Wearing hooded sweatshirts, baseball hats and sports gear, the five young men alternated between nodding their heads to the rhythm and taking hold of the microphone to pour out their anger, their insights, their pain.

"No matter if you're Muslim, no matter if you're Christian, no matter the religion, we all are human," intones DK.

The scene and sounds wouldn't be unusual in many U.S. cities, where rap has been part of urban culture for decades.

But this is Baghdad.