Hip-Hop Started Out in the Heart

Hip Hop and Palestine The middle-aged Hip-Hop movement has lost its soul, and nowhere is that clearer than its lack of voice on the genocide in Palestine, writes journalist Simone Amelia Jordan ( Jack Mitchell/Getty Images/Jack Mitchell/Getty Images) During the short drive to gymnastics practice, our daughter Leila requests ‘Love Train’ from the movie Trolls Holiday. She claps along with glee to the kiddie version of the 1972 hit by R&B group The O’Jays. “Start a love train, a love train!” Her father is driving, and from my passenger seat, I turn to smile at Leila’s unbridled joy and squeeze her bare leg. My phone buzzes. Shifting back in my seat, I swipe away the reminder to pick up my dry cleaning on the way home before opening Instagram reflexively. A post from dancer Moh Ghraiz stares back at me from my feed. Ghraiz started Camp Breakerz Crew in Palestine two decades ago, supporting children living under Israeli occupation through dance workshops and ciphers. Ghraiz’s latest post is a photo of a serious girl with soft brown eyes that mirror mine. She is around my daughter’s age — no more than six — her petite arms folded in a classic...