162: Ballad of an Exodus: A Syrian Rapper's Memoir

Nasser Shorbaji, aka Chyno, is a bit of an anomaly. The son of a Syrian-Filipino couple from Damascus, Chyno—whose mother tongue is English— works as a hip-hop artist based out of Beirut, Lebanon. His feeling as a sort of outlier in the various environments he has found himself in throughout life is what originally drew him to hip-hop. Hear Chyno share about the genre’s rich diversity, its power to express self and reflect one’s environment, and how the Syrian hip-hop scene’s freedom of expression has expanded since the Syrian revolution.   All the music featured in this episode comes from Chyno’s debut solo effort, entitled “Making Music to Feel at Home.”