Assasi - أساسي

Syrian hip-hop artist Assasi seems trapped between the past - a golden era of Arab music and culture - and the utopian future - a society free of today’s hang-ups and conflicts, in which individuals and their unique gifts flourish in safety. 

Emerging from Aleppo, Syria’s most ancient city and cultural capital, he traded his school uniform and basketball shoes for an unwavering commitment to hip hop. 18 years later he has graduated from the School of Hard Knocks with degrees in Disappointments, Tragedy, and Exile.

Like so many young Syrian creatives during the civil war, he landed in Beirut for a few years before hardening borders drove him to India, Nepal, Malaysia, and finally the United States. Hip hop remained Assasi’s anchor through it all. His newest project, “Third World Wide,” reflects this global journey as well as the friends, influences, and lessons Assasi picked up along the way.