Goubi & RISLING Bridge Alt Rap & Egyptian TV Ads on 'El Bonnie Doom'

Alexandria-born rising artist Goubi teamed up with Canada-based producer Christian Risling, aka RISLING, on his debut full-length album, ‘El Boonie Doom’.

What initially started as a collaboration on just two tracks, ‘Meya Meya’, and ‘Jugo, The Nubian Soldier’, accidentally turned into a full-fledged 13-track record about nothing, everything, and a generous dash of Egyptian television advertising. Each track on ‘El Bonnie Doom’ is a beautifully controlled chaos of surrealistic sounds and noise textures, pulling elements from rap, noise hop, liminal wave, yacht rock, qawwall, classical music, and whatever happened to be on Risling and Goubi’s loop that week.

The record features old samples from Amr Diab and Alaa Abdel Khaleq, bits and pieces of Egyptian TV commercials, and dialogues from Adel Emam and Adel Adham. However, it isn’t there for nostalgia or to flex their trivia, but rather, it’s an integral part of the background that both artists grew up with and felt drawn to in different ways.

For Goubi, who is usually known for making music within the peripheries of the trap/frill zone, ‘El Bonnie Doom’ is less about punchlines or a rebranding of a sonic identity, but more of a glimpse into his mind and inspirations, which seems to stem from the chaos of his home country, Egypt.

On tracks like ‘El Donya’, the duo brings in Egyptian artist Tifa for a classical spin-off that just feels right amidst the glitchy colossal noise and Goubi’s spoken verses. Meanwhile, on ‘Rabena Sattar’, Goubi’s lines and delivery, paired with the climactic moments on production, sound like what might happen if Gorillaz collided with Sharmoofes' bygone classic ‘Khamsa Santy’.

Then, ‘Yacht Sex Dance Music’ comes in, with a soul-inflected groove in a dreamy purple haze, that feels a bit like a soundtrack for dancing on a felukah on the Nile before the crack of dawn, or perhaps having a solo romantic rendezvous with a home-cooked meal and Netflix, just the same. ‘Jugo, The Nubian Soldier’, however, stands out with its refreshing cacophony, fusing industrial elements and post-punk vocals with traditional Nubian arrangements.

Despite the frenzied genre-hopping nature of ‘El Bonnie Doom’ that plays out like a fever dream, the album sees Gounbi demonstrating his creative prowess and asserting his presence with intensity, establishing himself as a promising talent that needs to be watched.