Interviews

After Two Years in the Shadows, FL EX Returns with ‘WA7ED’

BYAmr Abdelrahim

September 23, 2025

It’s been a whirlwind few days for FL EX, who just unveiled his latest project, WA7ED. Speaking to MILLE over the phone from his parked car, the Egyptian rapper reflects on the past months spent bouncing between shoots and studio sessions, meticulously laying the groundwork for his long-awaited return after a hiatus.

Born Mohamed Ibrahim in Faisal, a working-class neighborhood in Cairo, FL EX shot to fame with his 2021 debut EP Shayateen. Back then, a handful of rappers had already begun flirting with UK Drill beats, though many will credit its popularization to the Cairo-based MC, citing him as the blueprint for the gritty, streetwise aesthetics that have come to define the sub-genre in Egypt ever since its rise.

Quickly becoming an idol for teenagers across the country who flocked to his concerts in droves, the release of his second EP, Mesama3een— featuring hits like Katafast and Skin— should have cemented his status as one of Egypt’s loudest rap voices. Instead, FL EX vanished from the public eye (or should I say, the public ear) for over two years.

In this conversation, we talk about his long-awaited comeback.

In your new album, you talk a lot about your experience in the streets. Could you tell us a little about your upbringing?

FL EX: I was neither very rich nor very poor. I was in the middle class. I wasn’t in a bad place financially (or in terms of manners) until I started middle school. I started hanging out on street corners, and I discovered that I could not trust the people out there. I could not behave in the same way around them. I had to adapt. I could not go out with more money in my pockets than my friends. I could not be seen wearing nicer clothes. At the same time, I knew that I wanted to be rich one day. I have always known that I wanted to make a lot of money.

How did you get into rap?

FL EX: I discovered rap when I was a child. I saw some guys in the street while walking back from school one day. They were wearing oversized clothing and listening to hip-hop. I started hanging out with them. We listened to a lot of American rap—mostly Tupac and Easy-E. I would constantly make up Arabic lyrics for these songs in my head. That is when I realized that I could write my own stuff. I decided that I needed to use the same language I spoke in the street. I would have been laughed at otherwise. I could not rap about the sky, the earth, and the clouds like everyone was doing at the time.

When did you first consider music as a professional career?

FL EX: Back in 2019. I thought to myself, “this thing is spreading so fast. I have been doing it for years, so I might as well try to make some money out of it.” Alas, I quickly realized that you cannot make it in the rap scene without investing a lot of money in your music first. You need to buy fancy clothes. You have to film yourself, which means that you need to hire a director. You also need a sound engineer and a producer. All these things cost money. Before 2019, people would help each other out. They would exchange favors. When I started out, I figured out that this no longer worked. I could not ask people for favors. I needed to pay them if I wanted them to use their entire

potential.

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Une publication partagée par FLEX – فليكس (@fl.ex.20)

Did this hold you back in any way when you were just starting out? Was money a big problem?

FL EX: It was a huge problem. My parents did not approve of what I was doing. They did not know what rap was. They thought I had a bad voice, so they could not understand why I wanted to sing. I had to work to be able to do this. I used to spend everything I earned on my music.

What jobs did you do?

FL EX: I did everything. I did any work I could find. I have been working since middle school. I worked in a coffee shop. I made deliveries. My father would offer to pay me whatever I was earning if I stayed at home and studied, but I refused. I wanted to rely on myself. I was still working when we were recording the Shayateen EP. I would spend twelve hours on my motorcycle making deliveries before going to the studio.

Throughout this time, you obviously went through some bad experiences… in a way, you are used to having to make a comeback.

FL EX: Yes, I am used to rebuilding everything from scratch. I already had to do that once. The first time I signed with a company was after I released Asabi in 2019. There were several disagreements, and we eventually went our separate ways, but they would not let me keep my social media accounts. I told them that they could keep them. The most important thing was that I was able to get out of the contract.

These kinds of moments are obviously very difficult, but they are also opportunities for reinvention. You just mentioned the first song that earned you some notoriety in the scene. Back then, you were doing Trap. What made you embrace Drill?

FL EX: I did not like Drill very much in the beginning. I started rapping when Old School rap was fading away. The New School music was picking up steam, and everyone thought that Trap was the coolest thing ever. This was around 2014. I started doing trap music. Eventually, I only thought of myself as someone who does Trap. When I joined M Town Mafia, we started experimenting with Drill. We recorded one track after another, and we quickly realized that we had something there. I had a distinctive flow over these kinds of beats.

Voir cette publication sur Instagram

Une publication partagée par FLEX – فليكس (@fl.ex.20)

And how do you see yourself reinventing FL EX this time around?

FL EX: I always want to try out new things. I keep asking myself, “What is the new thing right now?” If it is Jersey Club, I will do that. If it is sampling, I will sample a cool melody or sound bite. Let’s do a sexy Drill song with Shaabi samples. I wanted to change things up musically while staying in character. I would think: “How would this character sound like if they did a track with a Jersey Club beat? How would they sound like if they did a track with a sexy Drill beat?” At the same time, I had to give people what they wanted. They know me for a specific style. I could not come back with something entirely different. Instead, I am changing it up within that style. It is still straight from the street.

Could you talk us through some of the tracks from the new album?

FL EX: 3awdet El Fa2dan is about me discovering that there are people who cannot be trusted. There will always be some people like that. It does not matter how much you do for them. In Original, I started reflecting on my journey, and I realized that I did not owe my success to anyone. I did all of this by myself. Not Now is a moment of sadness and quiet contemplation: “It is all bullshit /And there is so much of that/Some people are only temporary/They took hypocrisy and made a religion out of it.”

The song “Samurai 36” made me laugh a lot.

FL EX: I started going out a bit while I was working on the album. I am just talking about the things I saw at these parties. Bom Bom is my favorite song on the album. It is the one that comes closest to my real self: “I no longer see anyone/I no longer have any solutions/I no longer have a heart.”

I am happy you mentioned “Bom Bom”. Could you tell me how you came up with the idea for the beat? I thought it was a very fresh take on blending rap and Shaabi.

FL EX: I did not want to do a pure Shaabi song, so I decided to combine a sexy Drill beat with Shaabi samples. I have quite a few unreleased tracks where I experimented with this. I thought that it was its own mood. The beat sounds very different when you add a Shaabi sample. The percussive elements all tie up together. I also tried to follow the sample rather than the drums while rapping. It is as if I am doing a Shaabi flow, but the drums are playing a Drill beat. It almost sounds like a remix.

What can we look forward to from you next?

FL EX: I want to work on new things and keep exploring cooler topics and sounds. I have a bunch of features with other artists that will be coming out. I am also working on my next EP. In the near future, you can look out for the deluxe version of the album. The other songs are very different from the aggressive side I have shown so far. They are uplifting. There is a track called Donia with Nubi where I say: “I wanted to ride on my voice/and buy myself a plane/You need ambition in this world, my friend/ People work hard until it works out/ I want us to climb to the very top/I want to look at you with pride and say: ‘That is my friend.’”
There is a lot of optimism. Have fun and trust yourself, and it will eventually work out.

Lead picture courtesy of @michaellmedhatt

After Two Years in the Shadows, FL EX Returns with ‘WA7ED’

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After Two Years in the Shadows, FL EX Returns with ‘WA7ED’

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