DUBAI: Majeed Alzayer has been working at the rap game since 2010, and like any artist worth their salt, he’s enjoyed an uneven trajectory. Inch by inch, forwards and backwards, success and failure. Along with the notable successes — performing at Sole DXB, a first album, collabs with Syrian-Palestinian hip hop arti MohFlow, Qusai from Saudi and Dubai born singer-songwriter Hamdan Al-Abri — there has been struggle, too. But as every good rapper knows, the art lies in the journey. For the latest updates, follow us on Instagram @arabnews.lifestyle What attracted you to hip hop? I think because it was raw and unapologetic, which felt like who I was in real life. Musically it’s so vast, there are so many sounds, and so many ways to say things. I was a slick talker growing up so it fit me well. For a second, I can be poetic, next second I can flex on you, and the third I can make you bounce — all on the same song. When I was growing up all we had was English-language hip hop, so naturally that’s what I gravitated towards. I believe most foreign hip hop artists start their careers by imitating what they are listening to then eventually grow out of it and find their own sound. For me, I stuck to English because it is authentic to me, but with time I began adding Arabic instrumentation to my music, using some Saudi slang and local stories which allows me to balance both sides. Does a Middle Eastern artist need “crossover appeal” to make it globally? This is a tricky question because it really varies. There isn’t one formula that everyone needs to follow and it just works or else everybody would “make it.” I think a few important things would be to create great music, be authentic and original, build a great team around you that understands your vision, turn yourself into a brand, figure out who your consumers are, and dominate your hometown before you think about the world. Most important of all: Luck and timing is everything. It’s about making your own opportunities. I actually founded a creative marketing agency and record label called HRMNY with my friends (musicians A’Y and Mohflow) by mistake. By mistake? Yeah, we started off marketing our own albums and events then eventually brands wanted to tag along. it made us realise that most brands wanted to talk to our market segment, so we decided to turn it into a full-time service based company. We’ve been going since 2018. Hip hop dominates youth culture across the world. It is literally the internet, just look at the trends, the memes, the tiktok dances, the celebrities people are obsessed with, fashion and so on. In our region, however, it feels like it’s still not fully recognized by the mainstream because they aren’t used to it, they kind of don’t know what to do with it. When you adopt an old formula and methodologies to this new era it won’t stick. At the end it boils down to the quality of music but more importantly what to do after that, which is the ecosystem which is not developed yet in our region. On this side you need to treat yourself as a label and not an artist. You literally need to be your own A&R, artist, producer, engineer, content and production team, marketing manager, tour manager, create your own events and so on. It gets tiring, this is why my company HRMNY exists.