A Palestinian you should know: Anees Mokhiber
Anees Mokhiber joined a Zoom call with Palestine in America’s editor in chief Nader Ihmoud to discuss his path to art, the music he’s been working on and the support he’s received from family and fans. To listen to the full interview head to Palestine in America’s podcast on Spotify, or watch the interview on IGTV or YouTube.
Nader Ihmoud: Can you tell our listeners a little about yourself, where you’re based out of and who you are?
Anees Mokhiber: Yeah definitely I'm from outside the DC area. Ethnically, I’m half Palestinian half Lebanese. Just a little background on myself, I’m an artist. I make hip hop with indie pop vibes to it. I started making music about 2 years ago and [I] have 3 songs out right now. I just released my song Maybe which was release just a month ago.
NI: How did it feel to release your first single?
AM: That was crazy. Everything I've done to the point of releasing my first single was social media. Instagram ticktock facebook, Just advertising myself advertising myself. Advertising myself. To be able to finally put art out for people to interact with without being through the medium of social media was refreshing.
NI: I feel like the hype was definitely there because you did a lot of freestyles and they were dope. Every time I heard one, I hated that I had to go back to [Anees’s Instagram] page if I wanted to hear the dope versus [Anees] was spitting. But It got me hyped up to the point where as soon as [you] drop the single I was definitely going to download it. It worked but it kept me wanting more and wanting to have easier access to it. Is that what you were going for?
AM: Yeah. It’s a balancing act. On one hand, in the age of digital media and and the age of social media, you got to be able to deliver content on a regular basis, but at the same time I know there are plenty of people out there who don't like to be on social media all the time but just like art and just like music and to be present on those platforms is important. Its a different form of content. It’s longer form content. That's been my end goal. As much as I love social media and as much I have a fun time freestyling on instagram and going on live the end goal involves a portfolio of music.
NI: What was Anees doing before the freestyles on Instagram and the three songs that you dropped so far.
AM: So I was freestyling before all this. That's all I was doing every day. I finished Law school three years ago in 2017 . At that point in my life right before as I was about to get my results for the bar exam I was in a dark place. I was not mentally well. Just frankly I was depressed and I did not like what I was doing. And it was a tough crossroad to be at. Because when you get to that point in your life you work so hard to finally get a degree and in everybody’s mind start that career path you would think it was a time to celebrate but for ime it was a very challenging place to be at.
The whole time I was freestyling. The whole time that was my therapy was freestyling. Every day, to law school freestyling from law school freestyling. With the homies, freestyling. With the family, freestyling.
NI: But not recording it?
AM: No. theres like no recordings. I probably logged weeks, months of my life freestyling, no recording at that point. I spent days delivering pizza freestyling. Going on 10 hour road trips freestyling.
Eventually It got to a point where I was at such a low point that I knew I had to do what I loved. I had to go for it. I had to break that ice with my family with my community. And it's challenging because you do worry what the people are going to say? What's going to be the talk behind my back? But at the end of the day I know I had to take care of my heart. I had to take care of my happiness. That had to come first and that led me to music.
NI: Were your parents supportive of your decision?
AM: It was an interesting process. I think every parent wants to see their kid have a happy life. They want to see their kids have the means [and] comfort. They want to see their kid being provided for. At the end of the day whether or not my parents were going to be supportive or unsupportive of hip hop or music in general I knew that they were going to come from a place of love.I see a lot fo Arab parents who are trying to steer their kids in more traditional routes, and I get where they are coming from. Fortunately for me, I guess in that sense, they are a little non traditional.Let me put it this way. They were confused a little bit. Definitely a little surprised but all the while they were supportive.
NI: Surprising would be human nature. I went to journalism school, that's 4 yours and I was done. You went to law school and then decided to go [a different route].
AM: Especially because my mom is telling every grocery store clerk ‘my son is in law school.’ My dad is a lawyer so he’s telling all his friends ‘my son, my son my son’ so to me it probably would've been easy to stay doing it. Like I don't want to disappoint them I don't want them to look [bad].
NI: When you made the decision [to pursue music] what was the next step for you?
AM: It was Many steps walking through the darkness getting to the light. The first thing I did, keep in mind I'm engaged, so now I have to explain it, not just to my parents but to my future in-laws as well.Again, Arabs, you worry, they've been telling everyone their son-in-law is a lawyer, right? Fortunately just like my parents they were supportive. But, I wasn't fully honest with myself. It wasn't like ‘okay I'm not using this JD in a traditional way I'm going straight to music.’ I wasn't quite comfortable, confident [or] sure of myself yet. So I asked myself “What's an easy conversion to the creative life that people would understand?” And to me the answer was video. So I told them I was going to get into vlogging and YouTubing. To me, that seemed a little more palatable than music, a little more understandable. I wasn't lying. I had yet to decide that music would be the path. So I start a vlog with my best friend Issa and we vlogged for a little less than a year...about a year in, we were like “I think it would be better if we both had our own vlog, because we have different experiences and different stories we want to tell. The moment i started to do my own vlog it all started being about music and that was natural. It wasn't like “I want to make this vlog about music.” It was like I'm making this vlog “what do I want to share with people?” I want to sing for them. I want to rap for them. And at that point the ice was slowly starting to melt and it became obvious. And at that point it was like maybe I should stop lying to myself. So that's kind of how got to posting a “16” on instagram posting little rap battle leagues on instagram posting covers on youtube so that was the next step.
NI: [Where do you see yourself in 5 years?]
AM: I like to say I don't have goals but a vision. My vision long term, when my final moment comes in life I want to know that I did everything with my ability, everything with the talents I was given to make the world a happier, more joyful, more peaceful, more loving place. In the next five years I’d like to be making strides toward that. To me that looks like performing all around. Not just this country but abroad. I'd love to see myself working on my 3or 4th album by that point.I’d love to see myself collaborating with some of my favorite audience. Getting into a mode, not just me and my audience, byt tapping into a much larger listening base. To be honest with you, five years from now, I’d love to be at a place where it's not just music. I'm very clear to always tell people, when they ask me, it's kind of difficult to explain myself as... I always say I'm an independent artist. The reason being, if I say Im a rapper then they’re only expecting hip hop. If I say Im a singer, they are only expecting vocals. But as an artist I can gibe them hip hop vibes vocals but also as an artist I can give them literature I can write for them I van give them public speaking,
NI: Yeah, You're not trying to be stuck in a bubble?
AM: Yeah I don't believe in boxing yourself years, So five years from now I want to be out of my box in many ways.
NI: Who are your dream collaborations
AM: I am a believer in manifesting so Im not giving to pull any punches, I’d love to collaborate with immortal technique Id love to collaborate with king los id love to collaborate with John Meyer, J. Cole, Chance the Rapper. To me, if you can't manifest and put it out there that those big time artists are people you are going to collaborate with then you already have no chance. So for me those would be incredible artists to collaborate with but i'd also love to collaborate with India Arie Id love to collaborate with Marlon Kraft. A lot of names come to mind.
NI: How has the Palestinian community supported you so far?
AM: That's a wonderful thing that I've experienced.There's this lie that goes around that Arab don't support Arab enough. I don't know if that's true in other people's lives but that has been false in my life. From the very very very beginning it's been Palestinians that have promoted me. It's been Palestinians that have surrounded me on Instagram live. It's been Palestinians who have shared me on their stories.And that's just been humbling. It's been incredibly humbling. And when I say Palestinians, I mean Palestinians in America but I also mean Palestinians in Palestine. And Palestinains abroad. And it's very humbling to see how the people of Palestine want to see their own on that big screen. They wanna see their own elevating. They want to see not just surviving but striving. Ive always been proud of my Palestinian roots. I've always been proud of that side of who I am but ever since I've become an artist that pride has only intensified.
NI: In the near future, Palestine is free, we're throwing a big party there to celebrate, and everybody gets to play some music, what records (not your own) are you bringing to play at the party?
AM: Oh man. I got chills just thinking about this. I’d love to this to umm,,, let me think about that
NI: Sit on that and we’ll go to a more boring question in the mean time. Whats the best career advice you’ve received?
AM: Best career advice I ever received. I think it's to do whatever makes you want to jump out of bed in the morning. To me when I first heard that it rung so true with me because at that time I was doing what I hated getting out of bed for. I dreaded getting out of bed because I did not want to keep doing what I was doing.
NI: And right now you [are doing what makes you want to jump out of bed in the morning]?
AM: Right now I am at a point where I don't even like going to sleep and I cant wait to get up. I literally fall asleep, half the time, in the middle of doing my work and then by the time Im up, life feels like a game.
NI: I’m going to ask you one more time before I let you go, - In the near future, Palestine is free, we're throwing a big party there to celebrate, and everybody gets to play some music, what records (not your own) are you bringing to play at the party?
AM: The problem with this question is not that I dont have an answer its that I have too many answers. And I wanna pick the right one, because if you're at the Palestine is free celebration banger and you're the DJ you can't mess up.
So we gotta play demi falasteeni by Mohammad Assaf. Thats gotta be on there, To me that's obvious.
NI: Every DJ that comes out is playing that record.
AM: I imagine they have like an Arab DJ then they have me. Hes got the arab records covered. That's not even my forte. Hes got that covered.
NI: Yeah, What are YOU bringing to the party?
AM: Yeah 100 percent, I'm trying to balance it. I think Im playing “X Gone Give it to Ya” because we gotta get stupid hype at this party. We have waited, at this point, over 70 years for this liberations. Since the 40s we gotta get hype. So we gotta get some DMX in there. Maybe we play some “waiting on the world to change” by John Meyer just to soften the vibes a bit. Now, this might sound counterintuitive based on the name of the song, but “To Zion” by Lauren Hill just sounds like something uplifting to play at this party.
What else would I play? Problems by Chance the Rapper….
NI: What would you close out your set with?
AM: Oh man what would I close out the Palestine is free concert set with> I mean you could always go with something that fits the mood like, “Rise Up” You could always go with “One day” Youn could always go with songs that would really fit that creciendo like ‘we’re free let's be happy’ but I dont know maybe I would want something that bumps more than something inspirational. I would probably play “kick in the door” by Biggie.
For the full interview listen to the podcast here, watch the IGTV episode here, or watch the interview on YouTube.
