10. DIZZY DROS
Dizzy Dros also known as Omar Souhaili (born in Casablanca, Morocco) is a Moroccan rapper, songwriter and producer. The rapper became known in 2011 with his first single and music video, “Cazafonia”. His music being played on Moroccan radio stations like Hit radio, MedRadio.. allowed the rapper to gain popularity being one of the first Moroccan rap songs to reach over 1 million views on YouTube.
From generating over 150 million views on YouTube to selling out shows internationally (Paris, France / Istanbul, Turkey), he has become a rare asset to the urban music industry in Morocco.
His debut album came out independently in 2013 bursting him to the limelight and classing him as one of the elite within the Moroccan Rap world. He’s then gone on to make tracks like Chouwaya’ ac-cumulating over 40 million views on YouTube and RDLBAL over 30 million make them one of the highest viewed Rap songs in Morocco, and just as of recently (April 2019) sold out his headline show in Paris.
9. 7LIWA
7Liwa is a young Morrocon hip hop artist from Casablanca, born in 1996. Fascinated by hip hop and it’s culture from a young age, he developed a passion for the art form and started creating it in 2011. The young rapper’s catalog is made up of 3 albums, ‘’Da7k T9ada’’ which released in 2013, ‘’Batal l3alam’’ which released during the same year and ‘’Ktabi Baki’, released in 2014. The talented rapper collaborated with many artists such as Lartiste, LBenj, Shayfeen and many more. In 2017, 7LIWA dropped three videos in three months, registering 9 million views on the platform, becoming one of the first Morrocan artists to achieve this.
8. SMALL X
Small X is a Morrocan Rapper, songwriter & producer as well as one half of Moroccon rap duo SHAYFEEN, along with Shobee. He started making music after linking up with fellow group member Shobee and forming the group Shayfeen, from there, he went on to drop multiple hit songs and popular mixtapes both as a solo artist and as a group. Some of his most popular songs include XXL (460k streams), HLG (800k streams) and Kssiri (1.4 million streams). The young artist continues to drop record breaking heat, and there’s only more to come from him.
7. SHOBEE
Shobee is a Morrocan Rapper, Singer, Beatmaker and the other half of Moroccon rap duo SHAYFEEN along with Small X. Shobee is one of the pioneers of the Trap sound that young people in Morocco love so much. He was born in a town near Casablanca in 1991 and grew up in few different cities around Morocco, he fell in love with music at a young age. He was inspired by the likes of Tracy Chapman, Hot Chilli Peppers, Kendrick Lamar and J.Cole.
He released his first mixtape which was a collaboration with his group Shayfeen in 2012 called “l’Energie”. He then followed that up with an EP in 2016 called “07”, which really put Shobee and his groups Morrocan trap sound on the map. Shobee is also part of the collective Naar, and appeared in the collective’s album “Safar” along with many other artists such as Jazz Cartier, Laylow, Amir Obe and more.
6. SNOR
Snor is a new-comer in Morrocan trap scene. He has released five songs after appearing on the music scene in late 2019. And despite not releasing any new music both of the songs became big hits.
A former textile designer, the aesthetic of his ‘De9a De9a’ (Step by Step) video made a big splash in the Moroccan trap scene. In the video, he can be seen sporting a bedazzled ski mask, strings of pearls and silver grills while riding a unicorn and singing catchy melodies. His first feature track is with “Tagne and Stormy” called NASA
Produced by fellow Moroccoan Khazzi, ‘NASA’ channels a mellow, spacey vibes through soft guitar arpeggios and reverb-drenched synthesizers in a largely low-key melodic accompaniment to the trio’s soaring auto tuned vocals.
A long journey ahead for SNOR, but with such a short time he has had tremendous growth and is looking forward to making more music.
5. OUENZA
Ouenza Abdelazize who is also known as Ouenza is a young Casaoui artist who has been freshly introduced to the Moroccan Rap scene since March 2018.
Known before for his acoustic covers, he surprised the audience with the quality of his music, which has completely changed in style. Ouenza qualifies himself as an Artist and not as a rapper. He said so during his first scene in Morocco at the “L’BOULEVARD” festival.
Living in France for 6 years, he decided to sing in his mother tongue which is Arabic despite the fact that he speaks other languages as we could discover on his first single “OUENZA X3”.
He released his recent single “Mario” in October which is produced by NOUVO & VBGOTHEAT and is currently running on 1.6 million views.
Ouenza continues to create a fusion of sounds with his music, putting out the unique sound that his fans love so much.
4. TAGNE
Tagne , is a Moroccan rapper based in Morocco and has a defined sound in his music. He released his first song in 2017 called “BLAN” that features MADD & 7LIWA and it has reached around 3.5 million views on Youtube. Ever since then Tagne has been very consistent in dropping music which gave him a huge recognition in the MENA Region.
He released his debut album on October 30th 2020 called ‘Moroccan Dream’ bringing together a dream team of North Africa’s best rap talents including Snor, Khtek, Draganov, A.L.A and more .
Moroccan Dream is a monument to Tagne’s ambition and the rising power of Morocco’s rap scene.
Tagne’s Moroccan Dream displays a hunger, ambition, and drive long absent in other regional scenes. Regional contemporaries should take note.
3. MADD
Madd is a 23 year old Morrocan rapper who grew up in Casablanca. He started making music in 2008, after being inspired by his brother who is also a rapper (Small X) he released his first single “3310” which became an instant hit bringing in 8.5 Million views on Youtube. After that he dropped an array of hit songs including: Pay No Mind (1.4 million streams), Ghost (800k streams) and Nevada (around 700k streams). The young rapper’s debut album “Black Rose” featured Lacrim, Laylow, Xcep and Youv-De. Madd has never missed, and was able to make a hit every time he dropped, and it seems like he’s only getting started.
2. ISSAM
Issam Harris known by his stage name Issam, is a Moroccan rapper and songwriter specialized in trap music. He was born in Casablanca and became known in 2018 with his song and music video, “Trap Beldi”. This track allowed him to gain popularity being one of the first Moroccan trap songs to reach over 10 million views on YouTube.
What is particular of Issam’s music is the blending of Auto-Tuned vocals delivered in Darija, or Moroccan vernacular Arabic, and classic TR 808-generated beats with elements from traditional North African music. Many of Issam’s works are influenced by raï—specifically by Cheb Hasni.
In May 2019, Issam signed a contract with Universal Music France, in what was considered the biggest ever deal for Arab hip-hop. He is scheduled to release his first album with the label in January 2020.
1.El Grande Toto
El Grande Toto (Taha Fahssi) is a popular force in Morocco in Hip Hop. He grew up in the town of Taza in Casablanca, Morocco. He has been putting out independently-released mixtapes such as CAMÉLÉON and BNJ City Block. He has released hit songs such as “Myghayer” (1.6 million streams), “Love Nwantiti” (6 million stream) and “Pablo” which was viewed 20 Million times on Youtube. Rumour has it, he is currently working on a new album by the name of “Chameleon” that will be coming out on the 5th of March. He also recently put out a new documentary by the name of “7elmet Ado”, where he showcased his begennings, how he got into music and his hometown. Toto is currently dominating Morrocan rap and it seems like the only way for him is up.
Written By: Majid Alhusseini
