Last Thursday I was lucky enough to catch the first (and long awaited) screening of Slingshot Hip Hop in Jordan which was followed by an awesome performance by DAM on the theater’s stage.

I’ve been a fan of DAM ever since I read about them nearly 5 years ago and I can’t believe I finally got to see them performing live at Al-Hussein Cultural Center last week! They were AMAZING! very funny, down to earth, classy and real. God bless their hearts.

Slingshot Hip Hop is a documentary on the Palestinian Hip Hop scene featuring DAM, PR, Abeer, Mahmoud Shalabi, ARAPEYAT, Ibrahim andWE7 (Wlad El 7ara). The documentary was the official selection of the Sundance film festival for this year 2008.

If you’re into Arabic rap and hip hop don’t miss this one. I’m not going to tell you exactly what’s in it, but I can tell you what I appreciated most and what moved me to tears. I appreciated the focus on female Arab rappers (Abeer and the other young girls who performed with DAM) and how being Arab, Palestinian and on top of that female is such a sad situation Arab women have to live with. You can listen to DAM’s great song about women in our society “El-Hurriya Untha” here.

And what moved me to tears is seeing the destroyed buildings and weeping souls in Gaza and the hardship people are living in, seeing one of the rappers living their, talking about his daily routine made me realize how weak I am.

Watch the trailer here.

You can buy DAM’s mp3s including their latest album Dedication here.

DAM, thank you! you’re making us proud. Can’t wait for your next visit to Jordan.