Yassim Kassem performs (with Mohammed Turek) at a cafe in downtown Beirut on August 8, 2008. Photo by: AFP

They call themselves I-Voice -- Invincible Voice -- and are among a number of rap groups to have emerged from impoverished Palestinian camps in Lebanon and from the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories. Turek, 18, and Kassem, 19, really shook the hornets' nest with a song called "Inkilab" (Revolution) which addressed inter-Palestinian fighting and divisions and how the various factions are handling the Palestinian cause. "We got told by many (political parties) to stop and sort of got threatened about singing one song in particular," said Kassem about Inkilab. "We just said 'yes' and kept on singing it." Inkilab slams the main Palestinian political factions for losing sight of the cause and also for what the duo says is gang-like behaviour. "The solution for the liberation of Palestine is civil war," go the lyrics. "The medal of honour goes to conspiracies that made our lives disgusting." The rappers have also had run-ins with organised religion. One cleric warned people not to listen to them, during a sermon at weekly Friday prayers in the northern refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared, after the pair staged a concert there. "I laughed," said Kassem. "Here I am trying to wake people up, make them aware and drag them away from the superficial and they accuse me of forcing them to do bad things!"

The pair recorded their first album in August last year in a makeshift studio in a narrow alleyway in Beirut's overcrowded Burj al-Barajneh refugee camp. "The harder the life you live, the more you love hip hop," said Kassem. He raised the money to buy recording equipment for the basement studio by juggling different jobs over two years and with the help of friends. "I had friends in Australia who sold some of my CDs for me and helped me buy some equipment." As Kassem and Turek write and record their music in the tiny studio with walls and ceilings covered with grey sponge soundproofing, they contemplate the poverty that surrounds them. "I immediately liked rap music. It's an expression of all things that are wrong in society," said Turek, who is also known as TNT. Palestinians are banned from 25 professions in Lebanon and many face difficulties finding a job. The harsh living conditions inside Burj al-Barajneh camp are plain to see. Sewage floats down alleyways, many buildings have tin roofs and exposed electric cabling drapes walls and is hung between streets.