Hip hop is one of America’s most successful cultural exports in the Arab World. From clothes to clefs to chains, the syncopated syllables of Arabic rap songs sound almost the same as their American cousins, except for the obvious linguistic difference.

The success of an Arabic hip-hop pastiche makes sense. For one thing, Arab diaspora communities in the United States act as nodes in an intercontinental cultural feedback loop. More than that, American rappers sing about the same problems many Arab youth endure: disenfranchisement, discrimination, poverty, and violence endemic in their communities. These topics reflect the perspectives of Palestinian, Lebanese, and Algerian musicians in particular. By the same token, Gulf rappers replicate Americans’ songs about how great it is to be really, really rich.

While many derive their inspiration from American rappers and resemble, sartorially and aurally, their Yankee counterparts, these artists represent the latest generation of an art form once thought to be dying: Arabic poetry. Long before the promulgation of literacy on the Arabian peninsula, the Arabic poetical tradition, in its tribal form, took the shape of extended poetry battles between rival bards, reminiscent of post-modern day rap duels. Being a lauded and skilled poet was no minor honor. After the advent of Islam, Arabic poetry took on some religious elements, yet poets yielded nothing in the way of freedom of creativity, writing and singing extensively in different genres and styles. Sadly, sociological circumstances and elite elements’ interpretations of how art “should be” squelched innovation right around the same time Shakespeare took quill to parchment. Arabic poetry hasn’t been the same since.

Happily, with the help of a rapidly globalizing world and an ever-expanding online marketplace of ideas, that august tradition seems to be making something of a comeback. The rappers below are all leading a renaissance of an ancient art form, this time with grillz.

1. Malikah

Malikah (a.k.a. Lynn Fatouh), whose stage name means “Queen” in Arabic, is one of Lebanon’s most popular rap acts, overcoming a traditionally male-dominated scene. Her lyrics highlight the hurdles Arabic women face. The cadence and content of her songs are angry, reflecting the frustration of a modern woman confronting inequality in Lebanese society. Lebanon has been in the habit of negotiating contradictory cultural roles since the crucible of the Crusades. Malikah’s energetic music is the newest incarnation of this tension.

Top image via NOW Lebanon