Meesha Shafi defends brother Faris Shafi in internet feud

In recent twitter feuds, Rap Artist Faris Shafi was critiqued for his line of work and the background he belongs to by a known academic Nida Kirmani. Her targeting and singling out Faris Shafi was a major reason that left many netizens angered who then went on to drag Kirmani’s statement to bits.

The sociologist took to her twitter and shared her thoughts on Class and Privilege, stating that these elements are quite rampant in our society and the creative spaces we Pakistanis occupy. “Class & ethnic privilege effect every field in Pakistan, but one of its most profound effects is on the arts. From music to literature to tv/film, most of those who make it big are members of the Punjabi elite. Coke studios throws in some Sindhis & Baloch as tokens but that’s it.”

While the debate on class and ethnic privilege may be important, many users pointed out that it does not stand to reason for gatekeeping an entire genre to a certain community, especially when the conversation singles out a talented artist and implies that they renounce their body of work just because of their apparent privileged background.

The academic further went on to pen her thoughts, implying that the “elites” should not be involved in such fields and leave them for the marginalised, where rap originated from: “Faris Shafi’s rap may be entertaining but only reinforces this. Rap is an art form of the marginalised, adopted & transformed by folks from the inner city. This is why the rappers like Eva B coming from Lyari are part of a wider tradition. The elite should leave at least this.”

Ironically enough, Faris Shafi does not maintain a presence on social media and could not chime in the conversation. Celebrated singer Meesha Shafi defended her brother and immediately fired back by detailing her familial struggles and rationalising the sweeping statements in a tweet: “That’s a bit flat and problematic as a general perspective. Faris and I were raised by an extremely hard working, very financially stressed single mother. We do not come from money. Are you suggesting, just because she put her sweat and tears into managing to give us a private education, we should step aside from our merits and talent and go do something else?”

This comes right before the Coke Studio collaboration of Meesha Shafi and Faris Shafi was announced and some readers chimed in their concerns as to whether this was all orchestrated as a marketing scheme. Many fans of Shafi avidly defended him by sharing their love for his music and highlighting the immense talent that manifests in his lyrical work, whereas Meesha Shafi further went on to commemorate her talented sibling: “Besides.. he is a self made star, has done commercial work in music after over 10 years of making no money just so he doesn’t have to censor himself.”