In a sea of rap music consistently streaming out of Egypt, this year, one man has dared to separate himself from the trap-shaabi pack: Mosalem. A string of releases in 2021 has seen him showcase a quick-witted and intelligent lyricism, something that more and more producers are taking note of.
The latest to do so is Big Moe, the Dubai-based Egyptian beatmaker seen most recently collaborating with Big Hass, Freek and Narcy on ‘Aashat Eedak’, and spending time in Cairo with the troops of local label, IntoMyMind.
The two musical minds meet in ‘Psycho’, the third track from Mosalem’s upcoming EP, El Maadi, after the release of ‘Daddy’ and ‘Maadi’.
While he has often built his production on mellow beats and chill instrumentals, Big Moe takes a different route for Psycho, laying out an energetic, hard-hitting beat with a ferociously fatty bassline, while the melody comes in the form of some kind of alarm-like riser. A crisp, unrelenting snake is the star of the percussion, reverbed to take a simple element to another level. It provides a fitting backdrop for Mosalem’s musings on the good and the bad, the ups and the downs of the complex workings of a relationship, his lyrics representing one of the main things that has, as we say, separated from the crowd. His tracks are personal, human, sometimes raw and vulnerable - but overall honest and relatable.
