Loading ...Pathbreakers of Arab America—Anees
By: John Mason / Arab America Contributing Writer
This is the sixty-first of Arab America’s series on American pathbreakers of Arab descent. The series includes personalities from entertainment, business, sports, science, academia, journalism, and politics, among other areas. Our sixty-first Arab American Pathbreaker is Anees, a musician, singer, rapper, songwriter, and performer. Anees’ genres are Pop, R&B, hip hop, and pop rap. Born to parents of Lebanese and Palestinian descent, he is an ardent pro-Palestinian activist. Anees is also a proud alumnus of George Mason University.
Well-educated and loaded with creative ideas, Anees transformed the hobby of music he described as therapeutic into a career
Anees Mokhiber was born on July 30, 1992, in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. He is known by his showbusiness name, Anees. The name Anees is a Muslim male’s name that means ‘close friend,’ ‘good company,’ ‘smart one,’ ‘companion,’ or ‘supreme.’ He studied at George Mason University in northern Virginia, majoring in philosophy and sociology in 2014. He avers that his courses became pivotal to his growth, according to Wikipedia’s Series on Arab Americans, leading him to become a “deep thinker and conscious lyricist.”
Anees felt, as a minority, that he experienced accessibility and opportunity at Mason. Furthermore, he described his time at the University as “falling in love with my time on campus, whether it was going to office hours or walking around campus during sunset.” He describes his time at summer camp performing bomber freestyling: “You would, on the fly, come up with a four-bar rhyme to go back-and-forth with someone. I always felt very alive doing it.”
After his undergraduate degree, Anees attained a Juris Doctor degree in 2017 from the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason before deciding to pursue a music career. After all of his studies, then switching dramatically to a very different career Anees fell into a state of depression. To deal with that condition, he sought a solution through “confiding to freestyling as his therapy.” Anees’ law degree helped him more than he might imagined at the time since it allowed him “to maneuver business dealings and the legal side of the music business without being taken advantage of as an independent artist.”
Anees’ daily commute to his classes over seven years in his Ford Focus car became his “default” studio. It became his personal practice space and recording studio, where he developed his sounds and styles. One of his first songs was ‘Drunk on Myself’ on Instagram in 2019, in which he showed off his flow and rap style publicly. ‘Slip’ made its public release as Anees’ next single on April 1, 2021, across music platforms, a love song he dedicated to his wife and his vulnerability.
Anees made his official debut single on April 14, 2020, with ‘Neverland Fly’, a rap song opening up about his battle with depression and the volatility of mental health. On June 21, he collaborated with Arab producer Thanks Joey and Puerto Rican producer El Bles on the high-octane track ‘Brown Kid’, envisioning it as an anthem for minorities. The following month, he released the song ‘Maybe.’ Anees then released the ‘Summer Camp’ album and started the tour promoting the album. The tour included many major cities, a performance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, SunFest, and Lovin’ Life Music Fest.
Anees’ musical career gets a big boost after a surprise from Justin Bieber
“Since he was old enough to drive,” according to a ‘George Mason Magazine’ interview, “Anees would freestyle in his car. The George Mason University double alumnus has since transformed the hobby he describes as therapeutic into a career, with his car being his mobile recording studio.”
On April 10, during an Instagram live from his Ford Focus, the up-and-coming rapper sang Anees’ latest single ‘Slip,’ and was caught by surprise when Justin Bieber joined the livestream to jam along. “The Grammy-winning pop star gave major compliments on Anees’ musical talent in front of an audience of more than 60,000 people. Going through my mind was just adrenaline,” said Anees. “Everyone wants to know, how did it happen? I don’t know, and I think it’s better that way—it’s a God thing, it’s a blessing.”
During the Mason magazine’s interview, it asked about his song ‘Slip.’ Anees replied, “It’s a love song about my wife. What I love about this love song is it’s written to connect with anybody. It has a vulnerability in it that love requires, so I’m hoping it connects with people.”
When asked why he chose Mason, Anees replied that he liked the diverse campus, that he felt comfortable there as someone who’s from a minority, and that he could tailor his own study plan. He noted that the upper-level sociology and philosophy courses were “all very formative for me. Anybody can read the classics, but they forced you to do some writing of your own and do some real critical thinking.”
In terms of what’s next in his music, Anees said that his next two singles will be ‘Love is Crazy’ and ‘Drunk on Myself.’ He described ‘Love is Crazy’ as another love song, while ‘Drunk on Myself’ is a self-love song: “Self-love songs are even more important because if you don’t love yourself first, you can’t love other people. Love has to emanate from within.” Anees depicted his music as messaging that “life is good. I hope that that underlying ethos of my music can be something that people incorporate in their daily life.”
“Palestinian and proud: American rapper Anees turns up the volume on Gaza”
Anees recently spoke to ‘TRT World’ about the pain of being Palestinian at this moment, his purpose in life, and his faith that the tide will finally turn in Gaza. Right after the war started, in October 2023, he signed the ‘Artists4Ceasefire’ open letter to U.S. President Joe Biden calling for a ceasefire of the Israeli bombardment of Gaza. Anees has become increasingly vocal about Palestinian human rights.
Speaking to TRT World ahead of a recent concert in Baltimore, he explained a bit about his journey: “I didn’t get into music because I love music, to be honest with you. I got into music because I felt that this was my best chance of making an impact in the world. I felt that the skills that God gave me, this is my best chance to leverage them for humanity. I just want to know that at the end of my life, I did everything I could do. To be able to use my platform to try to amplify the voices in Palestine and educate millions who have no idea what’s going on – it’s a duty, it gives me purpose. This is what I’m here for, it’s sad but I know I’m doing what I need to do.”
Since the Gaza war began, Anees has used his concert circuit to bolster the spirits of those suffering in Gaza. Recently, at the March on Washington for Gaza, he shared a spoken word poem called “I don’t feel safe as a Palestinian.” Anees explained, “I wrote this poem to express the collective fear and sadness that millions of us feel. Our pain has been so severe that poetry is one of the only ways I can express it.”
But among his supporters, there are also many detractors. Anees said he’s received thousands of “hateful and threatening messages” from people who have tried to cancel his performances. Speaking to TRT World, he said, “It’s not easy. It’s not when you speak up for something that is right. There will always be pushback from those who benefit from what is wrong. But that’s okay. You know what – I expected it. And I think when you watch people on the wrong side of history get desperate, it shows you that a tide is turning, and we’re not going to stop that.”
In ending his interview with TRT World, Anees made a plea, “I hope that people will see Palestinian humanity, Palestinian love, and Palestinian joy and healing in my music because we are humans too. And our art is one of the greatest ways to access our humanity. So, if you’re watching this and you listen to my music, or the art of any Arab or Palestinian, understand that you now know our humanity,” he said.
Sources:
–“Anees,” Wikipedia Series on Arab Americans, 2024
–“Rapper and double Mason alum Anees gains musical momentum after a surprise from Justin Bieber,” Marian Aburdeineh, George Mason University Magazine, 4/21/2021
–“Palestinian and proud: American rapper Anees turns up the volume on Gaza,” by Shabina Khatri, TRT World, 1/2024
John Mason, Ph.D., focuses on Arab culture, society, and history and is the author of LEFT-HANDED IN AN ISLAMIC WORLD: An Anthropologist’s Journey into the Middle East, New Academia Publishing, 2017. He has taught at the University of Libya, Benghazi, Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York, and the American University in Cairo; John served with the United Nations in Tripoli, Libya, and consulted extensively on socioeconomic and political development for USAID and the World Bank in 65 countries.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of Arab America. The reproduction of this article is permissible with proper credit to Arab America and the author.
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