After a period of hiatus, Alexandria-born artist Wegz is finally reclaiming his place in the Arab World’s rap scene by delivering a project no one saw coming. Released on Feb. 11— just days after dropping his first single of the year, TNKR— the Egyptian hitmaker is marking his return by means of a seven-track-long EP, dubbed Gadwal El Darb.
His first tape since Geziret El Batal in 2019— a short record which then served as his debut and formal introduction to the region’s entertainment industry— the 26-year-old rapper is officially back, offering long-time fans the treat they’ve long been craving for. Stepping away from the single format for the first time in almost six years, the El Bakht singer appears to be charting a new course for his artistic vision by presenting a body of work that explores new sounds and deeper arrangements of music.
Flirting with rage and experimenting with new flows, for his sophomore opus, Wegz has chosen for his words to cut deeper and hit much harder, breaking away from his signature mahraganat-infused beats that have made his fame over the years. Far more self-centered than usual, it’s through ego-trip that the Egyptian MC has chosen to express himself this time around, shaking the dust off his shoulders after years of sporadic releases and miscellaneous appearances.
So far, only one music video has been shared, complementing the confident and flaunting lyrics of TNKR. A departure from what most would expect from Wegz’s visuals, this two-and-a-half-minute-long clip is packed with what appears to be references to the cult Japanese anime Dragon Ball Z, with masry twist. Think eccentric fashion and quirky costumes and an almost kitsch use of VFX culminating in a cartoon-inspired battle that takes us back to the TV classics of our childhood.
In Gadwal El Darb, none of the tracks exceed the 2:30-minute mark, reflecting the fast-paced era we’re in, where attention spans are short and a song’s relevance is even shorter, nine times out of ten replaced by the next viral hit in a matter of weeks— if not days. Easy to sift through and make an opinion for oneself, the quick sequence of tracks makes Wegz’s latest work more palatable to those who may not be receptive to it straight away. Before this EP, we’d point to Ana— which translates to ‘I’ in English— released in 2024, as the only time he ever explored this side of his music publicly. Will it stick, or is it just a brief experiment? Either way, we’re definitely here for it.
