Over the past decade, we have witnessed flourishing music scenes in the Arab region, from the Morrocan rap scene, Egyptian mahraganat, rap, and electronic, to the unique standard of rappers in Palestine and the solid club scene in Lebanon despite all the political and economic turmoil. Not only did these fresh sounds and innovative visions steal the spotlight from mainstream artists on a local level – after the pop artists failed to cope with the shift in youth’s taste, the music industry and the advertising agencies started to appropriate the aesthetics of rappers and mahraganat artists – but they have also gained worldwide recognition.
In recent years, it has become obvious that changes and mutations in music styles in these scenes are happening fast. The most significant artists among this group are building a link between their innovation and the future, while leaving the repetitive present behind. For example the Egyptian artists 3phaz merge Mahraganat beats with UK bass. Ranging from 3D graphics, game engines, animations, lo-fi experimentation, and strong performance, I chose five videos that I believe are showing the futuristic sense of their music producers and/or video makers.
Artist: MSYLMA
Track: Dhil un Taht Shajaret Al Zaqqum (Saudi Arabia, 2019)
Label: Halcyon Veil
Made by media artist and music producer Omar El Sadek, this is one of the very few 3D-worldbuilding videos within the Arab region. By relying on Cinema 4D, El Sadek reflects MSYLMA’s dark and mysterious aesthetics. With his fictional persona and narrative, and driven by pre-Islamic and Quranic poetry, he traces his transition from childhood to adolescence to adulthood with his existential questions. This unsettling, dream-like sequence showcases great design and masterful animation in the morphing process of an ambiguous creature, in addition to crafty manipulation of camera movement, shadow, reflections, and contrast tone and lighting. It ends with the creature’s gradual demise on the backdrop of a sunset scene.
Artist: Shabjdeed
Track: From Ramallah to Jerusalem and Back (Palestine, 2019)
Label: BLTNM Records
With his first outstanding album, Sindibad El Ward produced by Al Nather, Shabjdeed marked himself as one of the major rappers in the local scene and, in my opinion, one of the strongest rappers at the international level. In addition to Al Nather’s playful drill beats and Shabjdeed’s unique flows and crafty lyricism, the video’s soundtrack contains excerpts from three songs from Shabjeded’s debut album. This video, directed by Hannah Rosselin, follows Shabjdeed in his everyday life, capturing all the mundane details, switching between tense and laid-back scenes. The technique used to document a normal day from Ramallah to Jerusalem is noteworthy, especially the quick camera movements and the impressive wide shots from high angles. The video succeeds in projecting Shabjdeed and BLTNM’s direction; it adresses politics without any tired cliches from the past, representing the true spirit of street life, telling stories of Palestinian youths without empty slogans or self-victimization. The same video concept has been applied, to some extent, using animated characters in Kteer Ktar, by Kareem Soltan and Tomeye Studio.
Artist: Zaid Khaled x El Waili
Track: Lame (Egypt, 2020)
Since his first appearance, Zaid Khaled has mastered the art of switching between genres, introducing a fresh pop sound to the region and infiltrating the rap scene. Unlike previous collaborations, which resulted in hits like Lal Nour and ABULZOOZ, Lame focuses rather on the visual presentation. By collaborating with 3D designer Hazem Zakaria, Khaled takes video production in the region to the next level. If there is anything video producers in the rap scene should avoid, it is the typical, repetitive aesthetics where rappers appear in front of the camera with an excess of misogyny, ego, and narcissism. Using a game environment, Zakaria builds an imaginary colorful world that later transitions to a long falling scene and ends with ruptured structures. The video complements Khaled’s romantic lyrics sung over a mahraganat beat by El Waili, creating a beautiful contrast.
Artist: ZULI
Track: Trigger Finger (Egypt, 2018)
Label: Haunter Records
It’s been four years since ZULI released his single Trigger Finger, but it still sounds so fresh, which speaks to the futuristic vision of this banger. By releasing this track, ZULI made his entry into the UK bass scene and stormed every dancefloor with his fresh elements to Jungle. Dirty textures, distorted breaks, and heavy exploding bass have been visually translated, by NO TEXT, through VHS-aesthetics. Listening to this jungle track with its unique formula and innovative sound while watching the blurry lo-fi aesthetics of the video totally disrupts time, which is probably the most attractive element in this video.
Artist: Khtek
Track: KickOff (Morocco, 2020)
After her open-mic experience in the streets of Morocco, and a successful series of freestyle videos on YouTube, Khtek kickstarted her professional career with «KickOff». In the video directed by Alaa Eddin Rais, Khtek appears in a T-shirt with the slogan «The Future Is Woman» on it, and with a kick-ass attitude. The video direction amplifies her strong presence and captures her old school, aggressive, and unique style, which promises a new wave of Morrocan rap. In «KickOff», Khtek announces herself as a rapper, launching an alternative strand in the local street rap thanks to her skillful word play, flawless rhymes, and strong performance.