You may have heard of the UAE-based musician George “GMac” Ayinde already. And if you haven’t, the Nigerian-British talent wants to change that.
The rapper’s tongue-in-cheek ode to the UAE, Arab Swag (ft. BrisB), is his first effort to get his name out there. It hit the internet in May as the first single off of his upcoming debut, Tales by Moonlight, and is available through various platforms such as iTunes and Soundcloud, where it has nearly 200,000 plays.
The hype-up song is admittedly catchy. For indie artists in the UAE, it can be tough to nail the cheeky-but-likable balance that Ayinde’s song aims for right off the bat with its opening lyric: “Habibi, can I add you on BB?” Too often, attempts at seeming slick on tape suffer from low production quality, a lack of honed talent and cringe-worthy lyrics, but Arab Swag seems to straddle the line between ambitious and club-ready quite well.
“From the response I’ve gotten, Arab Swag, with the right video, will be the first viral video out from the UAE to the world,” Ayinde told tabloid!. “It could be the next Harlem Shake.”
Ayinde, who studied filmmaking — as well as taking an audio engineering course — in the UAE, says he’s been making music unofficially for 13 years. But recently, he gave up his 9-5 role running an events management company to put all his eggs in one basket — and become a full-time artist.
Now, he’s shopping the video concept of Arab Swag around in hopes of attracting the right sponsors and hitting the jackpot globally. His vision? Showing that Arabs can have fun, too. He wants to showcase regional stars — from TV and radio presenters to footballers and even chefs — and give off a positive image of the country he has “fallen in love with”.
In the meantime, he told tabloid! what listeners can expect from his upcoming sound.
What attracted you, specifically, to “Arab” swag?
I admire Arabs. I admire the culture, the success that the UAE has inspired. The UAE really inspires me, because it started from desert sand to all this mega architectural structure that we have right now. So, Arab swag is about success.
Tell us about the album that the song belongs to?
Tales by Moonlight is African-inspired, because when we were growing up back in the day, there was no power, so the kids would be outside in the garden with an elderly person under a massive tree — under the moonlight — and he would tell a story. And my music, I write like I’m telling a story. So when you listen to the lyrics, you can literally picture the action going on while you’re singing along. That’s what Tales by Moonlight is about.
When can people get the album?
The album should be ready by the end of December — I’m officially going to release it the first quarter of next year, because I’m going to release a couple other singles before the album drops.
What’s the overall feel of ‘Tales by Moonlight’?
I have a singing background, which later developed into hip-hop. I grew up on soul music like Barry White, and some jazz, as well. It’s a mix of hip-hop, R&B and funk. It’s a little bit of the music that I was inspired by when I was growing up. I sing, I rap, I produce music, as well. It’s a little bit of everything.
— Check out soundcloud.com/gmacofficial to hear GMac’s Arab Swag.
