In music he found his language

Dubai: Struggling with a sense of belonging is something that many who have grown up in a foreign country can identify with.

As an Iraqi, caught between the Middle East and the West, Yassin Alsalman has learnt to express this dichotomy, through the medium of hip-hop and rap.

Describing himself as a "product of both worlds Orientalism and Occidentalism," for this Canadian-Iraqi activist-musician, born in Dubai and raised in Abu Dhabi and Canada, identity has been a central theme throughout his musical career.

Arranging to meet Alsalman, aka the Narcicyst or Narcy, at a mall in Dubai during a recent trip back to the UAE, I can spot him immediately.

Like an embodiment of his diverse influences, Alsalman is wearing a Boy Scouts of America shirt and a dog-tag chain with the labels replaced by a Quranic-inscribed pendant.

Oversized headphones hang around his neck and perched on the side of his head is the 1940's US army cap that has become his trademark.

Alsalman says that through hip-hop, he found a way of expressing himself, particularly in a post-September 11 world. Taking his main musical influence from the socially and politically aware rap and hip-hop that originated in the US, his music also reflects strong Arabic influences.

"My main influences include the Wu Tang Clan, Biggie, Big Punisher and Umm Khulthoum. I listen to everything," said Alsalman, whose albums are peppered with tracks like "Iraqnaphobia", "Shalom Aleykum" and "Halliburton (Burn Bridges)".

Through his music, Alsalman raps of an Iraq he has never known, with the exception of one trip as a seven-year-old.

"When I remember the trip, it feels like a movie, which I can play back to myself. To this day, I can draw my grandfather's house. My whole life has been divisions. I was in Canada during the first Gulf War, but my grandparents, aunts, uncles and other family were in Iraq," he said.

"I remember my mother crying. I was really young, but I remember being really angry and seeing the first Bush [US president] on the television set and spitting at it."

Alsalman got his musical start while at school in Abu Dhabi, where he and his friends, including one who played the oud, would make mock albums and record over "other people's beats and just rhyme to them".

"When I was about 17 in Abu Dhabi, we would write songs about the effect of sanctions on Iraq. My family would come from Iraq and tell us about the system and the government and the destruction to our country."

As his political activism increased, so too did a feeling of displacement. "Growing up in Abu Dhabi, so close yet so far from Iraq, made me feel a sense of guilt that my grandparents were living like that," he recalls.

Moving back to Canada to study political science and communications at university, he returned to the UAE every summer and along with two friends from Abu Dhabi, Nofy and Habillis Fannan, formed Euphrates in 2000.

Then September 11 happened, making them "search for belonging and question our identity even more, something strongly reflected in our music", which became increasingly politicised.

In the face of what Alsalman describes as "the growing rift of miscommunication and disinformation" about the Arab World, Euphrates felt they were becoming pigeon-holed.

"In 2003, we launched our next album. Then the war in Iraq started and the media jumped on the band, and we got a big push-off as 'Iraqi hip-hop'. Everything in our music is politicised because everything became politicised."

Alsalman says the group felt stigmatised, yet continued to enjoy the double-edged sword of success. Out of this, Stereotypes Incorporated, was borne and released in 2004, becoming "representative of our duality."

Later that year, tragedy struck when Alsalman's best friend and musical partner Nofy died after being hit by a car on his way to Alsalman's house in Montreal.

Following his death, Euphrates was disbanded and the 'Narcicyst of Euphrates' emerged, recording the aptly titled album, Stuck between Iraq and a Hard Place.

Everything from US foreign policy, Falluja and the Geneva Conventions, to Islam and Condoleeza Rice are referenced in Alsalman's music, reflecting the displacement common, he says, to many members of the Arab Diaspora.

"My family and friends here in the UAE and elsewhere always talk about displacement and belonging it's a conversation we have over and over."

Currently, Alsalman, 24, is putting together an album thesis, which he describes as his "make or break" project.

"I want people to know that I am not 'just an Arab' or 'just a hip-hop artist'. You get pigeon-holed … My music is personal, reflections on politics and how my views have changed. Right now the world is split and there are mental barriers that have to be broken down."

Snapshot: A way to express himself

Name: Yassin Alsalman, aka Narcy

Nationality: Canadian of Iraqi descent

Age: 24

Home: Montreal, Canada

Second home: Dubai, UAE

Occupation: Musician

Genre: Hip hop

Albums: