An article from CNN explains that al-shabaab, a Somali-based wing of Al Qaeda is using slick production values and rap to entice members to join.
This is a good thing. This is a very good thing. This means the standard message delivery systems aren't working; that people aren't buying into the messages as they were. Once you're forced to resort to this strategy, you know that the product or idea doesn't 'sell itself', but rather needs big budget things to convince people. That's a good sign of an ideological shift.
Plus, look at the medium. Rap as a media force is a byproduct of the decadent west. On one hand, Al Qaeda is using the narrative strategies of the west with the intent of attacking it. In using the narrative strategies of the west, they undermine the efficacy of their message (that we must attack the west).
I'm not worried by this turn of events. The more Jihad becomes a hard sell, the better we do.
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The real question is whether they're targeting kids who listen to rap already. If I like Dr. Dre, then hearing rap songs about capping motherfuckers in the name of Allah isn't too far of a stretch, and, I think, doesn't lend itself to "going back" very easily. That is, if you start out on the side of the west, the fact that rap is of western origin isn't really a big problem. (It seems to me, though, that Al-Qaeda probably won't hire very good rappers. And will therefore not be very convincing. The fuck do they know about hip-hop?) If, on the other hand, this is the first or some of the first rap/hip-hop that these people have heard, then it may recruit them for a time, but only until they hear some Slick Rick or Prince Paul, which might convince them that Western culture might have some things to offer.
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