Published: 18 September 2020
Last updated: 4 March 2024
“MY MUM CAN HARDLY see, so I want the whole world to see us.”
That’s what MCA Abdul, the 12-year-old from Gaza who recently went viral when a video of him rapping while flanked by his schoolmates was posted to Instagram, told me when we first got on the phone to talk. He was describing how his mother suffered from CNV bleeding in both eyes and had surgery to treat it in Egypt around 2007.
“She started seeing better” said Abdul, but she had to maintain the treatment, and around 2008, Israel started the siege over Gaza and it was almost impossible to leave again. “Now her eyes are really damaged,” he added.
When Variety asked me to interview MCA Abdul, I was happy to oblige as his story is not about what we can’t see: it’s about what we want to show. And while I didn’t plan to start the article with this story, Abdul’s warrior spirit took me back to what I love about hip-hop: that it’s the most collaborative and uniting music in the world.
FULL STORY Raised on Eminem and Tupac, 12-year-old rapper from Gaza advocates for peace — and lands label offer (Variety)
Photo: Courtesy of Saleh and Abdul Rahman al-Shantti
