Yassin Alsalman, better known by his stage name Narcy (formerly The Narcicyst), is an

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

i-Canadian

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

, university instructor and

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

. He currently resides in

Montreal, Quebec Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-pea ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Biography

Alsalman's parents are originally from

Basra Basra ( ar, ٱلْبَصْرَة, al-Baṣrah) is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab. It had an estimated population of 1.4 million in 2018. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is hand ...

but emigrated to the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

(UAE) in the 1970s. Yassin was born in

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...

in 1982. In 1987, at the age of five, he and his family moved to

. Yassin spent much of his youth moving back and forth between Canada and the UAE, spending his high school years receiving an education in Dubai.

Career

Music

In 2000 Yassin moved back to Montreal and started working on his music production in a local recording studio. He has released ten albums and EPs as a solo artist and collaborated with

Mashrou' Leila Mashrou' Leila ( ar, مشروع ليلى, link=no, Latn, ar, Mashrūʿ Laylā, ; sometimes transliterated as Mashrou3 Leila or translated as Leila's Project) was a Lebanese four-member indie rock band. The band formed in Beirut, Lebanon in 2008 ...

, A Tribe Called Red,

yasiin bey Yasiin Bey (; born Dante Terrell Smith, December 11, 1973), previously and more commonly known by his stage name Mos Def (), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and actor. His hip hop career began in 1994, alongside his siblings in the s ...

. Narcy's most recent album, 2020's Love & Chaos, was made over a five-week period during the coronavirus pandemic. During a performance at 2019's Sole DXB Festival in Dubai, where he performed alongside

Blackstar ''Blackstar'' is an American animated science fantasy television series, produced in 1981 by Lou Scheimer and Norm Prescott for Filmation. The series was Filmation's second fantasy epic, the first being '' The Freedom Force'', a segment of '' ...

and

Wu-Tang Wu-Tang Clan is an American hip hop group formed in Staten Island, New York City, in 1992. Its original members include RZA, GZA, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, U-God, and Masta Killa. Close affil ...

, Narcy stated that there "are not many people from Iraq in the rap game in North America, so I take my space with a great sense of responsibility." On Sept. 8, 2020, musician

Todd Rundgren Todd Harry Rundgren (born June 22, 1948) is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, multimedia artist, sound engineer and record producer who has performed a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of the band Ut ...

released his new single, "Espionage," a collaboration with Narcy that features his lead vocals. Narcy's performances and lyrics are often political. In 2017, he joined Jeremy Scahill, Desmond Cole and Naomi Klein for a taping of The Intercept podcast, during which he performed a spoken word poem. He has also directed many of his own music videos, and those of frequent collaborators. His video for A Tribe Called Red ft Yaasiin Bey's R.E.D. won the 2017 "Video of the Year" at the

Juno awards The Juno Awards, more popularly known as the JUNOS, are awards presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music. New members of the Canadian Music Hall of ...

Acting

As an actor, he appeared in the movie ''

City of Life ''City of Life'' is a 2009 multilingual Emirati film written, directed, and produced by Ali F. Mostafa. Set in the United Arab Emirates, the film revolves around three parallel lives, amongst many cultures in one city, namely, Dubai. Productio ...

'' which revolves around life in

in 2009. In the movie, he played the role of Khalfan, a conflicted yet loyal Emirati teenager caught in a class struggle with his best friends. He has also starred in short

Gemini Gemini may refer to: Space * Gemini (constellation), one of the constellations of the zodiac ** Gemini in Chinese astronomy * Project Gemini, the second U.S. crewed spaceflight program * Gemini Observatory, consisting of telescopes in the Northern ...

-nominated series ''Verte'', a musical short on the Green Line in Montreal's Metro system. He also is known to act in his music videos, both as Jamal in self-written ''RISE'' as well as Jassem in his latest release "Makoo", off ''World War Free Now!''. He also voiced the playable character of

Darius I Darius I ( peo, 𐎭𐎠𐎼𐎹𐎺𐎢𐏁 ; grc-gre, Δαρεῖος ; – 486 BCE), commonly known as Darius the Great, was a Persian ruler who served as the third King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, reigning from 522 BCE until his ...

, who speaks

Aramaic The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated in ...

, in the video game ''

Sid Meier's Civilization V ''Sid Meier's Civilization V'' is a 4X video game in the ''Civilization'' series developed by Firaxis Games. The game was released on Microsoft Windows on September 21, 2010, on OS X on November 23, 2010, and on Linux on June 10, 2014. In '' ...

''.

Academic

Since 2011, Alsalman has taught a course at

Concordia University Concordia University ( French: ''Université Concordia'') is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College and Sir George Williams University, Concordia is one of the t ...

, in conjunction with Marc Peters, titled "Hip Hop: Past, Present, and Future". He has also taught a course on seeing current events through the lens of cultural frameworks. These classes are recorded as part of We Are The Medium's flagship podcast and have included guests such as Mochilla, A Tribe Called Red,

Chance The Rapper Chancelor Johnathan Bennett (born April 16, 1993), known professionally as Chance the Rapper, is an American rapper, singer-songwriter, and record producer. Born and raised in Chicago, Bennett released his debut mixtape '' 10 Day'' in 2012. He ...

Lowkey Kareem Dennis (born 23 May 1986), better known by his stage name Lowkey, is a British rapper and activist from London. He first became known through a series of mixtapes he released before he was 18, before taking a hiatus from the music busi ...

, Dounia,

and many more.

Literature

In October 2020, Alsalman released his first multi-genre collection titled ''Text Messages or How I Found Myself Time Traveling'', published by

Haymarket Books Haymarket Books is a left-wing non-profit, independent book publisher based in Chicago. History Haymarket Books was founded in 2001 by Anthony Arnove, Ahmed Shawki and Julie Fain, all of whom had previously worked at the '' International Sociali ...

. It has been called "an ambitious and bold time capsule capturing the insane times we're living through" by

Hasan Minhaj Hasan Minhaj ( ; born September 23, 1985) is an American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host of Indian descent. His Netflix show ''Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj'' won two Peabody Awards and two Webby A ...

and "a necessary read" by

Talib Kweli Talib Kweli Greene (; born October 3, 1975) is an American rapper. He earned recognition early on through his collaboration with fellow Brooklyn rapper Mos Def in 1997, when they formed the group Black Star. Kweli's musical career continued with ...

. In 2015 Alsalman collaborated with renowned artist

Ashraf Ghori Mohammed Ashraf Ghori (born 17 September 1973), is a Dubai-based Indian comic book artist, filmmaker and entrepreneur. He is best known for creating UAE's first CGI science fiction film ''Xero Error'' a futuristic cyborg thriller which won rec ...

to create a groundbreaking mixed-media project called World War Free Now which combined music, video, and comics together. A limited edition comic was released as a companion piece to Narcy's album.

Discography

Albums

Euphrates * ''A Bend In The River'' (2003) * ''Stereotypes Incorporated'' (2004) The Narcicyst *''Fear of an Arab Planet'' (2007) *''The Narcicyst'' (2009) *''Mr. Asthmatic'' (2010) *''Warchestra'' (2010) (a Sundus Abdul Hadi album in collaboration with The Narcicyst) Narcy * ''Leap Of Faith'' EP (2013) * ''El Nargisee Project'' (2014) - All Arabic project * ''WeAreTheMedium'' EP (2014) *''World War Free Now!'' (2015) *''SPACETIME'' (2018) * ''Love & Chaos'' (SpaceTime Vol 2) (2020)

Singles

*"#Jan25" (2011) – Produced by Sami Matar, this song features Syrian MC Omar Offendum, The Narcicyst, Freeway, Amir Sulaiman & Ayah. The hashtag is an ode to Twitter, which has been credited by many as playing an influential role in the Egyptian revolution. *"Fly Over Egypt" (2012) *"Leap of Faith" (EP, 2012) *"Fake News" (2017) *"Chobi Bryant" (2017) *"Time" (2018) *"Space" (2018) *"Superhero" (2018) *"Thoughts and Prayers" (2018)

Filmography

Film

* ''City Of Life'' (2009) * ''Verte'' * ''PHATWA'' * ''RISE'' * "Makoo" (Music video)

Voice Over

* ''

Civilization V ''Sid Meier's Civilization V'' is a 4X video game in the ''Civilization'' series developed by Firaxis Games. The game was released on Microsoft Windows on September 21, 2010, on OS X on November 23, 2010, and on Linux on June 10, 2014. In ''C ...

'' - King Darius * ''

The Secret World ''The Secret World'' is a massively multiplayer online role-playing video game set in a modern-day real world under attack from occult forces. Ragnar Tørnquist led development of the initial game for Funcom. ''The Secret World'' uses a subsc ...

'' - Black Pharaoh Zombies

Publications

* ''Diatribes of a Dying Tribe.'' Write or Wrong/Paranoid Arab Boy, 2011. . * ''World War Free Now.'' Self published, 2015. * ''Text Messages or How I Found Myself Time Traveling.'' Haymarket Books, 2020.

References

Bitch (magazine) ''Bitch'' was an independent, quarterly alternative magazine published in Portland, Oregon. Its tagline described it as a "feminist response to pop culture", and it was described in 2008 by ''Columbia Journalism Review'' as "a respected journal o ...

'' published May 21, 2009
Arab Hip-Hop and Revolution: The Narcicyst on Music, Politics, and the Art of Resistance

Iraqi-Canadian Hip-Hop Artist The Narcicyst
{{DEFAULTSORT:Narcicyst, The 1982 births Living people Iraqi emigrants to Canada Canadian male rappers Iraqi expatriates in the United Arab Emirates Iraqi hip hop musicians Iraqi rappers Musicians from Dubai Musicians from Montreal Emirati rappers English language singers from Iraq 21st-century Canadian rappers 21st-century Canadian male musicians