Apr 2001
In this issue:
Features
24 Hour Party People
Proving that when you’re on a roll, you just don’t stop, MC Omar Offendum swings down to Bahrain for the party of the century
Issue: Jun, 2008
Omar Offendum, frontman for one of the most credible Arab rap crews, The Nomads, doesn’t do anything by halves. The Syrian-American has been spreading Arab-Muslim love across the States with his Sudanese brother Mr Tibbs for the past five years, spent 24 hours preaching to a very different choir in Bahrain last month. The man whose crew allegedly stands for Notoriously Offensive Male Arabs Discussing Shit, came with Lebanese spinning maestro DJ Lethal Skillz – star of NOX 17 – to cook up some early summer heat at a private party in Manama.
Of course, nothing is so private that it is beyond the reaches of NOX magazine, and our one man hip-hop party goer Laith Majali got himself an invite, took his camera and followed the guys for a sleepless two days. And when we say two days, we mean two days straight. No stopping. We don’t do “stopping.”
“We were invited to perform there by an old college friend from Saudi,” Omar says, “as he and his cousins and group of friends were throwing their big yearly private house party. Ragtop [from Palestinian hip-hop crew Ramallah Underground] and I performed alongside DJ Lethal Skillz who came down from Beirut. But it was a great crowd – and really great fun.”
Laith, bringing us back the pictures, confirmed just how fun it was without even saying anything. His eyes still swimming with the memory of it all, he simply looked at us, grin spreading across his face, and shook his head in that “you wouldn’t believe me if I told you” type way.
Taking the form of two distinct parts, roughly divided by whatever sleep can be had between 7am and 11am, when it all begins again, the first element was the private house party. Okay, so the house looked more like a club, and it was professionally designed, properly catered and with enough security to make Bernie Ecclestone look like an Economy class passenger on British Mediterranean, but it was still someone’s house. Dressed in distinctly un-urban razor-sharp suits, Omar and Ragtop MC-ed to an extremely good-looking crew of Arabs, Europeans and Americans – one white-dressed girl in particular, it has to be said – before DJ Baloo took over the decks for a marathon house set until everyone’s feet bled. Or the Red Bull ran out. Whichever came first.
Afterwards, at roughly 6am, it was time to collect the stuff and heading over for a pool party. Where once again, the guys piled it on.
