In the 1920's groups of rural migrants "brought their native musical styles into the growing urban centers of northwestern Algeria," (Gross, McMurray, and Swedenberg p. 200). Their pulsating groves and concordant dance moves took root in the then-liberal port town of Oran, and it was soon to make waves on distant and foreign shores. Yet right from the start, the music represented the underrepresented: the peasants, the prostitutes, and the poor. Sang in the Orani language by female vocalists, early rai music was already a synthesis of a variety of tribal cultural traditions before it became blended with urban Algerian sounds and sentiments. Rai combined risque lyrics and dancing on top of its solid musical foundation. These harbingers of world music soon integrated the urban Algerian sounds, styles and personas into their already complex rural genre. Rai was, and remains, as much a cultural and political expression as a musical one. Following Algerian independence an "Islamic reformist chill" prohibited public performances by female rai singers and put a stop to the dancing as well. Rai did not go underground, though, but the music changed with the times. In fact, one of the distinguishing features of rai music is its adaptability and its heterogeneity, which is why rai reflects the transnational movements of populations, ideas, and cultural expressions.

             Rai music would flourish in France, where large numbers of Algerians and other North Africans (called Maghrebi) found residence in the post-colonial era. However, the Maghrebi immigres have been and continue to be systematically persecuted in France. In their article "Arab Noise and Ramadan Nights: Rap, Rai, and Franco-Maghrebi Identities," Gross, McMurray, and Swedenberg discuss how France's "legacy of colonization" has impacted the evolution of Franco-Maghrebi culture, and specifically, rai music. Rai emerged as a "defensive" form of music, which the authors contrast with the more in-your-face attitudes found in hip-hop, a genre that is currently in favor with the young Maghrebi French (p.