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BREAKING
r essed i n m atchi ng ou tfits white shirts and bow ties, leather jackets and sixpence hats 31-year-old Farouk Ibrahim and 29-year-old Mohamed Gad Elkarem, an Egyptian rap duo who go by the name of Asfalt, bounce around the stage at Cairo University. I want the Egyptian people to be winners, I want everyone to feel, to open your eyes and dont be afraid, they rhyme, in Arabic, together with guest rapper Zap Tharwat. The audience all join the chorus, fists in the air: I want, I want, I want 3ayz, 3ayz, 3ayz. The show is high energy, mixing politics, big beats and humor (at the end, they offer their version of Gangnam Style). The duo are meticulous in their preparations they even have their own clothes designer. Throughout the show Ibrahim and Elkarem ca ll for unit y and good leadership in their country, while cursing violence, racism and unemployment (and bad TV during Ramadan). But if you suggest to Ibrahim that, as many have claimed, Egyptian hip-hop impacted the revolution, his immediate response is, Bullshit. No one had heard of [rappers] before the revolution. What he does believe is that the revolution had an impact on hip-hop and Asfalt. Two years after the fall of Hosni Mubarak, the duo have tripled their annual bookings andincome. I never affected the revolution. The revolution affected me, Ibrahim says. Before the revolution, the video for Asfalts song Asfalt Remix had gotten 50,000 hits over five years. Since the revolution, their video Ana Satreen has already reached more than 300,000 hits, mostly from the Middle East, but also from the U.S. and Europe. Pre-revolution, Asfalt could only get gigs in the same four cultural centers over
in Arabic and in 2005 he formed Asfalt with a group of other rappers including EMoney (who later joined the group Arabian Knightz) and Mohamed El Deeb. Elkarem joined in 2006. Last year, Asfalt were among the 15 finalists in Rolling Stone Middle Easts Street to Stage competition, and they also reached the finals of MBCs Arabs Got Talent. However, Ibrahim doesnt believe hip-hop is a popular enough genre yet to win these kinds of competitions in the region. Well give it more time and thought before participating in any other contests, he says. Instead, their focus is on getting more gigs, and writing new material. Ibrahim says Asfalts next track , Itll All Come Out In The Wash (set for release this month), is an optimistic look at the situation in Egypt. Although the present doesnt look so pretty, he explains, we still have hope for the future. JANNE LOUISE ANDERSEN
Chalice of Doom