Palestinian rapper Saint Levant made his Coachella debut over the weekend, bringing eminently danceable beats and Palestinian solidarity to the stage. The 23-year-old played a set scheduled for a time conflicting with the highly anticipated No Doubt reunion but still packed the desert festival’s Gobi Tent, where he played both his hits and newer work to a sea of fans, many sporting keffiyehs and waving Palestinian flags.
Israel’s war on Gaza has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced many more. Some 1.5 million people have taken refuge in the southern city of Rafah, according to the United Nations, which says Israel is blocking food aid convoys as a famine looms.
Saint Levant, born in Jerusalem and raised in Gaza, addressed the crowd, stating, ‘As I hope all of you are aware, the people of Gaza have been undergoing a brutal, brutal genocide for the past six months. And the people of Palestine have been undergoing a brutal occupation for the past 75 years.’
The artist, born Marwan Abdelhamid, spent many of his childhood years living in the Gaza Strip. In 2007, he and his family fled to Jordan, where he lived for approximately a decade before moving to California, where he is now based in Los Angeles.
Saint Levant’s trilingual rap track ‘Very Few Friends’ went viral after he released it in November 2022, and 2023’s ‘From Gaza With Love’ has also found a growing fanbase. During Saturday’s set, he performed the new works ‘Deira’ and ‘5am in Paris;’ he released the latter just a few days ago.
‘It’s about exile,’ he told his Coachella audience. ‘A feeling that us Palestinians know a bit too well.’
The artist said he would also soon release a br
