Sons of Yusuf - the Kuwaiti hip-hop duo aiming to revive the Islamic Golden Age

Brothers Abdul Rahman and Ya’koob Al Refaie channel Andalusian and Arab scholarship into their most ambitious album yet

Abdul Rahman and Ya’koob Al Refaie return with new album Granada. Photo: Sons of Yusuf

At The Grey Fish Studio in Kuwait City, Khaliji percussion crackles against the low rumble of an 808 drum machine. Ya'koob and Abdul Rahman Al Refaie, known collectively as Kuwaiti hip-hop duo Sons of Yusuf, are locked into a groove steeped in the heritage of the Arab world.

Named after the book by Ahmed Salim, their new single 1001 Inventions – whose accompanying video documents those recording sessions – has Sons of Yusuf paying tribute to Muslim scholars such as Al Khwarizmi and Ibn Al Haytham, listing some of their ground-breaking discoveries in mathematics, optics and astronomy.

Heady material to be sure, but the brothers deliver it with a swagger that Ya’koob describes as “warrior energy”.

“In the Islamic Golden Age we shook the world. We changed the world back then. And we want to bring that back,” he tells The National's weekly music podcast Tarab. “The song gave us that Arabian gladiator energy. It made us think of the warriors from the Islamic Golden Age and history.”

This mission, to remind both the region and the wider world of its historical achievements, is at the heart of Granada. Named after the southern Spanish city with its deep Islamic heritage, it is the brothers' most ambitious work to date. They recently announced on social media that the project has been submitted for Grammy consideration in the Best Rap Album catergory.

The satisfaction, Ya’koob explains, comes from Granada being created on the back of field research.

“It was a whole different album at first,” he says. “We recorded everything and it was ready to go, but we scratched it three months before release. We went to Granada for inspiration, to learn about the city and its history, and also to the House of Wisdom in Sharjah – that’s what started the new direction.”

The House of Wisdom, built as a modern tribute to Baghdad's Bayt Al Hikma that flourished in the 8th and 9th centuries, became the subject of a track that refashioned the album's outlook with a video filmed at the Sharjah landmark.

Another track, Lion of the Desert, takes its name from Omar Mukhtar, the Libyan anti–colonial leader executed by Italian forces in 1931. Al Andalus pays tribute to Muslim Spain’s role as an intellectual and cultural hub of the Islamic Golden Age, spanning the 8th to the 15th century.

“When we studied Granada and Andalusia, it wasn’t just history for us,” Ya’koob says. “That was the moment when knowledge, technology and universities were shaping the world. We felt a deep connection with that place and that time, and it inspired us to see ourselves as part of that legacy.”

Capturing that energy in the studio was an international effort, with musicians enlisted in Kuwait and the US, while parts of the album were recorded remotely in Granada.

Sometimes you can hear how these jam sessions evolved, like in the title track, which begins with a rolling bass line before layering Kuwaiti percussion and call-and-response vocals.

“We were just jamming and one thing led to another,” Ya’koob recalls. “It had a nostalgic Kuwaiti theme, so we added the 'yallah' refrain. It almost evokes pearl diving and how those call-and-response songs were part of the voyages.”

While Granada looks to past glories, the brothers could not escape the tragedies unfolding in the present. At one point, they even questioned if the album should exist.

“With the genocide happening in Gaza, we felt like stopping the album, even stopping music altogether,” Ya’koob says. “We just thought, man, we don’t want to be part of anything. Even the music didn’t feel right. But then we reached a place where we thought: you know what? We’ve got to do something.

“Yes, the album is personal, but more than anything we’re doing it for the youth. We feel like subjects like these are largely missing in music and social media. We’re just doing what I would want to listen to or what I would want to see.”

That is partly what motivated the brothers to form Sons of Yusuf in 2011.

“We saw Kuwaiti hip-hop going in a direction that didn’t feel right – it was taking more from the US than from home,” Ya’koob says. “So we thought: let’s do a mixtape, put on the Arabian outfits, talk about Arabia, put out our culture.”

When they first appeared on Kuwaiti television rapping tracks from debut 2012 mixtape Arabia's Most Wanted in dishdashas and trainers, it felt improbable. Then came the first hip-hop TV commercial in Kuwait, which they fronted.

“Back then, if you told people hip-hop was going to be a thing in Kuwait or the Khaleej, no one would believe you. But alhamdulillah, we started that movement and that sound. Now Khaliji hip-hop is a thing.”

Through it all, the bond between the brothers remains unbroken.

“We pray together every day,” Ya'koob says. “We’re best friends. It’s more than music.”