“Hip-hop is not dead, it lives in Palestine,” reads a popular T-shirt design. Indeed, 2013 proved that the Palestinian hip-hop scene, one of the first in the Middle East, is alive and kicking. Both its godfathers and newcomers released a broad variety of hip-hop productions that are pushing the scene to another level.
Producer Anan Ksym, 28, along with his organization Mazaj Productions and the UG Records label, stood out this year. Ksym is himself a rapper from the group WE7 / Wlad El 7ara, which he established in 2001 with fellow rappers Alaa Bishara and Adi Krayem. Their last album, “Wednesday,” which was released on YouTube on Dec. 6 before their split, was the result of a collaboration project called "Kayaan" with the Swiss composer Christian Mueller. This “Arabic jazz-rap” album is one of the most innovative of the year.
