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Inside the Middle East
August 18, 2009
Posted: 1506 GMT

Habib Battah

Special Contributor to IME

Beirut, LEBANON - It's official, American Hip Hop superstar Snoop Dogg is arriving in Beirut for one of the biggest rap concerts the Middle East has ever seen.

Billboard in the streets of Beirut. Photo by Habib Battah
Billboard in the streets of Beirut. Photo by Habib Battah

Snoop will be performing for the first time in the region this Thursday at the Forum de Beyrouth and my mission will be to get a few words from the Godfather himself on camera. On a Lebanese radio advertisement promoting the show, Snoop says, "That's right, I will be in the Middle East, bringing peace, like a beast!"

Snoop has been featured on the cover of a local French newspaper with the headline: "Le Doggfather a Beyrouth".

Local newspaper cover announcing Snoop Dogg's concert. Photo by Habib Battah
Local newspaper cover announcing Snoop Dogg's concert. Photo by Habib Battah

I hope to meet Snoop when he arrives at the airport and ask what he makes of Beirut and if he's heard of the up and coming rap scene in the Middle East, with a number of Arab rap artists now performing in night clubs and on TV stations across Lebanon and the region. In a telephone interview this afternoon, the show's organizer Roger Kalaouz, CEO of Roger Kalaouz and Associates (R K & A), told me he's expecting an audience of up to 12,000. He says the concert has been under preparation for 18 months and involved four visits to the U.S. to negotiate with Snoop's manager. Asked how he managed to outbid other promoters eager to bring Snoop to the region, Kalaouz simply stated: "that's the power of R K & A", without divulging any figures on show costs.

Earlier this summer Kalaouz's firm organized a Michael Bolton concert here, and Beirut has also seen performances last month by the Pussy Cat Dolls, Deep Purple and Kelly Rowland. Hip hop star, Akon performed in Lebanon just last weekend. "This is the best summer we have had in 22 years," Kalaouz told me.

"We are over the past," he added in a reference to the recent series of political crises and assassinations in Lebanon. "Nobody is afraid to come to Beirut anymore."

Habib Battah is a freelance journalist and filmmaker based in Beirut and New York. Check out his blog The Beirut Report.

Tune in to a new edition of Inside the Middle East on September 9th at 09:30 and 18:30 GMT, to see if Habib can get the scoop on Snoop!

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Filed under: Lebanon


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G.   August 24th, 2009 5:15 pm ET

I'm not his fan, though he has some. No comment. Whatever.

Ali Dahmash   August 30th, 2009 10:36 am ET

Akon was in Amman, Jordan 2 weeks ago. He has a large concert, people loved it, my 7 year old niece was even talking about it!


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