As I sit down to talk to SHBASH, something strikes me. As we bear witness to seismic shifts rolling across the MENA music industry, we see countries like Egypt, Morocco and more recently, GCC states like Saudi Arabia and Dubai stepping onto the global stage. We now have hip-hop superstars, talents that have been brewing since the explosive boom of 2019, when the rap scene was just beginning to gather and collect, bubbling to the surface.
Over the past few years, our own flavor of Arab hip-hop has been defining its contours, carving out a space for itself on the global music map and laying the building blocks of the industry we see taking shape today. However, between the giants, lies a smaller yet equally – if not more – innovative hip-hop scene, tucked in Amman, Jordan. Small in number yet immense in skill and ambition, equipped with fine-tuned ears and a barrage of obscure Soundcloud tracks, Amman’s rappers aren’t prolific releasers; they’re careful, deliberate and meticulous with their music – technical perfectionists and avid listeners. Only select music makes it out of the draft folders. The mix has to be perfect. Flawless. Although there isn’t much competition, they hold each other to incredibly high standards.
Releases are few and far between, but when something does manage to make itself out, polished and ready for scrutiny, it is always something remarkable, well-crafted and innovative. It’s obvious a lot of time, effort and commitment has been poured into it. The drive for technical perfection, the tight-knit community, the underground, intertwined web of networks to other neighboring countries and small enclaves of Arab hip-hop and electronic communities in Europe, the deep respect for music – all these ingredients combine to create the perfect recipe for incredible-sounding music with production standards that rival, or even surpass, those in the most prestigious studios in some of the larger neighboring countries.
One artist who embodies this perfectionist spirit and is blessed with this musical acumen is SHBASH (Instagram). A rapper of Palestinian descent, born and raised in Amman, he’s, in my opinion, one of the most talented among his peers. But what truly distinguishes SHBASH is his courage and commitment to addressing local issues and his innate ability to bridge the gap between visuals and sound. “There are big class differences in Amman and I feel like a lot of people, especially those in the music industry, are a bit disassociated from the reality we live in. I try to bring attention to those overlooked things in my music.”
Since his debut in 2019, SHBASH has consistently released a few tracks each year, and one stellar EP in 2022 “Wlad al Massa.” This project aimed to create a new sound that authentically represented the streets and stories of Amman, his hometown. He further solidified his status with the hit single “Sawarekh,” featuring Amman’s own Synaptik, which amassed over 1.2 million views on YouTube and over 350k streams on Spotify.
Releases may be sporadic but each track from SHBASH is truly a fine piece of work. His repertoire of music is like a collection of gems, pristine in quality and selected with thoughtful consideration. You can sense the time and effort expended in the spaces betweeen those releases. In fact, his latest and only release in 2024, a sleek three-pack EP titled “TOP,” was written and finalized in late 2022 and early 2023.” This means SHBASH sat on this project for over a year before he felt it was ready for the world. So, while it represents an earlier phase of his musical exploration, it’s still a lyrical and musical masterpiece, thanks in part to the collaboration with Ssandkid – “a young legend,” as SHBASH calls him, “especially with his advanced sound design skills and the ability to create tunes that take you to another world. He is a well-developed producer with his own signature style.”
Aging and maturing for a year on the back burner, “TOP” finally reached our ears earlier this year. Stylistically and conceptually, it’s a departure from his previous EP “Wlad Al Massa,” which SHBASH describes as representing a different point in his life where he, “stayed up until the morning and woke up at night.” With that 2022 release, he wanted to “create an experience projecting Amman after 12 AM, where you see a different side of the city.” Late-night drives through Amman were once his favorite pastime, but he traded the car for the club, resulting in a more mature, uplifting and club-ready sound that places “an emphasis on experimenting and taking the genre to new areas that haven’t been reached before.”
A skilled weaver of melodies, which he considers “the best part of music production,” he melts in these abstract arrangements and is hyper-cognizant of the power they have to “represent different feelings for different people, depending on who is absorbing them.” For this collection of tracks, he found himself naturally drawn to syncopated rhythms and hard-hitting drums – the bouncy and pronounced percussions mirroring the energy he felt during that period.
The EP concept wasn’t the initial intention; it serves more to group, document, and archive the specific musical flavour he was channeling at the time. With “TOP,” “it just happened that I went for a new sound in the production of “Mo6reb Sha3bi” and “Ltop,” so I decided to put them out as an EP. I also felt that they fit together with “Subaro” to present new sounds to the audience and inspire other artists to explore new styles in rap, because the genre can be created and shaped in unlimited ways.”
Playing with Western scales and Easten keys, SHBASH has been creating a sonic playground all for himself. The melodies are his emotional paintbrush, colouring the tracks with his own emotions. He has been gradually developing a signature style – one that fuses sonic elements of electronica with his distinctive, heavily auto-tuned vocals. And one shade of this style shines through here. “TOP” takes us through the streets of Amman through his eyes and ears, narrating everything from his identity as a Palestinian in Jordan to politics, heartbreaks and his love affair with street sports cars. It is equal parts melancholic and danceable, introspective and energetic.
The city serves as the backdrop for his creative expression and personal unraveling. “Intense, yet it looks somehow peaceful. It always feels like someone needs to address it,” and that’s what he finds himself doing intuitively, whether sonically or lyrically. His delivery is underpinned by this satisfying insouciance and a deep, steady cadence that carry his words beautifully. Words that, he says, simply flow out of him naturally and spontaneously. “With lyrics, I always just start writing what I’m feeling without really thinking about a specific topic,” he shares.
Although he takes liberties playing with different genres, structures and moods, “It always starts with the sound I am aiming to create. Then comes the process of writing the lyrics, which must fit the feel of the production.” The feel of the production is also, of course, influenced by the city which he has called home since birth, its sounds, textures, and colors seeping into the music. Amman and his experience as a third-generation Palestinian refugee, remains a main focal point of his music. “The city doesn’t get the credit it deserves for how many talented artists have come out of it,” he shares. “So, I always try to show my city in my music. I feel like I worked on music that sounds like Amman rather than an imported sound.”
He and a select group of artists, who he endearingly shouts out, including Big Murk and Rknddn, are striving to create a new wave of music, one that feels no need to pander to the mainstream. They’re a small collective but they’re determined to build a foundation and create a scene for others to follow in their footsteps. They don’t have giant superstars to emulate– yet. They want to become those role models, etching out a space for themselves and their brand of music – this obscure and delicious mix of electronica, drill and grime.
“TOP” dissects SHBASH’s identity as a Palestinian in Jordan, a theme that will continue to organically emerge in his songwriting process. Like many Palestinians in Amman, he is three generations removed from his homeland, with his grandfather hailing from Al-Wehdat Refugee camp in Southeast Amman. But he doesn’t want to feed into identity politics or use his Palestinian heritage solely to gain listeners.
He wants his music to speak first before his identity, but he acknowledges the importance of this recognition, particularly in light of the current attacks on Gaza. “As a Palestinian/Jordanian, I can’t be dissociated from reality. My existence in these times is an archive for future generations,” he states. “I am here. Here is my story. I am a Palestinian refugee, and as long as I am here, I want to be considered a refugee because no land can replace mine and my identity can never be erased. But at the same time, Amman is the city where I grew up, and it has always been home for me.”
