Friday, Apr 15, 2011
Gulf News
Dubai From a banker to an overnight local YouTube sensation, hip hop enthusiast Mo Mansour is leaving Dubai after gifting it a song and receiving much love from its residents in return.
Canadian-Egyptian banker Mo Mansour came to Dubai 18 months ago, and fell in love with the city ever since.
Today he leaves the city to move to Greece for the next 18 months, but with a tribute that has become a sensation on YouTube and social media sites.
Three days ago, Mansour uploaded a song he wrote for Dubai entitled Dubai state of mind, inspired by Jay Z and Alicia Keys’ Empire state of Mind.
In just two days, he had 6,000 YouTube views and hundreds of facebook shares.
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“I’ve been overwhelmed,” he said, adding that he has since been inundated with interview requests from local newspapers and radio stations.
Dubai 92 even played the entire track on the station. Mansour, 23, said that the most important part about writing the lyrics was that he truly believed in it.
Despite coming from the cultural mosaic that Canada is, Mansour said he had never seen a city so diverse.
“You don’t get Dubai’s multiculturalism anywhere. I celebrated India’s recent world cup cricket win, celebrated Holi; I play basketball with Filipinos once a month; my friends are from all over the world.
“You meet Sudanese, Uzbeks, Europeans; you meet all kinds of people in Dubai,” he said.
Mansour expresses that sentiment in his song:
“Perfect place to travel from, but this is where my base is,
What a perfect blend of fifty different places,
All the diverse cultures, languages, and races,
Adds a real spice to life that everyone embraces.”
Dubai State of Mind was the first track that Mansour uploaded on YouTube, despite performing hip hop as a hobby. “I’m a banker,” he stresses.
Mansour wrote the lyrics and convinced his girlfriend to join.
“I just did it for my friends and family to see, but realised that it was getting much bigger when I started seeing comments under the video and friends I hadn’t spoken to in a long time called to ask if it was me,” he said.
He said that those criticising Dubai as being too glitzy and artificial have not given themselves a chance to explore the city.
He spoke of the city’s contrasts of Dh10 meals in Bur Dubai to flashy night clubs in new Dubai.
Mansour said he was leaving Dubai for Greece because that was where his job was taking him, “but will definitely be back”.
His girlfriend continues to live in the city.
By Abbas Al Lawati?Staff Reporter
Gulf News 2011. All rights reserved.
