Mona Haydar - "Hijabi" (Wrap my Hijab) video, lyrics & lyric analysis

Edited by Azizi Powell

Updated: June 3, 2020

This pancocojams post showcases Mona Haydar's social activist rap "Hijabi" (Wrap my Hijab).

A video and lyrics to this rap are included along with notes that I compiled about the meanings of certain references in this rap.

The content of this post is presented for socio-cultural, religious, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Mona Haydar for her positive activism. Thanks to all others who are featured in this video and/or who had a role in producing this rap and this video.

Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publisher of this video on YouTube.

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INFORMATION ABOUT HIJABS
From http://istizada.com/muslim-veil-and-hijab-types-a-complete-guide/ Veiling trends for Muslim Women Updated on: June 14, 2019 [This article includes drawings & photos of these styles.]

...Hijab: The term tends to be used as a catchall in the West for all Islamic head coverings, but is mainly used to mean a headscarf. For Muslim women representation in media and popular culture, this is the most commonly used word. However, there is no uniform style for what hijabs look like or which are worn across the Muslim world. Hijabs come in many patterns, fabrics, colours, and styles. In more liberal societies, it is up to personal preference to determine the type most commonly worn and referred to that covers the head and neck but leaves the face unobstructed.

The word “hijab” means many different things in Arabic as well, as evidenced by this screenshot of Google Translate. The end of this article outlines a number of trends for how to style and wear a hijab.

[...]

Shayla: A Shayla is a long, rectangular scarf, wrapped around the head and tucked or pinned in place at the shoulders. It is popular in the Persian Gulf. It is often used interchangeably with the word hijab, but this specific term designates a garment that leaves the face uncovered, where hijabs do not always imply that. There are a variety of fashions, colours, fabrics, and styles that constitute this fashion style.

[drawing inserted]

Eşarp: An Eşarp is a silk square scarf that is worn by women in Turkey. It is special for its material, but ranges in many different designs and colours.

[drawing inserted]

[...]

Tudung: A Tudung (also spelt tudong) is the most popular head covering for Muslim women in Southeast Asia. In Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia and Brunei, the tudong is worn for religious regions in accordance with Islam. Usually, there is no distinction between the tudung and hijab as it covers the hair, ears, neck while leaving only the face exposed. It is part of the standard dress code for many offices, school uniforms, and formal public gatherings. In Indonesia, a tudung is slightly different and is a veil that has a sewn-in curved visor to shield the wearer from the harsh sunlight.

[photo inserted]


Chador: A chador is a semicircle of fabric draped over the head like a shawl. The chador has no fasteners and is generally held together in the front under the neck by hand. In some cases, there are added pins or ties to keep it steady. Black is generally the most popular public colour, but women often wear colourful versions at home or at the mosque. Chadors are popular mostly in Iran or countries with large Shia populations. Occasionally, it is worn with a smaller headscarf underneath.

[photo inserted]

Al Amira: the Al-Amira (sometimes spelt Ameera) is a two-piece veil made of a close-fitting cap, usually made from cotton or another lightweight material, and a tube-like scarf.

[drawing inserted]

[...]

Dupatta: A dupatta is part of the customary Pakistani, Indian, and Bangladeshi outfits. It is a long rectangular veil that is usually made of light material and is beautifully embroidered on the edges. Muslim women may also use it as a headscarf as well. This term encompasses a wide range of materials from very light and transparent to heavily detailed, elaborate embroidery and patterns. It is not uncommon to see very shiny gold and silver dupattas.

[photo inserted] "
-snip-
This is only a small portion of this article. The entire article is well worth the reading and viewing time.

Thanks to Sarah Ahmed, Executive Assistant, IstiZada.com for alerting me about this article on June 3, 2020.

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INFORMATION ABOUT MONA HAYDAR'S RAP "HIJABI"
From https://www.buzzfeed.com/aishagani/this-syrian-american-womans-rap-about-wearing-hijab-is-dope?utm_term=.ctxrGqGMX#.axRwzQz3M
"Mona Haydar is a Syrian-American activist and poet from Flint, Michigan....

In the video, directed by artist and songwriter Tunde Olaniran, Haydar is flanked by a squad of Muslim women and raps about wrapping her hijab, shutting down haters and celebrating diversity of women around the world."...

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SHOWCASE VIDEO: Hijabi by Mona Haydar (Wrap my Hijab)



mona haydar, Published on Mar 27, 2017

#hijabiXmona is the debut music video by new independent artist Mona Haydar.

"Hijabi" is the first single from her forthcoming EP. Lyrics below.

Buy the song on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/hij...

https://twitter.com/mona_haydar
https://www.instagram.com/themostmona/
https://www.facebook.com/monahaydar/m...

Lyrics:
Verse 1
What that hair look like
Bet that hair look nice
Don’t that make you sweat?
Don’t that feel too tight?
Yo what yo hair look like
Bet yo hair look nice
How long your hair is
You need to get yo life
You only see Oriental
You steady working that dental
You poppin off at the lip
And run ya mouth like a treadmill
Not your exotic vacation
I’m bored with your fascination
I need that PayPal, PayPal, PayPal
If you want education

Hook
All around the world
Love women every shading
be so liberated
All around the world
Love women every shading
power run deep
So even if you hate it
I still wrap my hijab
Wrap my hijab
Wrap my hijab
Wrap, wrap my hijab

Keep swaggin my hijabis
Swag-Swaggin my hijabis
Swaggin my hijabis
Swag-swaggin my hijabis

Verse 2
Me and my hijabi ladies
We was born in the eighties
So pretty like the Euphrates
and party like some Kuwaitis
Deeper than some diplomas
Current like some hot yoga
Takin back the misnomers and
Teleportin through trauma
Teleportin through trauma
Teleportin through trauma
I been stackin my karma
Nefertiti, no drama
Make a feminist planet
Women haters get banished
Covered up or not don’t ever take us for granted

Hook

Bridge
You’re just jealous of my sisters
These Mipsters, These hippies
These Prissies, These Sufis
These Dreddies, These Sunnis
These Shii’s, Yemenis
Somalis, Libnanis, Pakistanis
These Soories, Sudanis
Iraqis, Punjabies
Afghanis, Yazeedis
Khaleejis, Indonesians
Egyptians, Canadians
Algerians, Nigerians
Americans, Libyans
Tunisians, Palestinians
Hidden beyond the Mekong in Laos
Senegalese and Burkina Faso

****
NOTES ABOUT SOME REFERENCES IN THIS RAP [mostly from the Bridge portion]
I've numbered these notes for referencing purposes only.

Additions and corrections are welcome.

1. Hijab
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hijab
"A hijab... is a veil traditionally worn by Muslim women in the presence of adult males outside of their immediate family, which usually covers the head and chest. The term can further refer to any head, face, or body covering worn by Muslim women that conforms to a certain standard of modesty."...
-snip-
Also, read http://arabsinamerica.unc.edu/identity/veiling/hijab/ "Women Veiling What is the Hijab and Why do Women Wear it?"
-snip-
"Hijabi"= Muslim women who wears hijab

**
2. Mipsters (also given elsewhere as "Mipsterz")
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mipsterz
"Mipsterz (short for Muslim Hipsters[1]) are a group of primarily young Muslims in their 20s and 30s (and a subset of the Millennials) who have evolving views on religion, identity and culture.[2][3][4] The Mipsterz nickname was started by an animated debate on Twitter using that hashtag.[5]
"The 'Mipsterz' first began as a satirical, thought-generating jab at corporate culture and evolved into a limitless collective that empowers individuals to find coolness in themselves and share their God-given gifts with all.

**
3. Hippies
From http://www.dictionary.com/browse/hippies
"a person, especially of the late 1960s, who rejected established institutions and values and sought spontaneity, direct personal relations expressing love, and expanded consciousness, often expressed externally in the wearing of casual, folksy clothing and of beads, headbands, used garments, etc."

**
4. Prissies
"Prissies" is used in Mona Haydar's rap as a noun.[i.e. women who are "Excessively or affectedly prim and proper."] definition from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/prissy
-snip-
That online source also indicates that this word may "[Perhaps [be a] blend of pri(m) and (si)ssy.]

**
5. Sufis
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sufism
"Sufism or Taṣawwuf[1], which is often defined as "Islamic mysticism,"[2] "the inward dimension of Islam,"[3][4] or "the phenomenon of mysticism within Islam,"[5][6] is a mystical trend in Islam "characterized ... [by particular] values, ritual practices, doctrines and institutions"[7] which began very early on in Islamic history[5] and which represents "the main manifestation and the most important and central crystallization of" mystical practice in Islam.[8]

Practitioners of Sufism have been referred to as "Sufis" "

**
6. Dreddies
a person who wears her or his hair in dreads [dreadlocks]
From http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=dreadlocks submitted by Niki Lasher November 21, 2003
"dreadlocks
Also called dreads, it is a style created by allowing the hair to matt into locks.

Although popular myth gives Rastafarians credit for inventing the style, it is almost as old as humanity itself. Dreadlocks or similarly matted styles have been worn from Africa all the way to India, Australia, and even Papua New Guinea.

Indians call them "jata", and they are generally worn by adherents of Shiva.

Some Austro Aboriginies call them "goonut" or "goonat". It was a popular style around the area now known as Botany Bay in pre colonial times.

The term "dreadlocks" being used for this style, however, did originate with the Rastafarian movement. To them it symbolizes many things including the rejection of conventional western mainstream beauty standards, and the dread some may feel when confronted with the true natural self."...

**
7. & 8. Sunnis and Shii’s
From http://www.patheos.com/Library/Sunni-Islam
"The followers of Sunni Islam, one of the two major branches of the tradition (the other is Shi'a), make up approximately 80 percent of the Muslim population in the world. The Sunni are the majority in most Islamic countries outside of Iran, Iraq, Yemen, and Bahrain. Sunna—translated variously as the "trodden path," "the way," "example," or "habitual practice"—refers to the example or path of the Prophet Muhammad and his followers. The Sunni and Shi'a both trace their differences to the 7th century C.E., when disagreements over the successor to the Prophet Muhammad arose. The Sunni maintain that the Muslim community was to select the Prophet's successor (caliph) to lead, whereas the Shi'a believe the Prophet chose his son-in-law, Ali, to be his successor. Although Sunnis and Shi'as agree on many theological and practical matters, the Sunni are typically seen as putting more emphasis on the power of God and his determination of human fate, and are often understood to be more inclusive in their definition of what it means to be a Muslim. The Sunni tradition has placed great emphasis on the role of religion in public and political life, with great weight placed on the Shariah (Islamic law) as the standard for a broad range of social issues—marriage, divorce, inheritance, commerce, and so on."
-snip-
Also, read this excerpt from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shia_Islam
"Shia..., from Shīʻatu ʻAlī, followers of Ali) is a branch of Islam which holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib as his successor (Imam).[1] Shia Islam primarily contrasts with Sunni Islam, whose adherents believe that Muhammad did not appoint a successor. Instead they consider Abu Bakr (who was appointed Caliph through a Shura, i.e. consensus) to be the correct Caliph.[2]
Adherents of Shia Islam are called Shias of Ali, Shias or the Shi'a as a collective or Shi'i individually.[3] Shia Islam is the second-largest branch of Islam: in 2009, Shia Muslims constituted 10–13% of the world's Muslim population"...

**
9. Libnanis
referent for people from Lebanon
http://www.dish-away.com/2012/05/layali-libnan-recipe.html

**
10. Sorries
Correction: April 4, 2017
-snip-
Read the comment about the meaning of this word in the discussion thread below" Soories = a referent for Syrians.

Thanks for the correction, Dawood Alvi.

Here's the information that I had initially given for "Sorries":
From http://www.ramanuja.org/sv/bhakti/archives/jun2000/0024.html
"The sentient souls (Jeevaatmans) are classified into three types namely
1. Badha (tied/bound by their own individual karma which has not date of
origin-Anaadi)
2. Muktha (liberated from all karma)
3. Nitya (ever-free from karma - eternally)

The Veda establishes the existence of Nitya Soories in Shree Vaikunta
Paramapadam that is a transcendental divine world totally different from
material world by stating that "Yatra Poorve Saadyaas Santi Devaa:", "Sadaa
Pasyanti Sooraya:".

[...]

The Nitya Sooris are called so because the term "Nitya" indicates that they
are ever-free from karma and were untouched by karma at any time. "Soori"
indicates that they serve (do service) to Lakshmi and Naaraayanan in
Paramapadam as Sheshas and Shine because of their nature."...


**
11. Yazidis
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yazidis
"The Yazidis (also Yezidis, Êzidî; Listeni/jəˈziːdiːz/ yə-zee-dees) are an ethnically Kurdish[19][20] religious community[21] or an ethno-religious group[22][23][24][25] indigenous to northern Mesopotamia (see also Ezidkhan) who are strictly endogamous.[26] Their religion, Yazidism is linked to ancient Mesopotamian religions and combines aspects of Zoroastrianism, Islam, Christianity and Judaism.[27][28][29][30][31]"...

**
12. Khaleeji
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khaleeji
"Culture of Eastern Arabia, associated with Arab states of the Persian Gulf."

**
13. Mekong
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mekong
"The Mekong is a trans-boundary river in Southeast Asia. It is the world's 12th-longest river

[...]

Countries: China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam
-snip-
In this rap, the reference to "Mekong" alludes to the fact that there are also Muslims in the nations where the Mekong river is located.
-snip-
Other references in this rap's bridge cite national references for other Muslims throughout the world.

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