‘A Frequency from Hadayek Helwan’ takes three Western hits for a walk through a Cairo suburb and brings them back changed.
Egyptian producer Molotof flips three Western hip-hop songs: Dior by Pop Smoke, Low by Flo Rida, and No Church in the Wild by Jay-Z and Kanye West in an EP titled ‘A Frequency from Hadayek Helwan’. Released as part of his Molowave Remix Project, the EP draws inspiration from walks through the Hadayek Helwan district in Cairo. Here, Molotof reworks hip-hop into a shaabi-meets-hip-hop fusion laced with acid-licked arpeggiated synths and vocal chops.
One of the late Pop Smoke’s hits, Dior, originally by the Canarsie, Brooklyn rapper who was shot and killed during a reported home invasion in L.A. earlier this year, is reimagined through Arabic percussion fused with Brooklyn drill and Cairo mahraganat. Molotof completely strips away the heavy drill 808s recognizable in Dior and replaces the drill beat with a heavy, syncopated mahraganat rhythm. He uses his signature kick-snare shaabi pattern with acid house chords running underneath Pop Smoke’s deep voice. While the original Dior is aggressive and celebratory, Molotof’s version feels more menacing and nocturnal. He doesn’t pitch-shift the vocals; instead, he lets Pop Smoke’s natural baritone sit on top of the Egyptian rhythm.
