Confession: I don’t listen to music that much. It’s not that I dislike the idea of music, its just that its hard for me to try to listen to new artists. Recently, I have discovered a new genre I have fallen in love with. That genre is Middle Eastern Rap. Its basically regular rap music but it sounds way more intimidating because its in a different language. I have made a playlist of some Middle Eastern Rap Music.

Balti: Ya Lili (ft. Hamouda)
Mohammed Ramadan: Mafia
Mohammed Ramadan: El Malek
Artmasta: Ya Hmema (ft. Cheb Bechir)
Mohammed Ramadan: Ana Gad3

I hope that you can appreciate this music the same way I have.

A History Of Middle Eastern Rap
Rap, Pop, and Hip Hop music are very popular in the Middle East and Maghreb countries (from Morocco to Iran.) The first album of middle eastern rap music was “Dasta Bala” by an L.A. Based Iranian group called Sandy in the 90’s. By the early 2000’s, rap music had spread to Palestine, Iraq, Lebanon ,Saudi Arabia, The UAE, Kuwait, Egypt, Israel, North Africa and Bahrain. Middle Eastern Rap music is mostly sung in Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, French and English. Most lyrics are angry, and are used by the musicians to vent about their problems. They are different from American rap music because of the theme of the lyrics. Most American rappers sing about, drugs, alcohol and money. Middle eastern rappers sing about their governments, growing up poor and military service. I think that middle eastern rap will grow in popularity, maybe even similar to K-Pop. All I can say is that I am waiting for the day ME-Rap blows up.

Kahoot Quiz
Here is my amazing quiz on Middle Eastern/Maghreb Rap.