Hip-hop has proven to be one of music's most customizable and popular genres around the world, with both beats and bars that reflect the unique characteristics of an artist's background. In this series, we'll follow the genre around the world, showcasing how hip-hop has been brought to life in different regions, countries, and cultures.
A major turning point in Saudi Arabia's hip-hop culture came with 2007's Hip Hop Na ( Our Hip-Hop ), a rap-centered talent search co-hosted by Saudi rapper Qusai Kheder, a.k.a. Qusai. The show lent an American Idol-esque accessibility to the region's up-and-coming players, culminating in a grand finale in Dubai.
Hip Hop Na boosted the art of hip-hop majorly, says Kheder, who's been dubbed The Godfather of Saudi Hip-Hop. It exposed and connected the talent around the region. It was the first flagship hip-hop show in the Middle East.
Kheder, who discovered hip-hop through American rappers 2Pac and LL Cool J, has released three albums, as well as a wealth of singles and EPs. His 2009 track Any Given Day is an anthem of self-empowerment, with verses in English and the chorus in Arabic, as well as samples of traditional Arabian instrumentation. It's also indicative of a wider trend in hip-hop from the Middle East: rappers expressing themselves in both Arabic and English, often mingling the two in a single track.
The genre's international angle has brought lots of overseas attention to Saudi hip-hop in the past few years. On Spotify, some of the artists have been included on playlists Urban Gulf and Arab Hip-Hop. Media heavyweights, such as Vogue have profiled rising Saudi artists like Majeed and weighed in at length on the evolving scene there.
While Hip Hop Na provided a sizable boost in awareness for artists, Saudi Arabia's first hip-hop show on FM radio-hosted by Hass Dennaoui, a.k.a. Big Hass- Laish Hip-Hop? ( Why Hip-Hop? ) helped develop a surrounding culture by combining new music with industry updates and personal discussions about the genre at large. The show exudes Dennaoui's voracious appetite for different kinds of hip-hop, which makes it popular with people from all over the world. As for his own introduction to rap, Dennaoui says it came from the Notorious B.I.G. track Juicy - famous for its inspiring message about hip-hop's incredible power.
Those lyrics impacted me in a great way, Dennaoui recounts. Back then my English wasn't that good, but I remembered what I felt. His vibe, his flow got to me. [I started doing] my own research . . . and the rest was history.
That's a stark contrast from when Dennaoui started his radio show in 2011. It took a lot of work from many people-rappers, producers, and rap lovers-to push forward, he says. When rappers started making music that was relevant to the people and also commercial, that broke lots of barriers. Rappers matured, producers started emerging on the scene, [and] people started to get the hang of what rap was. Spotify has contributed to that push into the wider consciousness, he adds: Spotify has offices in the region, [so they] can reach out to rappers on the ground.
The same sentiment is echoed by young rapper Blvxb, who, like many Saudi rappers, blends Arabic and English lyrics; he calls on his first impression of hip-hop, 50 Cent's American supergroup G-Unit, for inspiration. Aside from Laish Hip Hop? he says many commercial radio stations still won't air shows featuring Saudi rap, which makes streaming all the more vital.
Spotify helps local artists to reach more [fans] by promoting more new artists, he says. Everyone loves and listens to Spotify's playlists, even while gaming.
Meanwhile, Bahrain's Outlaw Productions has offered services ranging from music recording to video production since its founding in 2003. One of the breakout artists in Outlaw's stable is Lil Eazy, a rapper of Somalian heritage born and raised in the Saudi port city of Jeddah. He cites 2Pac's Ambitionz Az A Ridah as one of the first tracks that drew him to the culture: I gravitated towards hip-hop more than any other genre because of the music and the content. While he agrees that hip-hop remains relatively new as a commercial format in the country, he and his team have done three major shows in Jeddah and Riyadh in the past year.
For Saudi business strategist Molham Krayem, who also performs and records as Molham, his introduction to hip-hop culture came with Eminem's triumphant Lose Yourself. Krayem, who is now based in both Saudi and UAE, launched a school-wide talent show during his senior year of high school that culminated in his first performance of an original song on stage. Krayem grew up in an Arabic-speaking household in Canada, which makes it natural for him to rap in a combination of English and Arabic.
They are both my native languages, he says. That's how I naturally speak, and I want my music to express my truest self. [It's] similar to the appeal of combining Spanish and English nowadays: it blends cultures. It also allows me to connect more deeply with the millions of people-especially third-culture kids-around the world who speak both Arabic and English.
Alongside the rapid changes to culture and infrastructure that Krayem has observed, Saudi Arabia is overflowing with a new generation of artists just starting to make a name for themselves. Hass Dennaoui cites Lil Eazy, MT9, and underground star Shiboba as ones to watch, as well as female rapper Moon, whose self-titled 2019 EP marries her slow, hypnotic trap bent with almost psychedelic production.
As for Qusai Kheder, whose role cohosting Hip Hop Na still stands as a pivotal moment for hip-hop culture in the region, he sees no slowing down for Saudi rappers. If they take this art seriously and are smart abo
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
Hip-hop has proven to be one of music's most customizable and popular genres around the world, with both beats and bars that reflect the unique characteristics of an artist's background. In this series, we'll follow the genre around the world, showcasing how hip-hop has been brought to life in different regions, countries, and cultures.
