This book has been a great reading experience. Thanks to the author and the publisher for bringing this book to life.

- I enjoyed looking up and listening to the referenced musicians. This was a fascinating, informative read that provided a unique look into Egyptian society and culture.
- Author scrupulously gives credit where due from starters of the genre ("[A] thriving hip-hop scene known as 'mahraganat'"), to influence and its reach, etc. Research is quite evident and appreciated.
- For fans of culture exposure, politics, music exposure, social fabric, expansion on the protests at Tahrir Square, even musical rivalries within the Egyptian ranks. This book is novella length, so it's not difficult to read (also written in an engaging, entertaining manner, not dry).
- Highlights what they are/were seeking through the connection of music; "[I]n search of a better life”. Lyrics are known to tackle "taboo" topics such as police brutality, political assassinations, corruption, the chaos of the Muslim Brotherhood’s rule. A dive in 'mahraganat' and how it shaped a generation.
- Includes a 'Further Reading' section.

From the publisher: "Columbia Global Reports is a publishing imprint from Columbia University that commissions authors to produce works of original thinking and on-site reporting from all over the world, on a wide range of topics . Our books are short—novella length, and readable in a few hours —but ambitious. They offer new ways of looking at and understanding the major issues of our time. Most readers are curious and busy. Our books are for them."

In an upcoming book, Egyptian journalist and author Yasmine El Rashidi updates readers on the present state of affairs in Egypt through the lens of mahraganat, the hip hop scene there. In her words, Egypt “is at [in late 2022, when the book was written] its most oppressive point in its modern history”; this in spite of the “inherited silence” of the recent past under Hosni Mubarak, when citizens did not dare comment publicly on politics, fearing being disappeared or worse. The current situation in Egypt, then, would seem to inhibit freedom of expression; but, as the book shows, since the Arab Spring revolution of 2011, younger citizens, who came of age during or since that time, do not have the same sense of fear about speaking out.

Egypt has been in political and economic turmoil since the revolution, and particularly since the rise of its current leader, the retired military officer Abdel Fattah El-Sisi. Under him, the army has encroached into the country’s businesses and political life, with Army-connected companies heavily involved in the controversial reconstruction of old and storied parts of Cairo, and in huge infrastructure projects (see “Egypt’s military dominates 10 years after revolution.” Abubakr Al-Shamahi, 26th January 2021, aljazeera.com¹). Jobs are scarce for young people, and sixty percent of the country’s population is under the age of twenty-nine. In this climate, the rise of mahraganat feels predictable. Young men like Alexandria’s Marwan Pablo rap about their lives and hopes, and, taking inspiration from hip hop scenes elsewhere, drugs, money, alcohol, and women. In a conservative society like Egpyt, this music has been controversial, and its undertones of political criticism have caught the attention of the government through the Egyptian Musicians Syndicate, its censorship arm.

Mahraganat has been under government control in recent years, with artists alternately required to audition for a licence to perform, or banned outright from public performances. More well-known, flashier (and wealthier) artists, like former actor Mohamed Ramadan, have been invited to perform in the US, Qatar, Dubai, and Saudi Arabia, and manage to evade censorship that way. However, others, like 3enaabb (formerly known as 3enba), are not in a position to do so; he in particular has tried to toe the government line. Ramy Essam, known as one of the musical voices of the 2011 revolution, was harassed into exile. Sadat moved to France. Wegz, the only musician who seems to have escaped the crackdown, and whose music is more acceptable to the government and conservative public because it is respectable, is not from the working class, and perhaps that is telling.

Mahraganat is the music of the people, of working class neighbourhoods (known in Arabic as manatiq shaabiya, or areas of the local people). The suppression of the music of the working class has led to the frustration of young men manifesting in hooliganism on Cairo streets at night, from harassing women who are walking alone, to loud music played in residential areas, public consumption of alcohol and occasional drugs, the breaking of bottles, littering, and other nuisances. “I throw bottles because it feels good,” one youth says to El Rashidi. “It’s like a release.”

Egypt’s demographics and extreme wealth inequality would seem to make Egypt once again ripe for change. El Rashidi shows in this book that the mahraganat scene is an indicator of undercurrents that may soon lead to social unrest.

> The story of Egypt, and of its revolutionary fervor, is not yet over.

Thank you to NetGalley and to Columbia Global Reports for the ARC.

¹ Egypt’s military dominates 10 years after revolution | Arab Spring: 10 years on News | Al Jazeera