Rapper Omar Offendum Focuses on the Conflict in Syria

Omar Offendum is a Syrian-American hip-hop artist and peace activist who is focusing on the conflict in Syria in his music. Through art, Offendum strives to bring attention to the crisis and speak out about the true meaning of the initially peaceful revolution that started in 2011 and resulted in the worst humanitarian crisis in the last two decades, according to the UN. Today, Offendum organizes and attends events in order to collect funds for humanitarian aid to Syria.

According to his recent interview for PRI’s, apathy towards the Syrian conflict is “not an option”, as there are today more than four million refugees, 220 thousand people killed and over a million wounded in the conflict. He has recently teamed up with the Islamic Relief USA to create a video reminder for the people to pay attention to Syria. “It’s not the time to look away, change the channel or click over to some irrelevant top 10 list,” he said.

In 2012, Offendum released a song called “#Syria” in which he supported the civil uprising against the Syrian president Bashar Al Assad. “Stand in solidarity with all your fellow citizens, peacefully protesting for an end to all the militance, torture and imprisonment, murdering of innocence, proving that this lying leader's rule is illegitimate,” he rapped.

Apart from the conflict, Offendum focuses on demystifying Islam and building bridges between the West and the Arab world. Growing up in Washington DC, he studied Arabic and poetry, which in his words is “the backbone of the Arabic language.” In his song “Damascus”, Offendum connected hip-hip with the verses of the Syrian poet Nizar Qabbani. “[Syria] is the place where the very first alphabet was recorded, the very first musical notations, some of the first mosques, churches and synagogues in this world. Syrian history is world history,” he said.