Shayfeen

Formed in 2006 by Soufiane Oussrir (Snow), Chouaib Ribati (Shobee) and Abdessamad Lamriq (Small X, who joined the group in 2009) in Safi, Morocco, Shayfeen presented its first single a few years later in 2011 with "Sahbi". While Snow left the adventure, Shobee and Small X honed their passion for rap and unveiled their first mixtape, L'énergie, in 2012. Their ambition is to give hope to Moroccan youth facing unemployment, and help build a national rap scene. Faced with the difficulties of making a place for themselves in the media in their country, Shayfeen succeeded in developing an audience and gained momentum by organizing the Wa Drari collective, bringing together young Moroccan artists. As a group, and with the help of the Internet, the group made a name for itself and became a major force on the national Moroccan rap scene. The arrival of trap music changed their aesthetic approach, and in 2016 Shayfeen presented 07 the EP, considered one of Morocco's first trap projects. In a growing Moroccan rap scene, alongside Madd (Shobee's brother) or Toto, the duo hatch internationally and collaborate with the NAAR collective: a track is born between Shayfeen, Madd and Frenchman Laylow, "Money Call" (2018). With several million views and precise production, the group shows a maturity that impresses and grows. Shayfeen is churning out hit after hit, "Ghayb9aw jouj" (2014), "OMG" (2017) with West, Tagne, Madd and Xcep or "Tcha ra" (2018) with Ouenza, Toto, Madd and West. The Safi-born duo succeeded in making Moroccan rap count on the world stage and appeared in Fatim Zahra Bencherki's 2019 documentary Wa Drari , which tells the story of Shobee and Small X. After a series of new tracks, including "Babor" (2019) and "Koun wajed " (2020), Small X went solo in 2021, officially marking the end of the group.