Have you ever went online and found yourself staring at something so indescribably weird? As in, something that literally makes your entire mind go white-noise blank because you just cannot bring yourself (or your brain cells) to understand it? If so, then you might have seen Hassan Shakoosh’s latest hit track, Habibty, which features actress Yasmine Raes.
Yes, that Yasmine Raes. And we know what you’re thinking — we were just as shocked, but you know what? You’re about to read something just as shocking – Somaya El-Kashab is releasing a single with Mahraganat singer Omar Kamal.
But where did this trend come from? And why are actresses shuttling off to music studios all of a sudden? You’re going to know once we dive in.
Although the 2020’s are just starting, they’ve been an interesting time for Egyptian music. Egyptian rap has been climbing up the ranks while Egyptian Mahraganat music has finally cemented its position as a viable genre that stood the test of time (and Hany Shaker).
Mostly, the music scene has been pretty interesting because A LOT of unexpected duets and features came out of literally nowhere. So far we’ve had collabs between Wegz and Hassan Shakoosh in Salka, 7amo Beeka and Sally Adel in Meen Safeely.
We’ve also had insanely successful TV show theme songs like Bi 100 Wesh’s Millionaire by El-Madfa3geya, Nelly Karim, and Asser Yassin as well as Melook El-Gad3ana’s E7na Dawla, also by El-Madfa3geya featuring Mostafa Sha’ban and Amr Saad.
It’s that last part, by the way, that seems to have opened this whole actor-collabs-with-Mahraganat-singer door wide open. See, after the blinding success of Bi 100 Wesh’s Millionaire, everyone took notes and wanted in on this improved, much more commercial Mahraganat sound.
The new trend wasn’t even started by Yasmine Raes. It began with Mohamed Ramadan, who was heavily side-eyed when he launched a music career after one successful ad song before being accepted via the Ramadan theme songs and then widely embraced when Nelly Karim collaborated with El-Madfa3geya on a new track called Dolla Dolla.
And then, the new Ramadan season entered and with it came the influx of new theme songs, this time dominated by the Sha’abi sound with singers like Ahmed Saad and Reda El-Bahrawy as well as Mahraganat bands like El-Madfa3geya, of course.
So, now that we see that the groundwork for this new trend was already laid, we can easily see how Yasmine Raes’s feature with Hassan Shakoosh came through.
Deciding to fully lean into the genre like her co-stars Mostafa Sha’aban and Amr Saad did, Yasmine Raes not only video-modelled for Hassan Shakoosh’s Habibty — she also sang a verse. Soon after this, came the ultimate bomb of a promo that was Somaya El-Kashab and Omar Kamal’s new single Aw3edek.
Is this actress/Mahraganat combination a good thing, though? Will it give us better music?
Let’s take a look at the content we have first, shall we? In Habibty, we have a lot to unpack with the Americanized Egyptian working-class neighborhood setting and the very Booha-inspired vibes, but all in all it’s a Hassan Shakoosh song and if you like Hassan Shakoosh, you’re going to pleased with the outcome. Sure, a little confused but pleased nonetheless.
As for Aw3edek, the music video isn’t out yet (as of the time we’re writing this) but the promo has told us it’s going to be pretty explosive because not only does it have two very trendy names, it also has Somaya El-Kashab after her Stan Twitter phase and the ‘Malban Masr’ style she’s trying to incorporate through yet another music stint.
If you’re overly critical of music and/or elitist and you hate fun, you’ll probably be vehemently against this trend but that’s not going stop it. Sure, tastes vary and this might not be your cup of tea at all, but who’s to say it’s not going to give us some iconic moments to look forward to? It’s giving us fake celebrity feuds already!
“But this is new and it’s ruining the fabric of the music industry more than it’s already ruined!”
Okay, so here’s the thing. A lot of people do not like Mahraganat music and that’s valid — you cannot like every music genre on earth, even if you want to. But that doesn’t give people a free-pass to say whether or not it’s ruining music as a whole. Do you know what other genre people considered to be a disgrace to music? Sha’abi music.
Yes, the music that actually gave us great singers like Adaweya, Abdelbaset Hamouda, Hamdy Batshan, Ahmed Sheeba, Hakim, and more…and by the way, all of these aforementioned singers have already crossed over with several actors and mainstream-accepted performers getting featured on their hits.
See, this trend didn’t just start with Yasmine Raes or Somaya El-Kashab or even Nelly Karim. It happened before when Donia Samir Ghanem featured Abdelbaset Hamouda on Bab El-7aya, and when Latifa featured Ahmed Sheeba on Ya Lalli, and when Hakim made hits with James Brown, Olga Tañón, Stevie Wonder (yes, the Stevie Wonder) and more.
