In a world where content comes and goes faster than a flick of your thumb, finding something truly worth your time is no easy feat. At MILLE, we’re always looking out for our readers, and when we stumble upon a hidden gem, we can’t wait to share it with you. Enter Shik Shak Shook Ones—the podcast that takes you behind the scenes of our region’s music industry.
Spearheaded by Lebanese music journalist Danny Hajjar and Egyptian presenter Deana Hassanein-Soni, the duo is on a staunch mission to spotlight the stories, sounds, and artists shaping our sonic landscape. Shik Shak Shook Ones (a clever play on Mobb Deep’s Shook Ones, Part 2) is recorded with clear intent: to break away from mainstream narratives that are often too celebratory and not nearly critical enough. The podcast is a breath of fresh air, never shying away from tough questions or uncomfortable truths, no matter how controversial. In a world where honest, unfiltered perspectives are as rare as a needle in a haystack, Hajjar and Hassanein-Soni’s new series fills a real void, making it more necessary than ever.
Backed and distributed by specialized Arab media platform Afikra, Shik Shak Shook Ones has already released two episodes, both which tackle topics that often go unnoticed or are considered too sensitive to address freely. The first episode, running nearly 40-minutes, explores the lengths artists are willing to go for streams— touching on themes of self-orientalizing, representation, and their broader role in our culture. Meanwhile, the second episode focuses on Hajjar’s controversial Rolling Stone list ranking the 50 best Arabic pop songs of the 21st century, examining the implications of such standing as well as the hidden politics of music in the Arab world.
Below, we sat down with Hajjar and Hassanein-Soni to dive deeper into their new project, discuss the challenges they might face, and explore the impact they hope to achieve.
Can you share the story of how you two met?
Danny Hajjar: I came across a profile of Deana and all the incredible work she was doing with her radio show All Arabic All Za Time (AAAZT). At the time I was still doing guest features for my newsletter, Sa’alouni El Nas, and I knew I wanted to feature Deana in some way. So I followed and DM’ed her on Instagram and asked if she would be interested and luckily she agreed. We became good friends in the process, staying in touch and supporting each other any way that we could. And despite never meeting in person, we are incredibly close friends!
Deana Hassanein-Soni: I still remember getting Danny’s DM and thinking how the F has this awesome dude from the USA heard about me?? We instantly vibed and have been friends ever since!
How did the idea of working together come to you?
DH: We had been talking about hosting a music podcast together basically since the day we met. We’ve been wanting to find a way to work together to highlight the emerging Arabic music scene and have thoughtful and provoking conversations about artists and music from the Middle East, North Africa, and the diaspora.
DHS: This has been YEARS in the making. We’ve spoken about this so much. Should we do it alone? Should we find a platform? Will working with brands mean we can’t be our authentic selves? Thankfully we FINALLY made it and we found the perfect home for it with Afikra.
Why did you feel the need to launch Shik Shak Shook Ones?
DH: We saw how our region’s music and how our artists were being covered in media outlets in the region and noticed there was a real lack of nuance and critical thinking. Except for a small handful of journalists consistently writing and putting in the editorial work necessary to tell a proper story or review music, media outlets are just clapping hands for everything. We have to move away from being satisfied with the bare minimum or being happy with anything that’s remotely in Arabic. We have to move discussions and conversations about our music scene from the shadows and into the public because it’s time that we think more critically and ask questions. And it feels refreshing to finally do this out loud and for people to see us do this. Doing this as a podcast allowed for Deana and I to start having these conversations out loud for everyone to hear—and it allowed us to have the space to raise a topic, discuss, and hopefully help build a foundation of music criticism and nuanced discussions. Afikra also is a perfect partner to produce this podcast because they’re built on the idea of learning and community conversations about our region—it felt incredibly natural to work with them on this podcast.
DHS: Danny and I message so much throughout the day. We send each other articles, posts and playlists and we wanted the podcast to reflect that. Two friends, who don’t always agree, chatting about the music scene with context and a more critical eye.
How did you come up with the name?
DH: I came up with the name, wanting to combine the classic Egyptian song Shik Shak Shook with Mobb Deep’s iconic Shook Ones—basically playing on the pronunciation a bit.
DHS: I am AWFUL at coming up with names for things so I’m really glad Danny felt so passionately about this. Otherwise it would have been called something silly like Danny & Deana talk about music in the MENA.
In the podcast’s introduction, you mention the need to “shake things up” and speak openly about the region’s music scene. Why is this so important to you?
DH: We are feeling lately that, generally speaking, the ecosystem tasked with covering the ins and outs of what’s happening in our music scene has settled, prioritizing relationships with celebrities and proximity to power over actual thoughtful journalism. We’re lacking any kind of critical engagement or nuanced public discussions about our music, instead seeing surface-level coverage. There’s too much noise in the scene, if you catch my drift. This does music journalism a significant disservice, it undermines readers, and it’s disingenuous toward the artists themselves to be so one-dimensional with coverage. There are a small handful of journalists in the region who are doing the work thoughtfully and consistently. And I want to shout them out—but this is where we are hoping to come in and elevate the conversation and really point out in a thoughtful and honest way what is happening.
DHS: I feel some outlets have become repetitive and unoriginal with their writing. How many more times I’m going to read that an artist is fusing Arabic music with western influences? Seriously. This doesn’t add any value or knowledge. I want to zoom in on the highs and the lows. I want to discuss and debate.
Are you concerned about how artists and their managers might react to the critiques you offer, even though providing opinions is a key role of a music journalist? Why do you believe that this kind of criticism is necessary?
DH: I used to care so much about this, but then I figured that if Drake can face criticism on a regular basis and Taylor Swift can do that, then why not our own artists? We have that culture of good faith music criticism with Western music and we should/must prioritize that with Arab artists. I personally no longer care what an artist or their manager may think of me because I’m not in this to make friends. I’m a journalist, I’m here to document what’s happening and critique the music in good faith. I want to hold myself to a higher standard, and I think people respect what I have to say and respect my writing as a result. We need music criticism to be able to not only push artists but also push listeners to engage more thoughtfully with the music and the art. We need to think beyond the algorithm.
DHS: Danny and I are not coming from a spiteful place. We don’t want to hurt anyone and we don’t say anything personal. In fact we don’t even agree most of the time! But it is not realistic to say “OMG BEST SONG EVER” or *FIRST ARAB ARTIST TO GO INTERNATIONAL* when it’s a complete lie. My face has subtitles. I can’t listen to something hypocritical or diluted and then make a video claiming it’s groundbreaking. If artists, managers, or labels are offended at opinions made in good faith then that’s a shame. We care more about providing a space for listeners to feel comfortable enough to express their feelings and listening habits which is valuable insight for the industry too.
How do you balance your personal perspectives with the need to remain objective when discussing music?
DH: Deana and I hold each other accountable often with this, and I think we have a good balance as a result. Even if there’s a popular artist out there whose music I don’t resonate with, I will always give credit if that artist has tapped into something with a large audience. And Deana calls me out if it becomes too one-sided.
DHS: Exactly! And Danny does the same to me. He seems to think I’m bias towards Egyptians but this is fake news. Jokes aside, we know it’s not easy being an artist. Creating, finding yourself, and putting yourself out there for the world to judge is incredibly brave. We make an effort to listen to all artists even if it’s not our preferred genre.
You mentioned that this project has been in development for two or three years…
DH:The right opportunity came up with Afikra, and both Deana and I were in places in our careers to finally be able to act and spend the time to do this right. On top of that, we’ve witnessed so much happening in our music scene and its fast growth and expansion, we felt like it was time to have this now as a space to discuss everything happening thoughtfully.
DHS: As the saying goes, with every delay there is khayr. I believe everything happens as it should and when it’s the right time. We were getting restless but the main thing is we are here now! I hope that we can contribute and achieve the goals we have set for ourselves.
How is Afikra involved in your project? Why did you choose to collaborate with them, and what role are they playing?
DH: The team at Afikra graciously provided us with their platform and production resources to be able to put this together. We have an incredible producer (shout out to Nour) and an incredible thought partner (shout out to Jade) who both work with Afikra and have helped us immensely in ensuring that this is a successful podcast. Afikra also is a perfect partner to produce this podcast because they’re built on the idea of learning and community conversations about our region—it felt incredibly natural to work with them on this podcast.
Looking ahead, are there any specific themes or topics you are particularly excited to explore in future episodes?
DH: We have a few episodes that we are particularly excited for—there’s one that we have coming up where we dive into music consumption between diaspora communities and local communities in the Middle East and North Africa and how it’s completely varied, exploring what that means for our scene and for Arabic music in general. There’s another episode where we’re going to tackle this idea of whether or not music criticism is something we can do within communities that are marginalized and have historically fought for representation. We are basically going to ask the question of whether or not something like our podcast can even exist.
What are your long-term goals for this project? What do you hope listeners, and yourselves, will gain from it?
DH: We want this to be a go-to space for honest, thoughtful conversations about Arabic music and to show people what journalism truly can look like when it comes to covering our artists and our scene. We want this podcast to grow as a go-to destination for listeners trying to make sense of what’s happening in the Arabic music industry. We want this podcast to highlight the writers in the region who are staying true to journalism, and at the same time we want to set the standard for journalism and music criticism in our scene.
DHS: We also really hope to record live episodes with an audience one day.
