Morad, from the street to taking over the stage

In the media there is talk of their arrests, but on stage Morad is the one who speaks, and thousands of young people listen to music that at this point resonates throughout Europe, and that last night made a stop very close to the neighborhood of La Florida , his home and that of his friends, “those of the L”, as those who come from this area of ​​l'Hospitalet de Llobregat, a refuge for immigrants since the 60s, call themselves.

Oliver Thansan
Oliver Thansan
19 January 2024 Friday 09:31
9 Reads
Morad, from the street to taking over the stage

In the media there is talk of their arrests, but on stage Morad is the one who speaks, and thousands of young people listen to music that at this point resonates throughout Europe, and that last night made a stop very close to the neighborhood of La Florida , his home and that of his friends, “those of the L”, as those who come from this area of ​​l'Hospitalet de Llobregat, a refuge for immigrants since the 60s, call themselves.

Many of these friends were at the Sant Jordi Club, packed with almost 5,000 people who had bought their tickets months ago for the first of Morad's three concerts in Barcelona as part of the Reinsertado tour, which established him as a full member. of the big leagues of urban music. That's why it wasn't just another night for the 24-year-old rapper, who on stage had become just another child among the many who stuck their heads out in the audience - some on the shoulders of their parents - a scene perhaps unexpected but very natural.

A sea of ​​young people who in many cases had not reached the age of majority welcomed Morad, who came out like an exhalation to open fire with little children, “obsessed with wanting to buy a house for mom,” as the lyrics say. In five years, the young rapper has gone from being in a juvenile center to filling pavilions without ceasing to show himself as he is, free and shameless, with a story behind him as raw as the one told by so many rappers in their lyrics, only This is real as he is. Arrested three times, he currently cannot set foot in Florida due to a court restraining order, a resume that contrasts with those songs where he exalts friendship, love for his mother and taking care of children.

Morad el Khattouti is not a fake, he does not exaggerate his condition or show off gold and guns, not even in his rhymes. Through words he attacks the police, sings to the girls without resorting to obscenities and recounts his dreams, which point more to stability than wealth, all wrapped in a drill rhythm that he unleashed alone on stage last night, accompanied by a camera that kept taking shots of him on the big screen. With restless hands and a firm step, the rapper of Moroccan origin wore a tracksuit, his personal flag, with that crocodile that he couldn't get as a child and that he now obtains effortlessly, as he demonstrated by throwing it to the audience at the end of the concert.

“We are going to enjoy like children,” said the rapper as soon as he began the perfectly orchestrated choreography of a single dancer that he performed last night, walks around the stage, small dances and a lot of hand movement where camera games had a constant role, proof that Morad He knows what he does on a big stage. In the first bars he treated himself to The Street and His Class, remembering that he composed it when he had not recorded a single song, to hear the audience chant “It's a crazy life, and not a rich one.” It was before he remembered that A Friend Failed Me and taunted the police, the bad guys in this movie, to whom he dedicated several combs while playing Normal. He had a better memory of Estopa, to whom he dedicates a title of the same name on the new album, a story of trips loaded with narcotics.

One after another, the audience sang all the songs, sometimes like What He Wants with the acquiescence of the protagonist, who remained silent and looked proud while the camera focused in the front row on a girl with a veil and an MDLR t-shirt, or "Mec de la rue", Morad's other name that recalls his French rap influences, as he showed when performing Seya, composed with the Franco-Congolese rapper Gims. But that was much later, at the end of an hour and three-quarters concert where Motorola kept playing (“the tough ones wear Motorola, cockiness is not cool to them and they don't talk about guns”) or Bobo, interrupted to allow a girl to who had gotten dizzy left the audience on the side of the stage, a sign of how on top of the show the singer was.

The beat slowed down with When She Comes Out, Pensamientos and Soledad, to rise again with Se Screams, the Music Session