Released on September 14, “London to Beirut” is a masterwork by Nizar Zgheib featuring his fellow Lebanese Rapper Roy Chalach (KALACH) in a collaboration with the British Rapper Ibbz Awan.

The historic track, as described by fans, came out like an utter bolt from the blue. Considering that the Trio didn’t let on about it prior to its official release. And yet, the rumbling echo, the track has produced, bestows honor upon the Lebanese people. At the hand of the trio, Not only did the local scene meet the hit with exultation, but it reaped a deserved degree of exposure also, owing to the fact that it was played on BBC Radio. Hence, the release marked the Lebanese HipHop’s shot to international stardom.

From Art direction, visual effects, to the whole process of production, all was handled by a British professional team. The accompanying music video is set in a ramshackle and derelict building, through which the Lebanese HipHop Scene is symbolized, with the sun rising over it, heralding the onset of a promising hip-hop era.

Behind the scenes of the track, a redemptive scenario was fermenting intellectually and artistically. The overt lyrical patriotism in Nizar’s latest feature “Jib Baad Mel” with his ally Anthony Samarany materialized as a thundering project “London to Beirut”. It targets the vertical and horizontal expansion of the Lebanese scene, be it through restoring one of the old masters of the Rap game, checking the spread of the kitsch, or revitalizing the Lebanese dream of going worldwide.

The collaboration between the arch enemies is deemed to be a selfless and levelheaded approach, making the masterpiece a living proof of the wisdom that the Lebanese artists possess, who chose to bury the hatchet, putting the scene above and beyond all else. All the credit to their reconciliation goes to Ibbz, “In the middle east for some peace”.

The track achieved a significant success on every level, “content” – “flow” – “delivery” and “rap performance”, at great sacrifice on all sides, Ibbz traveling miles to unite the the arch enemies, the later artists showing willingness to shake off the repulsive forces to create a masterpiece out of the competitive energy between the two, Kalach approving to come back after having stepped away from underground rapping all together, to prove the game is still his, “in the pocket”, and ABS putting his conventional style to rest, to strengthen the scene’s as well as the Listeners’ life force with such an electrifying performance.

“The track was supposed to be released on “Link Up TV” YouTube channel. Although things didn’t go as planned, owing to some considerations, we are bursting with pride that the track still made it internationally as it was foreseen”, Nizar Zgheib revealed to us in a chat.

The scene, nonetheless, has experienced a paradigm shift in Nizar Zgheib’s music lately, as he tries his hand on a UK drill beat for the first time, yet on Nizar’s own terms.

Nizar, the devoted hip-hop artist, is acknowledged to be a dominant force in reviving the Lebanese hip-hop’s old school, especially after fears of the death of the scene had exacerbated during his hiatus (from 2013 till 2017).

Standing tall at the head of the scene by his gun, ABS is done destroying the faulty foundations in his own mother genre of hip-hop and meritoriously hogged the limelight from all the intruders. Now, the purge has reached new school subgenres, entering the age of drilling. Nizar’s future orientation aims at rebuilding the Lebanese G scene from scratch, effacing the common impression, while continuing to simultaneously expand his Old-School Empire.

In a country plumbing the depths of misery, any authentic artwork undergoes an actual baptism of the fire before seeing light, if it is lucky enough to see any. Or have any light shed on it. Meanwhile, the Master Rapper Nizar Zgheib is fighting fire with fire and biding his time to make history.

Even if the track is an end in itself, Nizar never misses a chance to connote to those subservient to the system that the obstacle, so as to say our corrupt nation, is the way.
On that account, he ends his masterpiece with “Come to us we have everything”, in reply to the so-called victims, who are stuck in a survival mode, refusing to act responsibly, under the pretext of living in a sundered collapsing nation.

“To those who have everything, everything shall be given” Matthew 25:29.
And we indeed have everything: awareness, magnanimity, patriotism, art, literature, legends, and ABS.


Written By: Gnostic Gosta