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OK, so maybe there aren’t a ton of Lebanese rappers to compare him to. Still, Clotaire K’s debut album–his only album–Lebanese (2002), is nearly perfect. It’s a shame that no one in America is familiar with this fella. Dude raps in English, French and most notably Arabic, where his poetic style of speech is highlighted. His themes are mostly political, reporting on strife in Lebanon and across the world. Even considering the language barrier, any listener will be able to feel his passionate need to broadcast the plight of the people in his voice. That considered, the unique production is what really sets this record apart as a milestone. It’s a mix of dub, hip hop, drum-and-bass and electronica with a strong Middle-Eastern aesthetic. He even features traditional Lebanese Tarab string music. Nice. Famed Belgian/Moroccan singer Natacha Atlas collaborates with him on the album’s opening track, Maqam.

How dope is the production on that track? The bass, the beatbox, the syncopated drums, the sultry singing, the ominous strings. Did I mention that Clotaire handles the beats and plays the live instruments himself? Whoa. Notice how the song is so hot it defies traditional rap song structure. He just drops one verse and then he’s like, “That’s enough of that. Now let me just wail on this wicked string guitar thing and completely blow your mind.” Ballsy. Really amazing stuff there. That guitar thing is called an oud, by the way.

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Here is Maqam translated from Arabic to English:

Eza fi benné adam maoujoud bi hal dachné aatmet el sama

If there’s a human being here in this smoke darkening the sky

Khalli yoqta maé, saub el jabbal

Let him cross with me towards the mountains

Mnet tallaa aal bahar, aal bekaa

We would watch upon the sea and look at the Bekaa (big plain of East Lebanon)

Hatta mnett zakkar ennou khelqenné hown l’hekmat

To remember that it’s born here: Wisdom

Taht ahla sajjar,

Under the most beautiful tree

Ou n’addé waqtna, n’fakker aa heïala

And we’d spend our time thinking about whatever.

Add ma mendall taht ahla sama

As long as we’d stay under the most beautiful heaven

Min Iskanderia la Beyrouth l’aatiqa

From Alexandria to the old Beirut

La Beyrouth l’barriqa

The sincere Beirut

Aala l’mutawasset ma fi gheïr leugha oihida

In the Mediterranean sea there’s just ONE language

Saut el phanana charkia,

The voice of the Eastern female artist,

Ahla ghenoa,

The most beautiful songs

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Here is a video of him performing Maqam live. He also discusses his views on using music as a media to report on what the mainstream media doesn’t cover. Pretty cool guy.

Here is a video of him shopping for hip hop jewelry in Paris.

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Check out his song Papa, showing off his French skills.

His flow in French and Arabic is unquestionably unique and smooth. Not so much with his English. Still, his passion and energy make his lyrics accessible, even though his lyrics might sound a little cheesy to those of us accustomed to rappers being native English speakers. Ya Saryan! is a good example of his English rapping style. Again, Middle-Eastern instruments are used, but the drums and bass line are pure boom-bap, head-nod shit.

Although Clotaire K is incredibly versatile linguistically, perhaps his greatest triumph is the instrumental downtempo-turned-drum-and-bass track Emigrate (remix). At 8 minutes long, the song slowly creeps from the start, developing a mysterious atmosphere that unpredictably but intuitively shifts to something in-your-face about halfway through. It’s hard to explain. Just give it a listen.

Clotaire K is not on iTunes. So here is his MySpace.

I sincerely hope to hear more from this talented gentleman in the near future.

This entry was posted on 03/10/2010 at 2:45 pm and is filed under fresh with tags Clotaire K, djjeffresh, Lebanese. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.