Shams Dinn, First Moroccan Rapper

Mohamed Ben Bouchta, born in Oujda in the early 1960s, in his twenties, he moved to Paris. There, he connected with the famous Patrick Duteil, known as DJ Sidney, a key figure in French rap. Ben Bouchta rapped in bars and youth hostels, in Arabic. The audience didn’t always understand, but they appreciated it. Thus, Shams Dinn emerged.
Shams Dinn started his career because he wanted to be “a positive light for the Arabic immigrants living in France. He earned his status participating in freestyle competitions, and performing in small clubs around Europe. His career came to a turning point when he was asked by a major label to record a full LP.
Unfortunately, the label decided they didn’t want to promote Arabic music (largely because of the Gulf War) – and asked Shams to translate the Arabic to French. Shams Dinn wouldn’t stand for that, and he was dropped from the label. The following years he worked at a school, teaching kids how to rap and express themselves through words” says distributor Rush Hour.