Oddisee + Medusa TN

Two leading rappers from the Arab world, as part of a virtual music festival celebrating Arab talent, community, and identity.

Sudanese-American hip-hop star Oddisee and rising Tunisian MC Medusa TN will be featured in new online performances filmed specifically for the Jam3a Festival, followed by a live Q&A with Big Hass, the UAE-based Saudi hip-hop pioneer. Presented by The Arab American National Museum (AANM), JAM3A engages communities to experience the many cultures of the Arab World and its diaspora. This free four-day virtual festival showcases musical performances, a curated artisan virtual vendor market, and artist talkbacks and workshops. With anticipated daily audiences in the thousands, this festival activates AANM’s cultivated national and worldwide virtual audience.

DMV rapper and record producer Oddisee realized early on that purpose and success are self-designated. Born Amir Elkhalifa in Washington D.C. to a Sudanese father and African-American mother, he bore witness to stark inequity early in life and became as political as the city he was raised in. Elkhalifa tackles the human condition with unwavering conviction and candor, merging elements of jazz, funk and go-go into his hip-hop rooted production. Instead of pursuing record deals and executives, Elkhalifa has streamlined elements of the industry early on, from single-handedly recording, producing and mixing his music to steering his marketing strategy and tour runs. A string of contemporary releases and headlining performances and tours with his 5-piece band, Good Company, and streams in the multi-millions have propelled him to international recognition and acclaim.

Medusa TN is a Tunisian rapper immersed in Tunisia’s burgeoning hip-hop scene from the age of 10 who began with breakdance before getting into rap. She’s become a force to reckon with in the male-dominated scene in Tunis.

Big Hass is the radio host of Saudi’s first & only FM Hip-Hop radio show Laish Hip-Hop. He is also the founder of Re-Volt blog & Re-Volt Magazine and is the host of the YouTube show Buckle Up, which is a series of interviews he conducts on the “go”.

Originally planned as an in-person festival, JAM3A (Arabic for “gathering”) has moved to a virtual platform to maintain the safety of audience members during COVID-19, while also increasing accessibility to the amazing Arab artists presented as many of them are internationally based and unable to travel at this time.

Additional artists who are part of the festival include:

• 47SOUL
• Alsarah & The Nubatones
• Emel
• Hello Psychaleppo
• Ramy Essam
• REMOooOTE: Detroit-Palestine (A Poetic Societies production)

Entirely free to the public, the festival will be live streamed across various platforms from September 23 to 26.

The Arab American National Museum presents this event in partnership with Arab.AMP, East Downtown Dearborn Development Authority, UMS and YallaPunk. For more information on JAM3A, visit www.jam3a.org or www.arabamericanmuseum.org.