Music
Edited by Roman St Clair roman@ontimepublishing.com
Preacherman the irreverent reverend
We sit down with the Preacherman to discuss his latest fracau with the police and how he got where he is today
Music
R
adio Beirut’s resident Preacherman aka Hussein Ali Sharafeddine recently made the news when he was arrested under suspicion of being a terrorist and TOB had to know the full story. ‘I was fixing my mum’s car, taking it to my friends workshop. Driving along, I look in the side mirror and I see a guy running next to the car with a gun – I’m going like 20 mph. He told me to raise my hands and I said I needed to park first. So I’m putting the car into park and that’s when he hit me. He punched me with the hand that was holding the gun. I could see that the safety was off and that it was cocked. Then he put the gun to my neck and tried to pull me out of the car. I tried to open the door and he hit me again. Then his friend came along and hit me a couple of times with his gun. They pulled me out of the car and searched me with a lot of force. They forcibly handcuffed me and dragged me to the police car. Nobody even told me to stop. Nobody even asked me my name. I wasn’t resisting arrest. I had my hands over my head the whole time. If they told me to stop of course I would have. I don’t fuck around with guns.’ Preacherman was born into ‘problems’; his mother went into hospital for days after he came into this world because of his huge head. He found himself getting into a lot of trouble with the police as an adolescent, but tells us that hip-hop and the power of speech can often go further than physical force in the struggle against aggression. ‘The only reason we do hip-hop is for civil education, civil awareness. The reason there are successful hip hop artists in Lebanon is because they bring the message of what real hip hop is, which is an escape and a call against racism, bigotry, ignorance and basic human disregard. This is what I rap about and sing about. This injustice is what we all feel and experience. The difference is now I can talk about it, but it’s not about me it’s about these motherfuckers who don’t have this voice.’ He almost exclusively freestyles and loves the feeling of being on stage combined with improvisation. Preacherman lives his life one day at a time, when asked what would be next for him he replied ‘Shit, I don’t know. Come to Radio Beirut and find out.’ Radio Beirut (76 936744) Armenia Str, Mar Mikhael
I don't fuck around with guns
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