The Middle East is packed with local musicians that are hungry to perform and showcase their talent.
The Beat is a series of events aimed to support local artists by having them perform live.
The concept was created by Big Hass, host of Saudi Arabia’s first FM hip-hop radio show “Laish Hip-Hop?“
Casio G-Shock, which is considered one of the pioneers in the watch industry has been showing a lot of interest in the youth community and support in the local art and music scene.
On May 29, 2015, G-Shock presented and sponsored a new edition of The Beat from Saudi Arabia to Bahrain hosted by Big Hass. The live performances line up was as follows: Run Junxion (Saudi), Jeddah FAM (Saudi), Mothanna Anbar (Saudi), Coco (Kuwait), Black Bannerz (Saudi), Lou (Saudi), Flipperachay (Bahrain), Arabique (Kuwait), Knockout Crew (Saudi), and DJ Outlaw (Bahrain), who was on the decks that evening. The line up was diverse as it included hip-hop, R&B, soul, jazz and rock genres. The event also had a graffiti session done by DHAD Family (Saudi).
G-Shock also surprised the fans with a guest performance by Qusai Don Legend who launched his collaboration custom made watch with G-Shock.
“This is all for local and regional artists, they need the support of the community. They are talented and deserve to be heard,” Big Hass said while talking about why it was important to attend this event.
The reaction and feedback from the crowd was overwhelming. It was a great night that featured 11 musical talents under one roof for what seemed to be historic, especially in the GCC.
The connection, the collaboration that was made between the artists was priceless. It was so good to see them unite through music. The whole journey was epic and it just made the artists closer to each other and introduced them to each other’s music.
The journey began from Jeddah as artists flew to Dammam and from there, they all took a big bus that went to Bahrain. The laughs, stories, experiences that were shared during this ride were great and something that everyone will always remember.
In Bahrain, the efforts were very much appreciated as Outlaw Productions team worked very hard to make sure the event runs smoothly.
Each artist had his/her own moment, whether it’s Lou, who shocked the Bahraini crowd with her jazzy/strong voice, Flipperachay who opened up the event with his passion and great flow as a welcoming gesture, Knockout Crew who were very energetic on stage or Coco whose beautiful soulful voice made us all feel that we are outside Arabia.
Jeddah FAM had lots of fans in the crowd that drove to Bahrain to see them, Mothanna Anbar’s voice of poetry took on a journey of great words and melodies with his guitar, while Arabique impressed with his powerful lyrics and unique flow. Then came Black Bannerz who rapped in “Authentic Arabic” on great sampled beats by Orient Squad while Run Junxion performed on his hard-core hip-hop lyrics. To end the night, Qusai Don Legend performed a unique set of songs as he did not perform any “commercial” hit/song. He chose songs that were collaborations with the artists who were present at the event and got them on stage. DJ Outlaw was the official DJ of the night as he held down all artists.
Taking The Beat from Jeddah to Bahrain has created family ties within the artists. It is safe to say that new collaborations will see the light very soon. The music and performances were in sync, and so was the conviviality of the participating talents.
By Hassan Dennaoui
Check out Venezuelan-Kuwaiti singer Coco's the soulful take on Michael Jackson/Justin Timberlake's 'Love Never Felt So Good', a collaboration with Bahraini DJ Outlaw
