AMMAN — Local musician Rakan Dudin chose to get an iPod
before he got his first phone — one of the first inklings of the ways music
would shape his life.
اضافة اعلان
He began writing poetry as a kid, a habit he picked up from
his mom. And his father’s versatile music taste also had a huge influence on
the up-and-coming rapper.
“He had 50 Cent and Tupac. And he also had a lot of jazz, a
lot of blues, classic rock. So it all just took me towards music. It’s a
gravitational pull, in a way,” he said.
When Dudin wrote his first actual song, he was in the middle
of the shower and started writing to the beat playing in the background. A
couple of days later, the song was released and got about 8,000 streams.
“Until now, that’s the best thing that happened to me
musically,” he said, laughing.
Dudin then told the story of his first show ever, with a
fellow musician who goes by the stage name Kozy.
“It was me and Kozy. We were supposed to be the main event.
Only like nine people came to the concert, which was amazing and horrible,” he
recalled. “A couple of friends came and it was like a little get together and
we were just laughing.”
Dudin did not let the disappointing turnout stop him. The
rapper and lyricist said he prefers to look forward rather than look back.
Though he does not have a routine, he always makes time to
get his creative process flowing.
“It’s so beautiful when you get ahold of that pen and you
keep going. It just doesn’t stop. And every day is a memory of making music. I
start my day listening to music and I end my day listening to music.”
Dudin said his goal has always been to live in the moment,
whether that involves writing music, performing live sets with his friend and
colleague, Big Murk, or creating an EP with Zai’, an audio engineer and
producer, in the middle of the night.
“Every day is different. I just wake up and make something
out of nothing. I just kind of go with the flow and whatever comes to me, comes
to me.”
Dudin continues to draw inspiration from all around the
world, but he is particularly enjoying his work with artists from Palestine.
“We finally got to meet each other and it has been a
blessing. They’re older than me, they have more experience, so they’re teaching
me a lot. And ever since the pandemic started, we’ve all been online. Some
rappers ended up in France, some in Toronto, some in Amsterdam. We all just
come together at night and we sit and talk.”
When looking beyond the borders of the region, Dudin draws
inspiration from the streets of
New York City, the speed and energy of grime in
the UK, and the late
MF Doom.
Looking outward, in addition to his time with his
grandfather, has led Dudin to new territory outside the English language and
beyond his go-to jazzy music.
Dudin recalled sitting quiet and wide-eyed as his
grandfather talked to him about composition and poetry for hours. His grandpa
inspired him to learn more about the language and take the leap of rapping in
Arabic rather than English.
One day in the recording studio, Big Murk urged him to give
it a try.
“I tried it and I liked it. And I’m a lot more comfortable
with Arabic now. It’s your mother tongue, at the end of the day,” Dudin said.
Throughout the past five years, Dudin has been challenging
his capabilities and discovering his sound. He has been able to develop a
certain style by combining alternative rap and heavy, modern hip-hop while also
referring back to the roots of the genre.
All of that experimentation has brought him to where he is
now, impatiently waiting to release his favorite project so far: an EP with Big
Murk featuring four major regional talents.
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