Dubai rapper’s poignant tribute to Kobe Bryant can take the world by storm

An exciting Dubai-based rapper looks set to wow the world with a poignant song he has written as a tribute to basketball icon Kobe Bryant, who was tragically killed in a California helicopter crash in January.

Minel Fific, a Bosnian singer raised in the United States and currently living in Dubai, says he was so devastated by the death of his childhood idol that, following the advice of his producer, he locked himself up in his recording studio and poured his heart and soul out into the song that he has titled ‘Kobe’.

“Actually the idea for this tribute came from my director, Stephan Dmytriv, and I was also inspired by an interview that I heard on television where Max Kellerman, the American Sports television personality, said: ‘Losing Kobe Bryant is like the death of JFK.’” Says Minel

“When I first heard the news of the crash it affected me like I had lost someone that I loved. A chill came over my body and then came the idea to do a tribute.

“Every one of us shared one common denominator and that was we all loved Kobe Bryant. We all watched him play, sat through those nail-biting finals is we grew up in the journey that our love was basketball with that’s why I wrote this.” he adds.

“I wrote all the lyrics but it was an effort from everyone in the team who suggested that I speak about this and made sure I said that. Normally it doesn’t take me long to write lyrics but this song, which is about two minutes, took me three days and I stayed up for about 15 hours just trying to figure out what I will say.”

Minel repeatedly highlighted that ‘Kobe’ was a team effort and that he could not have done it without the support of all his associates and friends at the Business Bay-based Alpha Entertainment.

“I believe I am so lucky to have one of the most creative teams in the world,” he says. “Once the project was one we started brainstorming about how the video could look, how we could make it better, how we could do this, do that.

“I sat in the studio for three days and wrote the song. The hardest thing about this track was for one, to try to shine light on Kobe but at the same time to write words that could touch people’s hearts,” added Minel.

“The reasons for this tribute were to shine a light on Kobe and mainly to remind us that life is too short and to live life like Kobe’s mentality.

“This came from the hearts of team members who come from different ethnic backgrounds and cultures who all felt inspired by Kobe before his passing,” he said.

“Everyone involved has no monetary expectations, our aim was to share our love of Kobe and how he touched our lives all the way in Dubai. To give back to Kobe the way he gave back for his fans, as we all fell in love with him through the love of basketball,” Minel continued.

“But what he represents and what he stands for made him loved for more than just sport, and this is evident through all the messages people have written for him. This is ours.”

DID YOU KNOW?

‘Kobe’ will be released on February 24, the same day that Los Angeles will host a public memorial at Staples Center for Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna and seven others killed in the helicopter crash.

It will be available on most major digital music platforms including Apple Music, Spotify and YouTube.

MEET THE ALPHA ENTERTAINMENT TEAM

- Ahmed Muhammad Ismail Baloch (CEOs)
- Robyn Felker (CFO)
- Stephan Dmytriv (Director)
- Stefan Redijimi (Co-director)
- Yazeed Oweis (Producer)
- Alessandro Derubertis (Co-producer)
- Gleb Osipov (Drone pilot)
- Minel Fific (Singer, writer)