MoTrip

Mohamed El Moussaoui (Arabic: محمد الموساوي‎), known by the stage name MoTrip (born March 7, 1988), is a German rapper of Lebanese ancestry. His stage name uses the first syllable of his name and plays off the Arabic word for singer or lyricist. MoTrip came into his own with such hits as his 2013 Guten Morgen NSA ("Good Morning NSA") and his 2015 So wie du bist ("Just as you are"). Since 2011 he has been under contract with Universal Music.

MoTrip
MoTrip in 2016
Background information
Birth nameMohamed El Moussaoui
Born (1988-03-07) March 7, 1988
Beirut, Lebanon
OriginGermany
Occupation(s)Rapper
LabelsUniversal Music

Early life

Mohamed El Moussaoui was born in Beirut, Lebanon, though his family fled the country during the Lebanese Civil War. He grew up in Aachen, on Germany's borders with Belgium and the Netherlands. El Moussaoui's older brother was an aspiring rapper, and the young MoTrip began writing his first lyrics at the age of 15.[1] Aachen was also the hometown of Turkish-German rapper Kool Savas, who took notice of the up-and-coming MoTrip. With the promotion of Kool Savas, MoTrip was able to make important industry connections and promote his work.[1]

Career

According to MoTrip, he has written or contributed to writing many German-language rap tracks performed by other artists.[2] He says that all of the lyrics he performs, however, are his own words. While MoTrip has not indicated for whom he has written music, in 2011 the rapper Eko Fresh claimed on Twitter that MoTrip wrote the Fler album Airmax Muzik II.[3][4] MoTrip is also credited as a coauthor on the 2012 album AMYF by the Berlin rapper Bushido.

MoTrip's first album, Embryo, appeared in 2011. His first charting single did not come until 2013, however, when his Guten Morgen NSA ("Good Morning NSA") appeared. In the context of the United States' National Security Agency spying controversy, MoTrip mocked NSA surveillance for "hacking [his] Game Boy." Comparing the NSA to the Stasi, the East German secret police, MoTrip was echoing a comparison first made by German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The song also remarks on MoTrip's status as an Arab in Europe.

The 2015 album Mama featured the smash hit So wie du bist ("Just as you are"), which became MoTrip's highest charting single. It reached number 3 on the official German charts.[5] This track featured the German vocalist Lary, who appeared as a stripper in the music video, romantically pursued by MoTrip. The song stood at number 51 on the charts until it was featured as background music for a Beats by Dre commercial, which focused on German soccer player Bastian Schweinsteiger and his leaving long time club Bayern Munich to join Manchester United. The ad catapulted the song to the top of the charts.[6]

References
  1. "MoTrip – laut.de – Band".
  2. "MoTrip: "Ist ja kein Heroin. Sind nur Texte" – laut.de – Interview".
  3. Ghostwriting im HipHop: Welche Texte wurden nicht selbst geschrieben? Vice, 13. August 2013, retrieved 11 January 2014.
  4. Eko behauptet: MoTrip ist Flers Ghostwriter hiphop.de, 12 April 2011, retrieved 11 January 2014
  5. "Suche - Offizielle Deutsche Charts". www.offiziellecharts.de.
  6. Lindemann, Jonas (13 July 2015). ""Beats by Dre" produziert Clip mit MoTrip und Bastian Schweinsteiger".
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