Film
Watch The Narcicyst Rise
Rapper’s music movie is a roll call of Middle East faces – including dad!
Iraqi-Canadian rapper Yassin Alsalman, aka The Narcicyst, was thinking of a Michael Jackson meets American Psycho vibe when he came up with the idea of Rise, a 15-minute short film based on his album, World War Free Now.
The movie, directed by City of Life’s Ali Mostafa, features two of Narcy’s songs, Rise and SchoolYard.
We see the main character having strange visions in his apartment (shot on the 75th floor of Dubai’s Index Tower) as riots are reported on the news, then heading to work in a car-less city and screwing up a business meeting before ditching a Ferrari Testarossa in the desert as a Bedouin canters past on an Arabian stallion.
Yassin Alsalman, The Narcicyst
© [unknown]
It was the first major project for The Medium, a collective of artists around the world co-founded by Yassin, from cartoonists to screenwriters to music producers, looking to make multimedia events.
We got on the phone with Yassin at home in Montreal, Canada, to find out more.
Who dreamt up with Rise the movie?
I thought the story up, but it was turned into a script by my good brother Nizar Wattad. I approached AFM Films (Mostafa’s production house): this film could only be shot in a place like the Emirates, so Ali was a no-brainer when it came to the style and execution of what I envisioned. Sundus Abdul Hadi (co-founder of The Medium) was art director, and my sister filmed a behind-the-scenes series. It was a family affair from start to finish.
How do you know Ali Mostafa?
Turns out Ali and I went to the same primary school in Dubai. I did KG1 twice, hence missing him by a year. We met over 20 years later at one of my shows in Dubai and have been friends since. (Yassin appeared in Ali’s debut movie, City of Life.)
There are a lot of familiar faces in Rise…
My father played the security guard, my wife was the receptionist. and many of my friends played extras. I like having my people in my short films. (Watch out for: DJs Emtee Pockets and Dany Neville; Saoud Al-Kaabi, the Emirati star of City of Life and Djinn; Omar Bin Haider, star of Mostafa’s web series Classified; presenter Diala Makki; hip hop artist Omar Offendum; and The Medium artists Karim Jabbari and Sundus Abdul Hadi.)
What did Falah Alsalman, your dad, think of it?
He loves the film. I took a lot of my character accents from the past, growing up and watching him work - it’s very symbolic for him. (Falah is an architect.)
What do the riots in Rise represent?
Poverty. Misrule. Dissatisfaction. Injustice. Everything happening in our world today.
Behind the Scenes
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Rise is set in 2025 - tell us what the Middle East looks like then.
The (car-free) pods in the city could be any time in the future; I’m hoping the world does start thinking more consciously about the environment and our effect on it. I have no idea what the Arab world will look like in 2025: anything can happen, as we have learned.
In Rise, The Medium is the company behind the fictional city - a little ominous, no?!
It's meant to be a bigger message about how seriously you take financial success over cultural capital. The character in the film is plagued by his own drive for success. I did that also as a way of introducing that The Medium can be anything. Everything is self-reflective in my work.
Who’s the guy in the mask with the serious abs?
Haha, that was one of the production team from AFM, Pascal. He fit the role so well. That character represents self-doubt versus the lion in us all; the fear of being a leader, the fear of failing and falling. He represents the inner voice that makes you doubt yourself, that could push you over the edge.
What are you working on at the moment?
Right now, I'm working on events in Montreal and artist collaborations on multiple platforms between my crew and brands around the world. Working on music, teaching at Concordia University and keeping it honest!
What’s The Medium doing next?
We have a big collaboration coming up in Dubai soon, with a festival. Stay tuned!
The movie tagline is “Who will catch you when you fall?” Who will catch you, Yassin?
My family.