SNOR
With his otherworldly voice and his delicate overtures, the anonymous rapper SNOR transports listeners to a hypnotic realm set to the trippy rhythms of his autotuned beats. With every new track, SNOR further establishes himself as one of the stars of the North African music scene and consequently among the best of the best in the Arab world. Listen to these tracks and get ready for a singular musical experience, happening for the first time in the Levant in Beirut:
An excellent introduction to SNOR’s oeuvre, the serene, floaty atmosphere draws you into the track, with SNOR laying down his verses in a cadence closer to chanting than to rapping. The melodies are distinctive, tangling with one another, the arrangement precise and impeccable. After a few listens, when it becomes clear that SNOR is singing the virtues of narcotics and intoxicants, the song goes to a whole new level of expression. It’s an exploration of these ideas and feelings without pretension or posturing or moralizing—just an honest and beautiful description of a universal human experience.
The Rai influence is clear in “HKAYA”. In fact, it’s one of the prime examples the Trai wave that’s been sweeping the Maghreb for the last couple of years. That interplay between Trap and Rai music in “HKAYA” is a good indication of why Moroccan rappers have managed to attain a level of success otherwise unprecedented in the Arab world. Rap artists in Morocco managed to push aside the pop stars and take their place: it’s the rappers who are the pop stars everyone listens to now, their voices having taken over the French airwaves and their videos going viral across Europe.
“HKAYA” is a good showcase for how SNOR operates across several levels, musically and thematically. The track pulls from influences as different as Algerian traditional Rai music to Alice in Wonderland, creating a complex but interlocking world built thoughtfully and carefully.
2. Wegz
From the outset, Wegz set himself a challenge: to become Egypt’s number one rapper, as well as the country’s most well-known pop star. After some daring attempts, some of which succeeded and others failed, Wegz was finally able to realize his dual mission, his songs climbing to the top of listeners’ playlists.
With every release, Wegz surprises and beguiles his audience in new ways, always leaving them wondering what comes next. He takes on different personas in his videos, never just limited to his role as a rapper, which opens up a rich space for experimentation.
From the oversized tracksuits he dons at his concerts and in his video clips to the Valentino outfits he wore at his last show in Riyadh, Wegz’s constant innovation and evolution applies to his outward appearance as well.
“Dorak” Gai is a unique track in Egyptian music, taking that trendy flirtation between the trap and mahraganat genres and turning it into a whole new genre unto itself. “Dorak Gai”, already a classic, showcases a chic and modern gangster style in the video that’s wholly its own. Surrounded by a crew of guys from Wardeyan, his neighborhood in Alexandria, Wegz struts around in an elegant outfit that would be hard for anyone else to pull off.
In contrast with “Dorak Gai”, Wegz is cool and indifferent in the video to “bazeet”, hanging out with a slacker crew in an abandoned garage. There are some homages to the 2000 film Al Nazer (The Headmaster), as well as a few nods to Pablo Escobar, creating a vibrant mix that swings between aimlessness and humor. Wegz’s persona in “bazeet” is theatrical par excellence, one he embodies as spontaneously and smoothly as though he were born to play the role.
A perfect example of Wegz’s ability to continuously surprise his audience, “Keify Keda” featuring Disco Misr is a celebratory romp of a track thanks to its infectious African beats. Wegz’s cheeky, joyous persona, so clear across all his Instagram stories, is on full display in the video here as he plays a part more akin to a comedian than an artist. With his spirited dance moves, Wegz’s slacker attitude from “bazeet” remains on display, this time as part of a delightful and colorful mix of styles, beats, and melodies.
3. KTYB (Formerly Katybon)
Though he’s been on the scene for over ten years now, KTYB’s energy remains explosive, and neither his creativity or his skill shows any sign of waning. What’s most noticeable in his videos, besides his solid bars and earwormy lyrics, is his irrepressible charisma, drawing you in so that you can’t help but play the video again and again. It’s exciting to even think about how KTYB might translate this sense of lightness and energy to the stage in his performance.
When KTYB discovered drill music, he wasn’t shy about trying it out but plunged right in head first. His flow is solid, full of rhythmic surprises, able to contain all his intense energy and use its momentum to its full advantage.
“ARDH ARDH” showcases KTYB’s ability to build melody out of his flows despite not using Autotune in his track, as well as his skill in writing melodious choruses that the audience can sing along to during his live shows. KTYB moves seamlessly between his melodic hooks and intense, heavy verses, which makes his tracks sound layered and dense.
4. DAFENCII
With the release of his track “KING ALHALABA”, Sudanese-Saudi rapper DAFENCII rocketed to fame, quickly gathering a wide audience of listeners from the Arab Gulf to Egypt and Algeria and even Libya. Despite that, DAFENCII has never taken to the stage—until now. His appearance in Beirut will be the first time he ever performs live.
DAFENCII x KHAYYAT – KING ALHALABA
DAFENCII’s ingenuity is on full display in “KING ALHALABA”, with his sophisticated way of layering his clever lyrics over the chill beat produced by Palestinian beatmaker KHAYATT. The latter’s work has been instrumental to DAFENCII’s success even though the two have never actually met in person.
5. El Rass
Though he’s been producing music for over ten years now, El Rass still has what it takes to surprise his listeners with every new output. He draws us in musically, then smacks us with tight verses that are sometimes spit out rapid-fire, sometimes sweetly sung, laying out his critique of the region’s politics, always giving us his personal take on the situation and situating it within a historical ideological context. This became even clearer during Lebanon’s October revolution in 2019, when his tracks “Shoof” and “Al Nar” were pretty much adopted as revolutionary anthems by the protesters because they so perfectly captured the dilemmas and rage of an entire generation of Lebanese people.
El Rass plays with various traditional forms in his work, from pilgrim’s chants and Levantine heritage styles to Indian music and eastern rhythms. In El Rass, we hear familiar sounds that remind us of his rich and venerable journey.
The track begins in the slow, drawling style of a mawwal. The lyrics convey a sense of oppressive emotions that El Rass sets free with the eloquence of his wide lexicon. Hadeeth al Hamama is an excellent example of all the styles that El Rass moves so effortlessly between.
El Rass x Shabjdeed x Al Nather – Qareeq
“Qareeq”’s crowning achievement is in how it marries two angry voices that are fixtures on the Arab rap scene. The track was produced by Al Nather, and showcases his distinctive way of sampling eastern music, also used in his previous collaborations with El Rass. El Rass and Shabjdeed smoothly switch roles, spitting verses with equal eloquence to create a doubly powerful track.
El Rass – Vodka w Cerelac (Prod. Zoog)
El Rass’s verses flow smoothly over the soothing bars composed by producer Zoog, almost giving a romantic tone to the serious economic and psychological challenges laid out in the song. Director Jamal el Aawar helped create a visual identity for the video that mirrors El Rass’s mischievous style.
6. Daboor
Daboor doesn’t mince words: whatever he has to say he says without concession or compromise. He takes the enemy’s language and transforms it into revolutionary slogans for Palestinians and Arabs to repeat after him. “Balagan balagan”
Daboor & Shabjdeed – Inn Ann (prod. Al Nather)
This is the track that finally realized what the rap scene in the Levant has been striving toward for years. The song that broke through the confines of the rap audience to become an anthem for hundreds of thousands who don’t count themselves as listeners of rap music. It has inspired countless memes, its lyrics printed on banners carried at protests in Palestine and other countries. Neither Daboor or Shabjdeed could have imagined any of this when they released the track just one week before the events at Sheikh Jarrah in May of 2021—indeed, this isn’t the kind of success or virality anyone can plan for.
7. Al Nather
Even though it’s easy to imagine his melodies and choruses as anthems being sung by entire stadiums of people, Al Nather has also kept to his hobby as DJ Murr, playing sets from the deepest and strangest corners of the internet, from thrilling sites that force the listener to dance and rewards the curious reveler with a glimpse of Al Nather’s personal musical taste.
Al Nather ft. Shabjdeed – Boiler Room Palestine
8. Donia Waell
It’s rare to hear a pop voice so skillfully riding the waves of electronic dance beats, and Donia Waell is one of this style’s pioneers. She began almost shyly with the song “Mosh Ba’eed,” produced by Hatem Chorbassi, then found her stride in her collaboration with the brilliantly talented Egyptian producer El Waili. Donia Waell’s pop songs quickly found their way to the top of listeners’ playlists all over Egypt and the Arab world. Her lyrics have a fluidity that allows them to quickly get stuck in your head so you find yourself singing them over and over.
Masra7 Gareema – Donia Waell x El Waili
Donia Waell managed to find a thrilling vocal harmony with El Waili from their first collaboration together. Between the lo-fi sounds piercing his colorful beats and the effects used on her warm vocals, the result is a smooth track that promises an ambitious career for the singer. “Masra7 Gareema” has also opened up space for a new style with the potential to breach the stagnation of the mahraganat scene, which has started to lose its vitality and spirit of regeneration.
El Waili, Donia Waell & Zaid Khaled – 3dd El Sokkan
“3dd El Sokkan” brings two important pop vocalists together: Donia Waell from Egypt and Zaid Kahled from Jordan. The two voices combine together over El Waili’s dance beats, which he slows down to match Waell and Khaled’s pessimistic lyrics, and makes it a dance fit for the slow groove of a bunch of depressed people.
9. El Waili
El Waili emerged on the scene for the first time in 2020 with a covered face. Listeners speculated that he was in fact a seasoned producer who’d decided to hide behind a new identity because his releases sounded more skillful and mature than would be expected of a novice. These releases nabbed him a place on Ma3azef’s list of Best New Voices 2020. From the outset El Waili moved toward collaborating with a number of new artists including Perry, Donia Waell, Zaid Khaled and Bint7alal, which allowed all of them to find their voices and establish trajectories whereby they all saw success within the first year of launching their careers, in large part thanks to El Waili’s uncanny talent for showcasing their abilities.
“Al Shareet” is an excellent entry point into El Waili’s complex musical world. From the elegant opening strains of his tracks to the dancy beats that lift them into another register, every track on Al Shareet takes the listener on a rich auditory journey. The melodies start out simple, then increase in intensity as they layer over one another, the track reaching its fevered apex at the end, setting the stage for another new beginning. The whole experience feels like being on a roller-coaster as it dips and rises, again and again.
El Waili – Tok Tok
El Waili produced his album Tok Tok intermit bursts over a period of time, so that the recording better reflects his feelings and motivations to make music: from anger and jealousy to a sense of boredom with his life in Cairo. The album is divided into two parts. The first contains a number of different musical genres from the perspective of a Tok-tok driver while the second showcases El Waili’s extensive talent in musical arrangement, continuing to raise the bar for production on the Egyptian scene.