Take a seat. You’re about to be schooled by three of Saudi’s most prestigious professors of underground culture. Ahmad “Baloo”Alammary, Anmar Madani, and Ibz Abbar are the masterminds behind9SickSick Productions, a company aimed at educating “anybodyand everybody,” to the noncommercial subculture of musicand art.
Forget Music Master. Forget Mega Star. Those stores, alongwith the dusty CDs they house,are things of the past. 9Sick-Sick is here to expose the newgeneration to everything undergroundthrough the sick beatsand uncensored art that defines it.
Continuing this lesson in terminology,Ibz clarifies, “Houseby definition means you don’thave to speak English to appreciatethe music.” 9SickSickhopes to spread this “languageof beats” through its inimitablemusic and raw art. “Through ourpromotions, we are pursuingmusic as an art form,” explainsIbz, the graphic designer who ismore like your cool art teacherwho encouraged you to alwaysexpress yourself even if it meantspray painting the principal’scar and getting expelled.“9SickSick is fun. There are norestrictions.”
But 9SickSick is also serious.It’s serious in its mission to exposethe young Saudi generationto something other thanTiesto. “We want to educatepeople,” states Anmar, “whileconstantly introducing them tosomething new.”
Like a mentor, 9SickSick is a venue for fresh talent to bematured and refined. “AlthoughSaudi is rich with talent, it isdifficult, due to cultural restrictions,to display such formsof art to the public,” revealsBaloo.
“The 9SickSick is set to act as a talent-scouting agencyfor those who cannot find theproper channels to show theworld what they can do. ““DJs are the new musicians,”instructs Anmar, a renownedhouse DJ himself who spinsall over the United States.Focusing on DJs, but open todesigners and artists of allkinds, 9SickSick Productions isa congregation dedicated tocreativity; or as Baloo asserts,“a forum for Saudi innovatorswith global oomph.”
