Diving into the world of Arabic music this week. Over the past few years, MENA (Middle East and North Africa) has been the fastest-growing region for music revenue (+23% growth in 2024). The Arab world combines incredible domestic talent and a strong connection between regional artists and local audiences, with some of the most loyal and committed fans. For a deeper dive, check out this recent interview with Spotify’s Head of Music for MENA and Pakistan, Mark Abou Jaoude.
ARTIST OF THE WEEK
Shinigami
Shinigami – by his real name Mohammed Moutani – is a Moroccan rapper born on 2003 in Fez. His music draws from the country’s heritage of rap and hip-hop with a form of modern expression, introspective lyrics and atmospheric beats. He started his artist journey with freestyles in social media – check out his performance on this channel Beef Baff from 2022 – until he eventually started to release his own music.
His first single “Le Roi”, which is just a year old, was very acclaimed from the connoisseur Moroccan hip-hop public. From there, he continued with 4 more tracks, the latest of which “أفشتني” (Afachetni) racked up close to 600K streams within a month of release (June 6th). His number of listeners (175K) and followers (15K) on streaming have consequently been growing at super fast pace.
Online, Shinigami keeps things slightly mysterious on purpose. His Instagram sometimes shows him recording with a mic in dim studios, while his TikTok reels highlight more of his lyrical footprint. His fanbase is massively on YouTube (~3M views) and Instagram (110K followers), skews male in their late teenage years, and is primarily concentrated in Morocco for now.
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Bonus: Shinigami’s performance a few months ago at Jamshow, a major music contest in Morocco: