While the
majority of Konstancy’s work has seen him use English, the Palestinian rapper
has, on occasion, turned to Arabic as a means to more personally reflect and
dig deeper into his native culture.
“Arabic is
my mother tongue, but it was always easier for me to express myself in English,
and I’m more comfortable constructing all my rhymes and metaphors because of
that,” the Cyprus-based artist told SceneNoise in a 2019 interview. “Recently,
I’ve been challenging myself and mixing both languages in my songs, and the
feedback has been great, so there’s definitely going to be more of that.”
That was
off the back of two singles, ‘Fallen’ and ‘Tayer’, in which the rapper experimented
with Arabic. This time round, Konstancy has recruited Ramallah-based rapper, 7orz, for new
track, ‘Sudfeh’, which represents Konstancy’s unique positioning and evolution
as a rapper – possibly more so than any pf his previous work. Having grown up
in Jerusalem with the music of everyone from Nas to Big L in his ear, the rapper
has one foot in Palestine and one in New York.
The beat uses a sparse but impassioned
trumpet sample, which really gives it that NYC flavour and, overall, it would comfortably
find a spot on the kind of mixtapes that did the rounds on the streets of the
Bronx and Queens in the late 80s and early 90s. The rap –
from both artists – is peppered with clever rhymes, while the delivery has an
almost continuous, shifting free-flow. Konstancy even works in a few English
lines that he incorporates seamlessly and that don’t disturb his flow one bit. “Flow
too hot, ana estawaa2y (I’m equatorial),” he raps. “Entoo bas manzar
zay gawazy (You’re all show just like my passport)/I came from the dirt, zay
agdaadee (like my grandparents).
What the
track ultimately proves - once more - is that Konstancy can hold his own in his
native tongue. It also draws him closer to the Palestinian rap scene, where he
can stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the likes of Shab Jdeed and Muqata’a – two
figures he admires for portraying the Palestinian experience.
Get to know Konstancy better in his interview with SceneNoise.
