Meet Moscow: Egypt’s Latest Rap Badboy

Despite a summer of lockdowns, Egypt’s rap scene seems to be thriving despite the lack of gigs and live performances, and there’s a new rapper popping up every week without exception. Despite the obvious cliches of the ‘rap lifestyle,’ it’s refreshing to see the emergence of a rapper with a unique visual aesthetic, amidst a sea of dreadlocked Travis Scott imitators. 

Coming through with a provocative, leather-clad, chain-draped shirtless look complete with dyed green hair a-la Frank Ocean, Moscow takes it easy on the autotune, instead focusing on spitting rapid fire bars over a disorienting, moody trap beat courtesy of producer KORE. 

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/IKFa5wGC3O0" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Sonically speaking, it fits perfectly with the glitched-out, digitally distorted music video — directed by the mysterious ‘Broke Gyptian Director’ of production house SPK World — which takes Moscow through neon-lit abandoned carnival grounds and dimly lit streets in a whirlwind of rapid cuts and frantic editing. 

Despite having been in the game for a little over a year at this point, ‘Dokha’ marks Moscow’s latest taste of the rap big leagues, with the music video having racked up nearly 100,000 plays on youtube alone in little under a week, and has the makings of Moscow’s next hit in the shadow of his previous virality with tracks like ‘QUDAS’, which dropped earlier this summer.