Latest news with #Morals
Khaleej Times
16-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Khaleej Times
Saudi musician Jara on making ‘halal rap': Don't compromise on your morals
It begins with an itch; a niggling need to express yourself. And once you give in, it only gets worse. Jara, who is known by one name, felt the incessant need to give words to her thoughts in her early 20s. Often, she did it to beats not realising that this form of expression had a name; without meaning to, she had already entered the rap arena. 'Since I was a kid, I would tell my parents, give me a word, then I would just start freestyling. Rap's just always been something that comes freely to me. It feels powerful, and that's kind of why I chose it to begin with,' she tells City Times. She has just moved to Dubai to further her career, calling it 'the place to be'. The 27-year-old musician, whose songs include the recently released Morals, is well versed with the subversive reputation of rap and using it to her advantage, to cement her place as one of the first Saudi women rappers, someone who isn't afraid to tell her truth. She knows she's a bit of a unicorn, being a female rapper at a time when globally only a few have made it big (think Nicki Minaj, Lil' Kim) and even fewer who will not sexualise their creations for viewership. 'I don't know if people are aware of this, but I'm very religious, so I kind of am different when it comes to the scene. I don't collaborate with men. I would like to try out a rap battle with a woman though, but I'm too nice to [diss people]… [maybe a] nice rap battles where you compliment each other. I would love to do that,' she laughs. Jara, or hoodjabi (a contraction of hoodie-wearing hijabi), spits fire in Arabic, English and Swedish. 'I'm gonna release a Swedish track soon…the plan is to also maybe learn another language and rap in another language,' she says. The Jeddah-born star is driven, she adds, not by fame or fortune but because it will give her yet another opportunity to 'deliver my message'. 'Every single song that I do has a purpose behind it. I've talked about racism, mental health, gender roles, and morals -- that's kind of why I do music. I feel like music is the best way to tell people a story, deliver a message, and actually do something powerful,' she says. As she talks over Zoom about the high and low notes of her life, she reveals another shocking statement: She may make music but does not listen to other's verses. 'I used to listen to music before it was a big part of my life. But since I started, maybe in the last years, I kind of started listening to music less and less because I felt like it was not impacting my journey with music, but influencing me. And I didn't really want any such influences, because sometimes when you listen to a lot of music, you start to sound like other rappers. I was really focused on trying to find my own sound,' she says. It always helps to have a sounding board if you are going to go into an unusual field, and for Jara that pillar of support has been her father. 'My dad's my biggest supporter; he goes with me for the music videos, to the studios, to everything. I wouldn't be doing it without him, because in a lot of these male-dominated spaces, I would have never have gone if I didn't have my security guard dad with me,' she says, adding that when she told him she wanted to rap, he just told her to give him an example of the kind of beats she'd be putting out. 'I was going through my playlist, I'm like, 'Everything has cuss words, everything is about inappropriate things. So I was like, okay, I want to change that. I want to like 'halalify' the rap scene,' she says, adding, 'You can be Muslim, religious and rap without having to cuss. You can still deliver a message.' He was convinced and after listening to her lyrics decided to help her achieve her dream. That's not to say she didn't face naysayers – she just dealt with it the way an artist would, by using it as fodder for her rhymes. 'I actually use the negativity in my favour. I have a song where I talk about these criticisms, and I flip it on them. When they say women should be in the kitchen, I say, 'yeah, I can, I can go in the kitchen, but I can also do this and this and this'. That's kind of what I like to do, take the negativity and make it into something positive.' For her recent track Morals, she says she tried to do some UK drill - a subgenre of drill music and road rap - 'something different for me'. 'I never want to be put in the box like just a rapper. I have always been experimenting with music; I sing, I rap, I'll do Afro piano, hip hop, cyphers; there's no specific one sound. As an artist, you're always experimenting,' she says. 'When writing, I often ask myself, 'What's going to make an impact to people? What is something I can say in my lyrics that will really resonate with people'.' After four-five years in the business, Jara has 30.2k followers on Instagram and says she is yet to find her tribe. 'That's also why I keep experimenting. I'm currently thinking of working on an EP or an album,' she says. But the one thing that may delay drops is that she doesn't like to release any songs without videos. 'I feel like, if you don't understand Arabic, you'll understand it [the sentiment] through the music video,' she said. While this might sound like an expensive treatment to a song, Jara is quick to dismiss the thought of larger-than-life budgets. 'A lot of my beats are bought from YouTube. I use Garage Band. I still have a USB mic. I don't have this huge setup. And I've made a good number of songs. Even my videos, most of them were zero budget. It was mainly me and a videographer and just telling them my vision and creative directing. I never needed a big production team or funding. I wanted to prove that you don't need a lot to make a music video, if you really push, you will be able to do it.' As for any other spitfires hoping to follow in her footsteps, she says: 'Never give up on your morals and standards. Don't feel like you need to sell out just to be successful, to get the fame, or the numbers. If you feel like your gut is telling you not to do something, then don't do it. Because I've been in a lot of situations where I got offered a lot of money and campaigns, but it was against what I stand for. So I didn't do it. I would say to women, never feel like you need to sell out just to be able to become successful. It might take a bit longer, but you will feel better at the end of the day knowing that you did it in the right way.' When you know your heart and mind are on the same page, there's no telling what you can achieve; for Jara, life is almost poetic and full of inspiration. Even if something wicked her way comes, she's ready to use music to cause magic and mayhem, to spit fire to the tune of her own beat.
CairoScene
13-03-2025
- Entertainment
- CairoScene
Shuffle Feb 27
This edition of our bi-weekly playlist features new music from JGRRR, Wegz and Moving Still. Mar 12, 2025 Two weeks into Ramadan, we've seen a wave of new releases across the MENA region, spanning various genres. For our bi-weekly 'Shuffle' playlist, the SceneNoise team scours the region for the freshest finds, bringing you the best new music. This edition features new music, including the latest collaboration between Angham and Wegz on 'Alb Omo', as well as Sudanese hip-hop artist JGRRR's raw new single 'KISH MALIK'. Further down the tracklist, you'll find Moving Still's 'Zaman', JARA's rebellious 'Morals', and Hoosh's emotional new single 'Move On'. As always, 'Shuffle' takes a genre-agnostic approach aka everything from obscure electronic gems to pop and everything in between. Track list Track list JARA - Morals Hana - Lying Ilham - roster Eve Dönüs Yok - KARAKÖY Rami Imam - Yale Yade PONDA · Yale Yade (Extended Mix) - Rami Imam Aya Samra - Ya Habibi Taala Kris Piña - Fiké Angham x Wegz - Alb Omo Moving Still - Zaman Jamila & The Other Heroes - LAYLA Amira Jazeera - Luv U Down Malayka, Omar El-Deeb - Zay Mana Hoosh - move on ZDAN - A3lam Megatronic, Wandile Mbambeni - Rumours JGRRR - KISH MALIK
