Palestine’s JayJay Gives Drill an Arab Touch in New Track ‘Benkateha’

Amidst all the various branches of hip-hop and rap music, one cannot deny the uniqueness and distinctiveness of the UK Drill sound; the shrill 808 slides, the irregular bounce of the snares, and the overall composition, which itself has come to shape the style of frill rapping.

Recently, we’ve been seeing more artists in the Middle East explore drill as part of a wave that has been seeping the music scenes all over the world. In this neck of the woods, there aren’t many that we can call a full-on drill artist, though Palestine’s JayJay is one of the closest, having dived into drill over the last couple of years. Off the back of two drill tracks, he’s completed a hattrick with his latest, ‘Benkateha’.

The track is everything you’d expect out of a drill song, not shying away from its fundamentals. but with an Arabic twist. Kicking off with gated synth chords and female vocals, darbuka-like percussion provides the Arab spice, before the nasty 808 kicks in. Lyrically, JayJay doesn’t shy away, either, expressing his concerns regarding the war and the current state of Palestine - a common point of discussion for the country’s rap scene.