcPQyg - unfortunately the official version has some pointless censoring, but foul language / NSFW warning)
Charly Garcia: A major figure in Argentine rock, especially during the military government in the 80s.
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Los Dinosaurios: References to disappearances during the dirty war, though with a more hopeful tone about how the military government ("dinosaurs") will eventually be gone (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UILQU0VEWII - audio only)
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Sweet Home Buenos Aires: ...I just like this one; subversion of the original meaning of Sweet Home Alabama, since this is... pretty cynical about Bs. As. and Argentina (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCrnEzY1FPo)
Ricardo Arjona: One of my personal favorites, and I've always loved both his lyrics and singing - I'll just put in one rec here since this is long enough as it is:
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Si el Norte Fuera el Sur: "If the North Were the South", pretty heavy on the irony, most of this is pretty clear with the lyrics and video (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KV1BIauCpzY - some brief NSFW/war images)
Lastly: Japanese - Unfortunately... it's harder to find social commentary in Japanese songs, at least among those that get a lot of airtime, and I haven't been as up on the Japanese hip-hop scene in over a decade. Also even though I speak Japanese, some of the content is really tough to parse (especially social/political references), so I tried to find some videos with subtitles where I could. Here're a few recs:
King Giddra: Older group from when hip-hop was really getting its start in Japan, they have a few more songs that are more directly critical of government/society than most, and fortunately a couple that I was able to find subtitles for:
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911: song from early '00s that draws an analogy between 9/11 and the bombing of Hiroshima, with some heavy criticisms of the US's rush to war (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ze8PfbT2Bp0 - includes English subtitles)
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Shinjitsu no Bakudan: "Bullet of Truth", song from 1995 about a lot of the failings in society since the early Heisei era (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_isAxs_h-5E - audio only, includes English subtitles)
Rhymestar: I generally like this group for both style and substance, but it's harder to find stuff with subtitles for folks, so just one rec:
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Heat Island: Adding this here mostly because I love the fusion of styles - e.g., incorporating wood blocks and shamisen into the beat with direct reference to development of Japanese rap in the lyrics, enjoyable even if you don't understand the lyrics (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djlhYSFHJFo)
X-Japan: Nothing to do with politics, but I wanted to at least close out with one of my favorite rock bands - active in the 80s-90s, they were big in the genre of Visual Kei (you could liken it to glam rock, but it's more a countercultural development against Japanese pop, and no joke I actually love the costumes/makeup/hair, especially when groups put in a lot of homage to old kabuki theater styles. X Japan dissolved in '97, but Yoshiki (lead songwriter/composer/singer) is one of the best musicians around and still prolific today. Two songs I'll put in here:
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Kurenai: probably my favorite rock song, can't find a version with subtitles though unfortunately (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-zXzhfP2YM - live version)
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X: close second, earlier song and the live version is pretty good at carrying across the energy of their concerts (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXFvmPZp_98 - live version)