Stormtrap / Asifeh aka Abboud Hashem is a Vienna based producer, beat maker & rapper. Born in Vienna to Palestinian parents his family moved to Ramallah when he was 9 years old. A fan of rap music he started rapping and was part of the first wave of Palestinian rappers, namely a member of the group Ramallah Underground. He moved back to Vienna after finishing school in 2004, stayed for seven years before returning to Ramallah in 2011. He returned in 2015 and has since been living in Vienna. He has performed internationally for many years, has gathered a huge following – e.g. over 1 million followers on soundcloud and has cooperated w/ international artists (such as Akhenaton, Grup Ses Beats, Ethnique Punch, She3rap to name a few)! He is not only know for his rap but also his producing, which he has developed into a unique dark, noisy and beat heavy sound with elements & samples from “arab” music. Asifeh has released four solo albums “Iradeh” (2012), “Datura” (2017), “Makhazen Bukra” (Well Gedacht – 2020) and “Tasalul” (Ghost Dance Tapes – 2022). In addition to those albums, Asifeh self-released two experimental synth-based projects in 2020 on his Bandcamp, “Hideout” and “2003”.
… how & why:
after getting to know Asifeh through a mutual friend and listening to his rap music I quickly became a fan of his sound. Since then I have seen him perform in many locations on many occasions. Personally I really enjoy the mix of his technically oldschool attitude of making music with his contemporary and particular sound aesthetics. I have described his music as “dystopian beats” and the perfect soundtrack to a potential GTA Ramallah or a post-apocalyptic movie. Due to technical difficulties we had to stop the initial recording session and reconvene for a second session. This resulted in two very different sounding sets that were recorded… proof of the nature of the live aspect of this format.
Here some of the tracks they recorded live to vinyl: