inside/out
WHEN ARABS UNITE by bazaar staff
In this month’s column we catch up with Bahrain’s Mohammed Hasan, more commonly known as DJ Outlaw, the founding member of Outlaw Productions. Throughout his career, DJ Outlaw has been behind some of the region’s biggest Hip Hop projects including ‘Arab World Unite’ and The Middle East Invasion mix-tape series. He has collaborated with local, regional, and international artists such as the legendary Outlawz, Orlando Jones, DJ Woohie, and G-Unit. What is most impressive though, is that through his mix-tape series, he is able to pay homage to the Hip Hop ethos of bringing up those around you and helping unseen talent get a voice, all with an aim to specifically help those in the Arab world. The track listing to the latest mixtape reads like a map of Arab nations, and many unique artists, from as many unique genres, are getting heard. We check in with him to see what keeps him motivated. 74
How did you first get into music? I started out as a DJ in private parties back in 1997. It wasn’t enough for me to just stop there and limit my career to DJ-ing; I wanted to branch out. That’s when I decided to get into music production. A couple of years later I created my home studio, and then in 2003, Outlaw Productions came into being. What/Who inspires your art and why? Growing up I listened to a lot of old school hip hop which definitely helped shape my art, and I also remember listening to Michael Jackson and feeling inspired by his music and artistry. Tell us about the project Middle East Invasion When Arabs Unite? The Middle East Invasion is a mix-tape series that I created after feeling like there are a lot of very talented hip hop artists around the region who were not being given enough attention. I wanted to create a platform for them to be heard.
I get tons of submissions from a wide range of Middle Eastern artists, and I hand pick the best of the best to be featured on each volume. Since the first volume, every year the talent has gotten stronger. Which of course proves to the world how much the Middle East has to offer to the music community. When will/did it release? Five volumes have been released each year for the past five years so far. And a new volume will be out on New Year’s Day of every year from now onwards. Tell me about the various artists involved? The mix-tape is strictly for artists from the region regardless of where they might live. So far, the artists that have been featured represent most, if not all, of the Arab countries; these include Flipp (Bahrain), Army of One (Kuwait), Vico (Lebanon), Ayzee (KSA), Ghost (UAE), MC Amin (Egypt), Shadia Mansour (Lebanon), and Hell