Arabic hip hop

Arabic hip hop is the hip hop music and culture originating in the Arabic-speaking world. It is performed in English, local Arabic dialects, and French. It is highly influenced by Western hip hop, mostly by American hip hop.

Hip hop music has a high popularity almost everywhere in the Arabic-speaking world. It is played on the radio stations and shown on TV stations, but performing it has begun not too long ago. Some say the first attempt of producing Arabic rap music was by a few Palestinians around 1998, such as Tamer Nafar [1]. More recent and very popular hip hop performers are MTM from Egypt, who have been using Egyptian Arabic in their songs. In addition, there is a popular Kuwaiti hip hop band called Army of One [2], who perform in English. They released an album called "Reprezentin", which received much success around the region.

Hip hop is produced by amateurs in many Arabic nations. In Bahrain, there's DJ Outlaw. Famous Algerian rappers include Intik, MBS, Hamma, and MIA. Also, NiZ-R, an Iraqi rapper who is living in Jordan who is really talented and raps in both Jordanian and Iraqi, Ashekman (Lebanese rap crew) and Clotaire K from Lebanon. Palestinian rappers include MWR, DAM, Arapeyat and Jabbar (rapper & producer) [3]. From other Arab nations, Arab Legion, Iron Sheik, Patriarch Son of a Refugee, Euphrates, N.O.M.A.D.S., and Adam A. Shoucair also known as (A.M.A) all.mighty.ameer [4].

One of the most successful Arabic rappers however is the Moroccan artist Salah Edin who performs his music in the Moroccan dialect Darija. Salah Edin has performed in over 31 countries in 4 continents and worked among popular American acts such as the Wu-Tang Clan, producer Focus (Aftermath) as well as with popular French artists IAM and Danish topsellers Outlandish.

Other successful rappers, producers and DJ's of Arabic origin are Cilvaringz (Wu-Tang Clan), DJ Cut Killer (France), DJ Abdel (France), Freeman (IAM), Isam Bachiri (Outlandish), producer Fred Wreck (Snoop Dogg, G-Unit), DJ Lady S (Belgium), and all.mighty.ameer (Detroit).

External links

• Official Arabic Rap Website
• Slingshot Hip Hop - a documentary film on the life of Palestinian rappers living in Gaza
• Official UAE Rap Website

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