One of my favorite acts from what I've seen of Hip HopNa around the internet has to be Desert Heat. The group is comprised of two brothers living in Dubai, Illmiyah (Salim) and Arableak (Abdallah). Their performance in the Hip HopNa finale got the crowd going more than any of the other artists. Their lyrics are mostly in English, adding in Arabic here and there. They sometimes perform in traditional Arab gear (as seen on the right) which makes them stand out from other artists coming out of the region.Their album When the Desert Speaks came out in Spring 2008 but unfortunately it's only available in the Middle East right now. You can listen to a bunch of their songs on their official page and their MySpace page. They have two singles out now with videos that you can check out on youtube:
Keep It Desert
Under Her Feet - I love the form of the rhymes in English and the chorus in Arabic. Iraqi rapper The Narcicyst just came out with a song for Gaza using a similar structure.
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