Up-and-coming Emirati rapper Citizen makes his Abu Dhabi debut tomorrow as part of White Cube’s Underground L!ve local music showcase at Abu Dhabi’s Courtyard by Marriott. We caught up with the 23-year-old Ras Al Khaimah native, otherwise known as Abdullah Rahma, to find out about his inspirations and the challenges facing musicians in the region.
Why the name Citizen? It mostly has two associations. The first is me being a local. But at the same time we also sometimes spell it Citysin – I’m the sin in the city because music is kind of frowned upon in the region. But we don’t do it in a rebellious way.
Give us five words to describe your personality.
Outgoing, funny, educated ... and I have an obsession with perfectionism and with professionalism.
Where do you find inspiration for your rhymes?
I always try to keep a topic or story in mind, it’s not just something on the radio – it’s trying to get a message across. It can be fun too, but it wouldn’t be aggressive. In a lot of cases it’s personal experience, but you make it in a way that’s vague enough for anyone to relate to. It’s something you can chill to, but it wouldn’t be something you could play in the clubs.
You performed at Dubai Music Week, which aims to expand the UAE music industry. As a musician in the Arabian Gulf, how hard is it to build a career?
There’s not much in the way of platforms for music in the region. It’s in the making. The biggest you can go is opening up for an international act at du Arena. It’s not something that can be instantly done, but we need to go through some process of hearing things and giving people chances. The industry is still very, very young.
Is there enough talent to go around?
When you start doing music here, you get to hear a lot of people. There’s a lot of people still trying to get somewhere, but some people are definitely ready to go. So far, I’ve met maybe one person trying to make real hip-hop – in a lot of cases, it’s just people trying to come up with a catchy song. Most people don’t take actual hip-hop that seriously.
Tell us about your first mixtape, The Backstage Theory.
It was a mix. This one wasn’t something with a single purpose behind it – it was everything we could do in one tape, trying everything we could think of. Future projects will be more concept-based.
Finally, how does it feel to be an Emirati rapper?
Exciting. There are not many platforms, as we said, but this is your own opportunity to create one – that’s a great feeling. Coming in at this time and just doing it yourself.
• Joining Citizen at Underground L!ve, which is organised by local talent incubators White Cube, will be Mateusz Paz feat.Meg, an electro-house duo on tour from Poland. The bill is rounded off by rock and funk duo The Hollow Chords, rising stars from Abu Dhabi. Tomorrow from 9pm at Up & Below, 12th floor at the Courtyard World Trade Center, Abu Dhabi
rgarratt@thenational.ae
