Returning Egyptian rapper Marwan Pablo trends on YouTube with new song Lelly Yah

Ahram Online , Ati Metwaly , Friday 17 Mar 2023

Lelly Yah was released on 13 March, gaining almost 900,000 views on YouTube and becoming the second highest trending music video in Egypt.

Pablo

 

Pablo's last song, El-Helal, was released in August 2022.

Fans welcomed the rapper back on TouTube and applauded his new single.

One user wrote: "After seven months of not hearing from you, we deserve this great song," which deals with modern day challenges faced by many.

The 27-year-old Marwan Pablo, who hails from Alexandria, became one of the best-known Egyptian rappers in recent years.

Earlier this month, Marwan Pablo was featured in rapper Xander Ghost’s latest single Ogra.

Since 2 March, Ogra garnered almost one million views, making it the seventh highest trending video in Egypt.

Pablo is known for taking time away from the fans before he strikes back with a successful new single.

In February 2021, following a year-long absence, he released one of his most successful songs Ghaba, garnering over 26 million YouTube views to date.

He attributed his absence at the time to “the pressure that was forced on him, the different levels of expectations that people have cornered him within, and the constant labeling."  In early 2020, Pablo announced he would step back from his rapping career and deactivated his social media accounts. Nevertheless, he reactivated the accounts during his comeback in 2021.

While he has a large fan base in Egypt, Pablo is equally well-known across the Arab world as he has performed in many venues across the region, including Riyadh Season, a several month long festival that features the biggest names in the regional music industry.

Having many hits under his belt -  Free, Ghaba, El Gemeza, Sindbad, Barbary, etc - Pablo was among the many Egyptian artists who dominated the most-listened-to lists in the Arab region on Spotify in 2022. This was preceded by his equally strong presence in the charts in 2021 where together with other known rappers, he challenged the icons of Egyptian pop music.   

As his popularity continues to soar, Pablo has over 430,000 monthly listeners on Spotify alone. 

His ongoing success did not come without backlash, as the Egyptian Musicians Syndicate has challenged the rapper on several occasions, including temporarily banning his performances and placing high fines on lyrics that are deemed offensive to “Egyptian family values.”

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