Dareen: Egypt's rising rap star

Egyptian rapper Daleen brought a new perspective to Egypt's male-dominated rap scene, bringing the Cairo crowd to their feet with a whirlwind of sharp poetry and curly hair on stage.

Her raps flow over eclectic beats inspired by her childhood in Alexandria. Alexandria is a coastal city that is home to many of Egypt's biggest rap stars, including Wegs, a hugely popular male rapper who is on the rise after his performance at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

In Alexandria, “we make art, but in Cairo it's a whole industry,” 21-year-old Daleen told AFP, her bright pink nails sticking out from fingerless leather gloves. .

And the industry is booming. In 2022, Wegs became the most streamed Arab artist in the Middle East and North Africa on music platform Spotify.

“Rap's influence can be seen in our charts, rapped data, and all major cultural events,” said Marc Abu Jawde, head of music for the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia at Spotify. said.

Last year, 60% of the most streamed Arab artists on Spotify belonged to the hip-hop genre, which includes rap.

“The number of rap artists touring Europe and the United States is also increasing, which is evidence of how fans around the world, including diaspora communities, connect with the genre,” said Abu Jawde. Ta.

According to music researcher Amr Abdelrahim, Egyptian rap has long had an “underground status.”

But now, party boats plying Cairo's Nile are blasting through Egypt's capital, Weghuz, and rappers are winning multinational advertising deals.

“Their specialization of their craft not only influenced the way they made music and wrote poetry, but also influenced their dreams,” Abdelrahim said.

“They were the first generation to see their elders making a lot of money rapping.”

And female performers in the genre, long out of the spotlight, are vying for a piece of that success.

Dareen's own song, “Layla,” about being disappointed in a fellow artist, has been viewed nearly 180,000 times on YouTube.

Although Cairo's lineup increasingly features female rappers donning stylish streetwear and putting on big performances, there's still a class divide they have to cross.

masculinity, power, money

Far from the working-class African-American communities where rap was born half a century ago, the Egyptian version and its audience remain “on the margins, because they are middle-class and upper-class, is much more popular.” Abdelrahim said.

Mahraganat is known in Egypt as “electro-sha'abi” and is widely popular, becoming an abbreviation for music that represents the expression of Egyptian youth.

“You can hear it just by walking around Cairo,” Abdelrahim said.

Inside “every tuk-tuk, every shop, what you hear” is Mahraganat, a combination of synthetic beats, traditional instruments, and frank lyrics celebrating masculinity, power, and money.

For rising women in rap, it's an easy creative choice to try to emulate the same masculinity, but their lyrics seem to cast a wider net.

In her latest album, Kawabes (Nightmare in Arabic), Dareen raps about “depression and mood swings” “after a breakup.”

After leaving the stage to thunderous applause, she said she wanted to talk uncensored about “everything,” including her most vulnerable moments.

But rapping as a woman is an uphill battle in many ways.

VIDEO: Egyptian rapper Daleen brings a new perspective to Egypt's male-dominated rap scene as he flashes his quick verses and curly hair on stage, bringing the crowd in downtown Cairo to their feet. pic.twitter.com/0fNWJ3Ou65

— AFP News Agency (@AFP) April 19, 2024

“Not being taken seriously”

“It's difficult to assert your freedom as a rapper, whether it's with your family or society,” Darlene said, adding that the industry is “far from peaceful” and harsh on women.

“We are not taken seriously. They think we are fine when it is just the opposite.Especially here in Egypt, dealing with harassment and constant obstacles. I am forced to do so.”

Egypt is a conservative and deeply patriarchal society, which means that most women avoid careers that involve them in public life.

And in the macho world of rap, Abdelrahim said, “to evolve, you have to frequent the same places, you have to fit into a network of artists and producers, you have to fit into an all-male world.”

More women are stepping into the genre's spotlight, but most of them come from the wealthier classes of Egyptian society.

Abdelrahim said almost all female rappers come from upper-class families, where girls and women generally enjoy more freedom and less fear of social prejudice.

“There's more social diversity in the male rap scene,” Abdelrahim said. There, artists utter insults against those with privileged upbringings against their own working-class backgrounds.

Meanwhile, these women walk a tightrope between rap's swagger and society's demands of modesty, completely eschewing American hip-hop's brand of sexuality.

Abdelrahim says “assuming overtly sexualized femininity” like female rap stars Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion is “impossible” if performers want to be seen as worthy of respect. he said.

“Because ultimately they are judged by both society and their families.”