What's So Funny About Ahmed Adaweya?

  "There's never been a n--- this good for this long/ This hood, or this pop, this hot, or this strong" No shade on the Carter Administration, but it's clear Shawn hadn't heard Ahmed Adaweya when he penned the couplet above. Ahmed is nothing if not THE most hood, THE most pop, THE hottest, and THE strongest Egyptian to ever record, and it doesn't get any more simultaneously hood, pop, hot, and strong than Cairo, Egypt.  "Bint El Sultan," oh holy sweet baby Jesus in the manger, there are no words that can describe the totalizing slow-burn of an ab-so-fucking-lutely torqued motherfucker this massive all-time banger is. The first time I heard this track , it changed my life. Are you sitting down? Good, because we've got a lot of ground to cover here. First order of business: Discogs lists three cassette versions of Bint El Sultan : Egyptian and Moroccan reissues in 1987 and an Egyptian reissue in 1997. I have the 1997 "Good News" reissue. ...

  "Yazayid Fi Al Halawih," is absolutely gob-smackingly complex, with twisty strings and male and female choruses, and represents a clear (if momentary) departure from Ahmed's shaabi-forward output to date In January 1977, Egypt explodes into a series of riots that wash through the entire country, from Alexandria, where they initiate, though Tanta, Cairo and Suez, down to Luxor and Aswan. At the time, the vast majority of the country's citizens rely on guaranteed-price rations of a number of staples, including baladi bread -- the roti, if you will, of Egypt. When these rations are cut, many Egyptians take to the streets, targeting police stations and other symbols of governmental authority. The uprising, which lasts for two days until crushed by the army on January 20th, comes to be known as "the bread riots."  Some 80 people are killed during the turmoil, hundreds injured, and over 1,000 arrested. The clashes are significant enough to gain the attention of ...