Sami Falioui is one of those rare artists whose talents have truly been shaped by life experiences and exposed to very different cultural backgrounds: Hailing from Morocco by way of Libya, Sami spent his childhood in the colorful city of Casablanca, one of Morocco’s largest harbours and true international crossroad in the country. Time for change came pretty soon, as Sami relocated to Germany when he was only 12 years old, and spent almost every single summer in Malden, Massachusetts, already living within an international context.
His biggest dream has always been to become an NBA basketball player, so Sami focused really hard on working to make it happen, achieving impressive results as an athlete, regularly playing basketball at a professional level. Sadly, several injuries forced Sami off the playing field: The young, aspiring NBA player had to give up on basketball at once, but as they say: for every door that closes, a new one opens.
It didn’t take long for Sami to become involved into something new, namely, music and acting. Now aged 19, Sami discovered this whole new universe, and opportunities immediately began to flow. This budding artist got the chance to star in several television commercial spots, music videos (including a feature in the video for “Bilder Im Kopf” from very well known German hip hop artist Sido) , and even got casted in some reality shows.
Despite the big success within his acting and television career, Sami set out to work really hard on his music, creating his own take on hip hop and quickly generating quite a lot of buzz about himself and his work within the music scene. Sami immediately feel “at home” with hip-hop, considering it a perfect outlet for his creativity to flow freely, as well as a great and natural form of expression. His lyrics are clever, straightforward and direct, whether the songs deal about his own life experiences of about social problems and commons situations that anybody can (and should) be able to relate too.
Hip hop is one of the most creative, free-form genres out there: the possibilities are truly endless, the only limit is one’s creativity and ideas. In our day and age, the state of current professional recording equipment offers a wide range of opportunities that were almost considered equal to science fictions even about a decade back. With the way digital music keeps developing and evolving, it is now a concrete possibilities for artists like Sami to be completely in control when it comes to their music and artistic integrity, and making hit records is no longer a business for a selected few.
Sami takes inspirations from legendary cult icon such as the late rap legend Notorious B.I.G. for the music and attitude, but most of all, looking up to artists such as Kanye West and Jay Z.
Sami set out to step up his game a level up: He teamed up with a solid management company and he’s setting the ground to release some brand new music in the form of his upcoming new mixtape, titled “Shattered dimensions: The Mirror”. This mixtape is going to be a breakthrough achievement in Sami’s music career, striving to deliver great, honest music that will show previously unheard sides of this young artist. The content of the music is of vital importance for Sami, which is not afraid to put himself out in the open, exposing his ideas and his past. Sami’s life has definitely not been one that followed a easy and safely tested path. Since he was a little boy, there have been so many dramatic ups and downs, creating uneasy situations and struggles to a decent life. Sami must have developed a true fighter’s spirit, because taking care of yourself and living on your own since the age of 16 is definitely not what you might call “a walk in the park”. Being on his own has helped Sami becoming a little more self-aware, more mature and more able to take care of himself in spite of it all. This world might be a really cold place, offering us more challenges and unexpected downfalls rather than pleasantries and “luck on a silver plate”, but Sami has learned this really well and it doesn’t let reality let him down or demoralized. This artist was able to take all the negatives, all the cons and the wrong turns and turn them into something positive and meaningful. Music. His lyrics and his attitude as a performing artist owe so much to his past and life choices, and this is also one of the biggest reasons why his music has grown “out of the bedroom” so quickly, and immediately gained respect, credibility and a high reputation among fans, but also among other active members of the hip hop scene. Over the past decades, Germany has grown on to become one of Europe’s most exciting platforms for musicians and artists, especially when it comes to the capital, Berlin, with its unique, fascinating history and multi-cultural setting. Sami truly succeeds in seizing the spirit of this place, whose history can, in so many ways, remind of Sami’s life story.
Sami’s music is not only about sounds: His offering has also a lot to do with visual art, especially in the form of the videos to his songs, which play a very important role. Sami has developed a fondness for unusual, artistic and unpredictable music videos, just like on his video for the song “Phantom (What if), which is filled with haunting, dark, stunning visuals that truly bring a new dimension to the song, interplaying with its emotional and in-your-face feel. The song itself truly stands out, blinking an eye to the true spirit of old school hip hop (think about legendary underground music icons such as Erik B and Rakim, for example), but with a fresh and modern perspective. The beats are dirty and sharp, sitting comfortably into the mix, but at the same time, driving it forward. The cool thing about the instrumental part of the song is definitely the sample work, featuring a lot of dark sounds, noises and other ideas that truly give a twist to Sami’s sharp and straight-up lyrical flow, enriched by pitch shifting effects and other cool details in the recording. This music can rightfully sit among the truest and more challenging hip hop records, closer in vibes to the early works of artists like Swedish crew Looptroop, as opposed to hollow, chart topping, plastic rap.
With such an inspired and explosive single out, the premises are already really promising.
This mixtape is going to be Sami’s debut project in music, and it’s been under progress for well over a year: It will definitely be worth the wait, because big things are expected for this release: Sami has already been featured by high-caliber hip hop artists, and big names are expected on this upcoming release as well, adding even more kick to what’s about to come up.
