Growing up in America in a Syrian family, Omar Offendum saw a sharp increase in anti-Arabic and anti-Muslim feeling after the 9/11 terrorist attacks while he was still at college.
"I realised very quickly I could use hip-hop as a platform to bridge these seemingly opposed sides of my identity together - the western American side and the Arab eastern side," he told SBS.
"I honestly did it both out of a desire to give people an opportunity to relate to me a bit better but also for me to deal with some of the things I was dealing with as a young person in America."
Offendum, who is in Australia at the invitation of the Council for Australian-Arab Relations, the University of Sydney’s US Studies Centre and the Department of Arabic Language and Cultures, said hip-hop also gave him the opportunity to demystify misconceptions people had about Arabic and Muslim culture.
"All too often the only Arab voice people had was some angry dude yelling on TV, and that didn’t represent me and it didn’t represent my experience so I wanted to change that," he said.
"At the core of what I do is really the fundamental humanity of what binds us all, regardless of our backgrounds and our status in society."
As more attention is drawn to the number of young people drawn to extreme Islamic groups like ISIS, Offendum said serious conversations needed to be had.
"We have to understand what aspects of society here or in America or in Europe would lead a young person to want to seek some sort of alternative," he said.
"At the end of the day that I think that we will see - eventually, hopefully - an enrichment of what it means to be Australian or what it means to be American or European - and more importantly just a citizen of this world."
"There has to be a harder focus as to what it is that is driving these young people to feel so disengaged and to try to bring them back.
"Finger-pointing isn’t going to help; protesting at the building of a mosque isn’t going to help; it’s only going to fuel the flames further. There has to be a very sincere, honest and perhaps difficult conversation that has to happen over the next several years.
"But at the end of the day that I think that we will see - eventually, hopefully - an enrichment of what it means to be Australian or what it means to be American or European - and more importantly just a citizen of this world."
Given his heritage, the conflict in Syria features in Offendum's music, but he said he feels he has to self censor at times to protect his family.
Syrian-American rapper Omar Offendum. Source: SBS News
"I don’t take the fact that I have this ‘freedom of speech’ in America lightly," he said.
"I can write something from the comfort of my home in Los Angeles and it can have a huge impact on people who are very near and dear to me thousands of miles away, so with that comes a sense of responsibility, and even further a sense of responsibility knowing I have this platform, I have this following and trying to speak to things that matter in this world and trying to make effective positive change."
During his visit Offendum has spoken to students at the University of Sydney and will visit the Street University in Liverpool on Friday to hold a writing workshop.
"Success is really being able to change people's lives in a positive way."
"I feel very fortunate to have been invited here, I hope it’s the first of many trips to Sydney.
"I’m a very firm believer of musicians being able to make a living out of performing and touring and that’s what I do.
"Success is really being able to change people's lives in a positive way."
Related reading
US considers sending ground troops to Syria
