Marrakesh-based artist and producer Ramoon wants to be a household name. The 31-year old is fresh off the release of his album 101, a collaboration with fellow Moroccan rapper 7ari, twelve tracks that each express a different mood in a way that takes you on an undeniably entertaining listening experience.
The album topped the Moroccan charts and the comments on the Youtube visualizer have so far like a stream of rave reviews.
“We called it 101 because I’m one of one, he’s one of one,” Ramoon shares. “[Our talents] are super rare, exclusive.”
Much of Ramoon’s early years sound like the building blocks of a musical legend. Before he was topping charts and producing viral tracks, Anas Rahmoune AKA “Ramoon” was just a teenager in Rabat fascinated with his father’s old guitar.
“My dad used to play a little, and I’d see it around the house,” he recalls.
He picked up the guitar at the age of 13, teaching himself how to play covers of the music his mom and dad listened to, naming Cat Stevens, the Beatles, Guns N Roses and Michael Jackson as some of his early influences.
“I learned to play Billie Jean on the guitar, but in a jazz way,” he says.
Growing up in Morocco meant being immersed in a musical mosaic.
“We’re open to the U.S., to Africa, and to Europe,” he explains. “My mom and aunties listened to Sherine and Majida El Roumi, my uncle was into Algerian Raï. Before guitar, it was all hip hop – 50 Cent, Eminem, and Moroccan rap like Don Bigg.”
This mix of sonic influences eventually led Ramoon into production, but almost unintentionally.
“I had this idea that I need to have my own songs, I don’t want to just sing other people’s stuff.”
As he found his footing in production, Ramoon also began to think more deeply about image. On Instagram, he curates a highly stylized, striking presence with a mix of fashion and attitude.
For him, it’s not just self-expression, it’s strategy.
“In the music industry, Instagram is how people judge you,” he says. Still, he admits, the platform comes at a cost. “To be honest, I hate Instagram,” he says flatly. “It’s toxic.”
You can tell the hustle is in Ramoon’s blood. In the years following his debut on the Moroccan music scene, Ramoon dropped a number of singles with other artists like Roneo, Tan Taşçi and Sigma. But his network isn’t just regional.
Without ever relocating to a major industry hub, Maroon has managed to collaborate with international names like from Darrell to AP Dhillon to Yo Yo Honey Singh, and Russ, among others. These connections weren’t brokered by managers or labels – they were built online.
“[I was] uploading my beats to YouTube or TikTok or whatever,” he explains. “That’s how I got into the industry.”
Then late last year, Ramoon began work on 101 with repeat-collaborator 7ari; the latter having also built a career on creating distinctly Moroccan hip hop and trap music by blending African sounds with contemporary beats.
Ramoon says the album was created over three nonconsecutive weeks, 7ari traveling from Rabat to join him at his home studio. The partners compliment each other sonically, although Ramoon notes their creative processes were more like Yin and Yang.
“I don’t go outside,” he says, “I’m a workaholic. I wake up, I go to the gym, I work, work, work. 7ari is outside all day. There were times he’d say, ‘please, I just want to get a coffee,’ and I’d say ‘no. We’re working on this album. We’re going to finish’.”
Ramoon even hired a chef to cook for them on site so there was no excuse to leave the studio.
“7ari didn’t put music out for two years,” he says, “ I had to get him out of his comfort zone.”
The final product: twelve distinct and personal tracks that Ramoon is incredibly proud of.
“My work as a producer is to guide the artist and get him in the specific [mindset], like mentally and spiritually.”
There’s a track for every phase of the human experience; a love song, a break up song, a song about loss, Ramoon and 7ari bring out both the strength and vulnerability in one another that can oftentimes be missing from trap music. You can tell there’s a lot of trust in the relationship, a credit to the work Ramoon puts into his collaborations.
The album was released on July 5th and eleven of the twelve tracks instantly charted on Spotify’s Morocco charts. This achievement, however, went widely unrecognized by the global music scene.
“To my knowledge, I’m the only born and raised Moroccan music producer that holds the most platinum and gold, and Billboard number ones.”
He shrugs when asked why the album’s release and consecutive success seemed wildly left out of the global conversation.
“It’s weird,” he adds. “No one’s talking about the album, the achievements. 7ari is also the biggest artist in Morocco. But nobody [outside Morocco] talked about this album, the achievements. It’s weird.”
It is weird. The Middle East and North Africa is the fastest-growing region for music revenue, according to an industry report. Profits across the MENA region increased by 22.8 percent last year alone.
But Ramoon says producers from the region are widely unrecognized, unlike his counterparts in the U.S.
“In the U.S., I could go up to anybody on the street and ask, ‘Who’s Timbaland?’ and they would know who [he is]. In the Middle East or North Africa, I can’t just name a producer. Yes, everyone knows Sherine but nobody knows who produced her biggest hits.”
Despite any setbacks that come from living, working and producing out of Marrakesh, Ramoon is determined to make it without relocating to the U.S.
“I’m from Morocco. I live in Morocco. I didn’t go to LA, I didn’t go to New York. I’m still in Morocco. And I’m changing [people’s perspectives on] how they see Morocco and Moroccan music.”
As a producer and as an artist, Ramoon sees himself up there with creators who have that instant name recognition. He knows he’s at the top of his game, but wants the world to know it too.
“I’m competitive,” he says laughing.
Ramoon acknowledges that there’s more than one way to achieve success.
“It’s a hard question, because there isn’t one type of success for me,” he says, adding that success can mean being healthy or being surrounded by your family, as well as financial success and musical success. “To be honest, I still want to achieve a lot. But I want it while living in Morocco, not the U.S.”
“I still want to get a Grammy, of course.”
