Iranian Rap Music Bedevils the Authorities

[Rasputin]

In a cozy soundproof recording studio housed in a decrepit building here, the rap musician known as Felakat lounges on a chair, surrounded by sound mixers and other sleek recording gizmos. Sporting a tousled black shirt, a slick fur jacket, and a rumpled and spiky hairstyle, the Iranian rapper might well pass for a punk icon.

"I devoted my life to rap when I was just 15," says the 27-year-old Felakat, which means "miserable" in Farsi. "Rap is my god."