A young rapper with explosive lyrics breaks taboos in Pakistan

Tom Hussain in the Kansas City Star:

In September, rap fans will be treated to the online release of “The Mushroom Cloud Effect,” a hardcore album by a debutant artist featuring collaborations with American powerhouses like B-Real, Xzibit and Everlast.

The improbable star of the album is Adil Omar, a 21-year-old Pakistani who works from a studio in the corner of his bedroom in an affluent suburb of Islamabad.

A relative newcomer to Pakistan's thriving music scene, Omar has struck a chord with educated Pakistani youth who – after five years of Taliban terrorist attacks – are using artistic expression to rebel against the moral policing of their conservative society and being labeled as extremists in the West.

True to the rap genre, Omar's lyrics are a scornful, frequently abusive commentary on those stereotypes.

“I make a terrorist tear a wrist, prepare for his funeral, and I'm way beyond your government's or parents' approval,” he rapped in “Paki Rambo,” a 2011 hit whose YouTube video has generated more than 260,000 views.

The song also provided the inspiration for the title of his new album, with Omar wryly commenting on the nuclear arms race between Pakistan and its archenemy, India: “There's no silver lining to a mushroom cloud.”

More here.