Paper version of my interview with music activist, radio host and blogger Hassan Dennaoui, alias ‘Big Hass,’ who hosts ‘Leish Hip-Hop’ (‘Why Hip-Hop), Saudi Arabia’s first hip-hop show on FM.

1. 14
FEATURES
MONDAY, JUNE 10, 2013
Music activist, radio host and blogger Hassan Dennaoui, alias ‘Big Hass,’ hosting ‘Leish Hip-Hop’ (‘Why Hip-Hop), Saudi Arabia’s first hip-hop show on FM. — SG
photo by Roberta Fedele
Why Arabic Hip-Hop?
Ask ‘Big Hass’
By Roberta Fedele
Saudi Gazette
JEDDAH — Arabic hip-hop and
discussions on the true essence of
this musical genre are finding in
conservative Saudi Arabia an authentic platform of expression.
This assertion is no figment of
imagination but a tangible reality.
Every Thursday from 9:00 to
10:30 pm, music activist, radio host
and blogger Hassan Dennaoui, alias
“Big Hass,” hosts “Leish Hip-Hop
(Why Hip-Hop),” Saudi Arabia’s
first hip-hop show on FM conceived
in the spirit of a revolt against the
“money & boogie shake” culture of
commercial hip-hop diminishing the
genre’s history and lyrical power.
Regardless of popularity ratings
and music for the masses, Dennaoui
engages in passionate talks and sustains underground artists animated
by a fervent aspiration to raise social
awareness, showcase the real potential and variety of the regional hiphop scene and promote conscious
lyrics with deep echoes from the
Muslim and Arabic culture.
What strikes about him in the
first place is a natural capacity to
transcend without rhetoric any dis-
course on Arab identity, music and
hip-hop. “Before being an Arab,
Muslim or music activist, I’m a
human being,” he tells people and
writes online.
Saudi Gazette had the privilege
to interview Dennaoui on his journey from a blog to the FM, and
experience live the “musical revolution” and positive vibrations that
comes from Mix FM KSA’s (105.5)
radio studio in Jeddah, reaching
every Thursday more than 100,000
lovers of the show.
“Discovering alternative artists from the Arabic hip-hop movement such as “The Narcicyst” and
“Lowkey” but hearing radio stations playing the same 15 songs all
day long convinced me to launch
in 2009 an online radio blog called
‘Re-Volt,’” explained Dennaoui.
“This expression is a pun and
combination between the words
‘revolution’ and ‘voltage’,” he added.
“I wanted to simultaneously express my desire of owning a radio
station one day and revolt against
commercial and meaningless contents that are daily fed to us by the
entertainment industry.”
Dennaoui used to initially sup-
port all sorts of musical genres including rock, electro, hip-hop and
R&B. Any fine musician who didn’t
get enough exposure and wished to
be featured could find space on his
blog.
Until the Arabic hip-hop movement blew him away: “Probably a
combination of factors awakened
my interest: hip-hop’s tendency to
be misrepresented, the central role
that lyrics play within this genre and
its inborn capacity to embody a way
of life and represent the voice of the
voiceless.
“Also I happened to get closer
to this culture at a very delicate
moment for Arab societies. I was
delighted to discover artists and
crews like ‘Outlandish’, ‘Arabian
Knights’, ‘El General’, ‘Shadia
Al Mansour’, ‘Omar Offendum’,
‘Brother Ali’ and ‘Lupe Fiasco’.
“Instead of rapping about women and champagne all the time, these
people are recuperating hip-hop’s
original ambition to use creativity
to inspire social change and elevate
people’s mind.
“Syrian rapper ‘Omar Offendum’ and Palestinian queen of hiphop ‘Shadia Al Mansour’ perfectly
embody this nonconformist spirit.
Music activist, radio host and blogger Hassan Dennaoui and Palestinian hip-hop artist Shadia Al-Mansour taking part
in the 2013 “Vienna Cultural Festival.”
“Offendum’s song ‘Hashtag
Syria’ is a touching hymn to freedom while Al Mansour raps about
the situation in Palestine with a passion that breaks any stereotype on
women and hip-hop.
“This is what Arabs need now.
They slept for long and cannot just
think about having fun,” he said.
Desirous to reach the FM’s
wider audience, Dennaoui started to
broadcast online and fly from Jeddah to Amman, Beirut and Dubai to
cover hip-hop events, interview artists and propose his idea for a new
hip-hop radio show.
Although his blog’s popularity
deeply increased, radio stations in
the Middle East still didn’t believe
in an approach that, in their opinion,
would not sell.
“I got rejections over rejections
and always the same answer: ‘Why
Arabic hip-hop? Give us some 50
Cent, Jay-Z or Eminen and we’ll
support you,” explained Dennaoui
who returned heartbroken to Saudi
Arabia, but found in his homeland
the awaited opportunity.
“It took me six months to convince Mix FM to launch a show that
has no equals in the region in terms
of contents and approach,” said
Dennaoui.
“At the beginning I was called
a disbeliever who talks English and
tries to force on Saudis an American
culture. However I was not discouraged. I knew that speaking English
didn’t make me less Arab or Muslim
and I believed more than ever in hiphop as a positive tool to express any
culture’s heritage,” he added.
Two years since the launch of
his show, perceptions are changing.
Dennaoui gets a lot of encouraging
feedback and frequent invitations
abroad to talk about his professional
journey and the social significance
of music in our time.
Just returned from the 2013
“Vienna Cultural Festival,” where
he took part with Al Mansour in a
series of panel discussions on the
intricate relations between music
and politics,” Dennaoui had a dream
Hassan Dennaoui (right) interviews Syrian-American rapper Omar Offendum
for his Re-Volt blog.
Hassan Dennaoui interviews Iraqi-Canadian hip-hop artist ‘The Narcicyst’,
Syrian-American rapper Omar Offendum and Palestinian hip-hop artist
Shadia Al-Mansour.
to cover on June 15 the one-day
“Takin’it to the Streets” Chicago
Festival.
Organized by the Inner-City
Muslim Action Network (IMAN),
the festival features the best of Arabic hip-hop and Dennaoui, who
couldn’t raise enough funds, culti-
Hassan Dennaoui (left) interviews Iraqi-Canadian Hip-Hop Artist “The
Narcicyst.” — Courtesy photo by Hassan Dennaoui
vates the hope to get there one day
and share his experience with the
Saudi public.
Talking about professional difficulties he has to face in Saudi
Arabia and the country’s hip-hop
scene, Dennaoui said: “Sometimes I
feel boxed in but in the end I like it
where I am.
“I’m sure that if I came up with
a comedy show I would get million
followers. But again, this is why I’m
fighting and facing obstacles incentivizes my passion.
“A part from Saudi Arabia’s
most famous hip-hop artist ‘Qusai,’
emerging Saudi rappers are ‘Run
Junction,’ ‘Jeddah-FAM,’ ‘Hamza
AKA Speech’ and ‘Abz.’
“Unfortunately, the Saudi scene
is still very limited. There is a lot of
copy-paste from the West and many
artists haven’t found their direction
yet. I think this is ascribable to lack
of live performances that play an essential role in the growth of an artist.”
However, Dennaoui is optimistic: “Twitter, Facebook and YouTube are useful expression tools to
start with. They represent an online
revolutionary wave that no one is attempting to block.”