Marwan Pablo ( ar, مروان بابلو; born Marwan Ahmed Motawea ), previously known as Dama, is an Egyptian hip-hop artist from

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...

. He was influenced by the genre of Mahraganat. He is known for ''Free'', ''Ghaba'', ''El Gemeza'', ''Sindbad'', and ''Barbary''.

Career

Marwan Pablo started making music in 2015, known as Dama at the time. In late 2017, he released a single, ''Al Gholaf X Ozoris'', under the name of Marwan Pablo in reference to

Pablo Escobar Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria (; ; 1 December 19492 December 1993) was a Colombian drug lord and narcoterrorist who was the founder and sole leader of the Medellín Cartel. Dubbed "the king of cocaine", Escobar is the wealthiest criminal in h ...

and

Pablo Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

as he mentions in a single, ''Free''. Pablo began his career writing lyrics and then produced tracks as well. Marwan Pablo wanted to popularize trap music in his hometown of

. In 2018, Pablo starred in the ''Rabka'' documentary and released ''Sindbad'', ''Abu Meca'' and ''Folklor'' in collaboration with the Egyptian producer Molotof.

Hiatus

On February 14, 2020, Pablo announced that, for personal and religious reasons, he will no longer be making music. Shortly after, he blanked his

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channel and

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

account. He said the main reason he retired is "the pressure that was forced on him, the different levels of expectations that people have cornered him within, and the constant labeling". He said that he needed a break to "recharge himself without being cornered". On March 9, 2020, Pablo went on Instagram in response to rumors of his illness or death. He was angry over the anecdotes and denied any relation between the retirement and his health or family members. His ''Denamet'' (with Molotof) was the runner-up in Egypt's top 5 list in July 2020.

Return

In January 2021, Pablo was speculated to return after his profile picture on

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was changed. He did not confirm his return. On 19 February, a leaked video on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

showcased Pablo working on a new song, preparing for his return, went viral. His name topped the trending list on Twitter that day in Egypt. On 25 February, Pablo released a single, ''Ghaba'' (), and reactivated his social media accounts. Pablo's comeback music video gained more than 4 million views on

within the first 24 hours and was on the platform's top 10 trending. On 29 March, he announced an album named ''CTRL'' containing 5 singles ''Ghaba'', ''El Hob Fein'', ''CTRL'', ''DON'', and ''Atary'' which was a previously released unfinished song before Pablo's retirement. On 1 October, Pablo held a concert in

New Cairo New Cairo ( ar, القاهرة الجديدة ' is an Egyptian city covering an area of about on the southeastern edge of Cairo Governorate, 25 kilometres (15 mi) from Maadi. New Cairo is one of the new cities which have been built in ...

, accompanied by Palestinian rap group BLTNM members

Shabjdeed Abu Othaina (), popularly known as Shabjdeed, () is a rapper from Kafr 'Aqab, Palestine. Based in the city of Ramallah, he has become an influential figure in underground Palestinian hip hop. Style Shabjdeed's lyrics often discuss the violent ...

, Al Nather and Shabmouri. The tickets were sold out and the concert was attended by over 20 thousand people. Shortly after the concert, the Egyptian Musicians' Syndicate banned Pablo from performing because of Shabjdeed's actions during the concert, which included changing the lyrics of a religious chant by

Sayed Al Naqshabandi ''Sayyid'' (, ; ar, سيد ; ; meaning 'sir', 'Lord', 'Master'; Arabic plural: ; feminine: ; ) is a surname of people descending from the Islamic prophet Muhammad through his grandsons, Hasan ibn Ali and Husayn ibn Ali, sons of Muhamma ...

to welcome Pablo on stage, as well as performing songs with obscene lyrics.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pablo, Marwan Living people Egyptian rappers Egyptian electronic musicians Egyptian singer-songwriters Hip hop singers 21st-century Egyptian male singers Year of birth missing (living people)