In early September, after the kind of mystery hiatus Egypt’s rapper seem to love, El Khayal emerged from the shadows to release what was a widely well-received track in ‘Maylen’. Two weeks on, the masked rapper has found himself on another track in rather good company. ‘Ntlklm Blel’ sees El Khayal team up with Abyusif and Abo El Anwar.Produced by Abyo, the track matches the melancholy that has hung over his last few releases, it’s spaced-out march of a beat trudging it’s way, while swathy, ambient keys linger in the background, the repeated words, “let’s talk later, I’ve just woken up,” summing up its almost groggy aesthetic. It’s El Khayal and Abo El Anwar that gets the most time on a track mixed and mastered by another member of the AByusif and Abo El Anwar’s El Mexic crew, Perrie. Each gets space to do their respective things, as it were, though you’ll find little in their bars to put a magnifying glass to.
Whatever the case, the collaboration will certainly offer a boost to the resurgent El Khayal, who, at the very least, has the scene watching.
