Dystinct's ‘Ya Baba' Featuring French Montana Lights A Cultural Bridge in Arabic
The single, titled 'Ya Baba' and released on April 18, should be seen as a high-profile collaboration that reflects the convergence of languages, identities and sonic worlds. It's also a meeting point for two diasporic stories: French Montana was born in Casablanca and grew up in the Bronx; Belgium-born Dystinct also traces his roots to the same Moroccan coastal city.
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With 18 Billboard Hot 100 hits over the past decade-plus (including standouts like 'Unforgettable' and 'Pop That'), French Montana has cemented his status as a powerhouse in U.S. hip-hop and pop. In 'Ya Baba,' however, we hear French Montana rapping in Moroccan Darija (Moroccan vernacular Arabic) for the first time. It's a full circle moment for an artist who left Morocco at age 13 but never lost touch with his roots. For Dystinct, this collaboration marks a major milestone in his global rise—joining forces with a U.S. pop heavyweight signals a new level of international recognition and reach.
Shot in Morocco, the music video for 'Ya Baba' combines the celebratory and the sobering: children playing in the alleyway, elders sipping tea, the hustle and bustle of everyday life. Its combination of Moroccan textures with Afropop grooves, and lyrics that toggle between English and Moroccan Darija, illustrates Dystinct's ethos of musical diversity. 'More money, more problems, ya habibi,' he sings—echoing one of the most iconic lines in hip-hop history, while capturing the emotional paradox of success and the generational weight that comes with it.
But Dystinct's journey to this moment didn't happen overnight.
Born and raised in Belgium to Moroccan immigrant parents, Dystinct has long been immersed in Arabic music, as Billboard Arabia wrote in its cover story last year. Yet his ascent to stardom started first through Dutch-language tracks before making his mark in Arabic. That moment arrived in 2023 with LAYALI, an album that passed 500 million streams and supported a sold-out world tour.
Songs like 'Tek Tek' with MHD and 'Y Dor' with Soolking positioned him at the heart of the MENA Afropop wave. The viral success of 'La'—which soared to No. 1 on Billboard Arabia's Hot 100—and the hit 'Wala 5,7,10' cemented his status as a chart-topper, propelling him to No. 2 on Billboard Arabia's Artist 100. Meanwhile, his track 'Spider,' with French artist GIMS, reached new heights, earning multiple Diamond certifications, and is currently approaching 200 million streams. The versatility in dialects in these tracks—from Moroccan to Khaleeji Arabic—reflects his fluency, not just linguistically but musically, across several continents.
French Montana's career paved the way for this kind of ambition, though from a different era and scale of global success. From his breakout mixtapes in the late 2000s to major label success, Montana represents an earlier wave of diasporic success—one that had to Americanize first, then reconnect with its roots. With 'Ya Baba,' the script flips: Dystinct doesn't compromise his sound for global appeal; he elevates it on his own terms, and French Montana meets him there.
In a world where music is increasingly borderless, this collaboration signifies more than a co-sign—it's a recognition that cultural identity, when channeled authentically, has the power to travel. As French Montana raps in Darija and Dystinct carries Arabic textures across languages and platforms, 'Ya Baba' becomes a symbol of the present moment: one in which artists don't have to choose between global and local but can be both.
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