The Sudanese music scene is experiencing a renaissance, with a wave of new singers, rappers, producers, and DJs blending international genres with Sudan’s traditional beats to create a fresh, dynamic sound. Yet, even before this revival, there were musicians quietly doing the same, keeping a low profile and avoiding the spotlight.
UAE-based Sudanese music producer and DJ Mazin Elsheikh, known as NileRhythmik, began his musical journey in the 2000s, often blending Sudanese beats with international sounds. Since 2005, he has been creating samples, beats, and compositions. His music has reached international audiences with his collaborations with various artists, creatives and projects from around the world. Some of his most successful projects include being on the soundtrack of Faisal Goes West, a film by American Bentley Brown, and on an episode of “The Beat Society” podcast, which Elsheikh says, “was initially a beat cypher session that travelled around different states in the mid-2000s, namely for being a source of inspiration for me to get into it.”
“I’ve evolved since then into making music that tells a story and invokes a sense of emotion — any emotion. Inspiration can come from the music itself“
However, Elsheikh’s journey with music began with rap. “I was a rapper or lyricist first. I got into music production solely based on two reasons: to make beats for myself and secondly, to sample sudanese music and incorporate that whole other arena of sound into hip hop. At the time, it wasn’t unusual to hear Arabic samples on mainstream radio, but never Sudanese,” he said.
Elsheikh, an ’80s baby, grew up in the ’90s, often called the golden age of hip-hop, when hip-hop began crossing into mainstream pop. “I come from a more hardcore background of hip-hop, ie ’90s sounding boom bap where everything is sampled in loops,” he said, describing his style. Music sampling itself, an aspect of Elsheikh’s job as a music producer, is a practice that is prevalent in hip-hop, where fragments of songs are used to create beats and melodies, and in other forms of electronic music.
By profession, Elsheikh works in marketing communications. After hours, he spends hours to days on a sampler to make his music. A sampler is an electronic musical instrument that records and plays back samples. Samples may comprise elements such as rhythm, melody, speech, sound effects or longer portions of music. So, how does he explain what he does to people such as his family? “I tried to explain it a couple of times and my father just thinks it all sounds the same – in terms of drum patterns, rhythms etc, and rightfully so,” he said. A person who samples music is someone who incorporates portions of previously recorded music (samples) into new musical compositions. The person responsible for this process is often referred to as a sampler or music producer, especially when they are involved in the broader creation and arrangement of the sampled music.
“My mission is rooted in truth-telling, in pushing the culture forward, and in uplifting the community”
Elsheikh is generally inspired by any form of beat, even instrumental beats, to tell a story through music. “I’ve evolved since then into making music that tells a story and invokes a sense of emotion — any emotion. Inspiration can come from the music itself. It can be inspired from something as simple as a guitar riff I’ve passively heard play in the background somewhere, or a few seconds of bongo drums in an intro to a Sudanese song. If it moves me, best believe I’m sampling it,” he explained.
For Elsheikh, music production is a passion, but so is DJing. “It’s always a different kind of satisfaction seeing people’s responses and receptiveness to my own music,” he said. While producing music often means sharing it with an unseen audience, DJing allows him to connect directly with listeners. Elsheikh regularly performs at music and cultural events across the UAE. Whether producing music or performing as a DJ, Elsheikh works with purpose. “My mission is rooted in truth-telling, in pushing the culture forward, and in uplifting the community,” he said.
On 16 July, Elsheikh released a new instrumental mixtape. “When We Were Kingz is my first official release. It’s also the first in a series of mixtape style beats that I will be releasing as the year progresses, so keep an eye out on that,” he said. The Instrumental Mixtape Vol. 1 – When We Were Kingz is available on SoundCloud https://soundcloud.com/nilerhythmik/sets/when-we-were-kingz.
For more information on Mazin Elsheikh, find him on SoundCloud at soundcloud.com/nilerhythmik or instagram @half_amazin.
Ola Diab is the new founder and editor of 500 Words Magazine, and the deputy editor of Marhaba Information Guide, Qatar’s premier information guide. Based in Qatar, the Sudanese journalist graduated from Northwestern University in Qatar (NU-Q) in 2012 with a Bachelor of Science in Journalism and has since built a successful career in the print and digital media industry in Qatar. Find her on X (formerly Twitter) @therealoladiab or on LinkedIn.
Ola Diab is the new founder and editor of 500 Words Magazine, and the deputy editor of Marhaba Information Guide, Qatar’s premier information guide. Based in Qatar, the Sudanese journalist graduated from Northwestern University in Qatar (NU-Q) in 2012 with a Bachelor of Science in Journalism and has since built a successful career in the print and digital media industry in Qatar. Find her on X (formerly Twitter) @therealoladiab or on LinkedIn.
