“All We Know Is Violence:” Seattle-Based Somali Rap Crew Malitia Malimob Talks War and Peace
The new album from Seattle’s Somali hip-hop duo Malitia Malimob courts controversy. It’s titled simply ISIS, a move that delayed the album’s release while iTunes scoured the group’s lyrics looking for ties to the infamous terrorist organization. The album cover is a picture of a dead Somali baby beneath a cartoon of Egyptian pharaohs and African lions. The band itself isn’t even together at the moment because one-half of Malitia Malimob is in jail after being shot in the back by the cops. And though this might seem to be a lot of shock value, the point is to force the listener to look beyond the stereotypes to see the truth: that African culture has been defined in the worst terms by non-Africans, while African voices are silenced every day.
I’m meeting one-half of Malitia Malimob, Chinoo Capo Gaddafi (born Guled Diriye), at Paradise Restaurant, a well-worn Somali restaurant so underground and deep in the community that Chinoo had to call ahead to let them know that white people were coming. Chinoo rolls in late and we’ve already eaten, giant delicious heaping mounds of spicy roast chicken, goat, and, strangely, curried spaghetti, a throwback to the days of Italian colonization. Chinoo immediately orders more food, and tucks into it. He’s here to talk and he’s got stories to tell. Stories about escaping Somalia on foot. Stories of AK-47 rifle shots echoing behind him as his family left. Stories about growing up in Seattle as a displaced African and Muslim.
These are stories that aren’t being heard in the local press, who seem more concerned about “gangs” of Somalis that have supposedly been robbing people on Capitol Hill, a heavily gentrified neighborhood. “I feel like our community is shunned,” Chinoo explains. “Every time it’s negative. We’re good people, good-hearted, welcoming, but we’re shunned. You see East Africans, Somalians, it’s: ‘They’re criminals, they’re no good. Get them out of here. They’re pirates!’”
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