naarfr.com described itself as a “postcultural collective” with a specific concern: artists do not compete for attention on equal terms across the world. Its stated belief was that cultures are equal even when the conditions surrounding them are not. The articles visible in its 2018 archive put that position into practice through interviews and profiles spanning Moroccan rap, contemporary art, photography, and independent music from Europe and the United States.
The project was more than a publication of unrelated artist interviews. Its selection placed emerging Moroccan acts alongside musicians with established international audiences, while its questions often returned to identity, artistic process, and movement between places. A 2019 announcement of the SAFAR Tour also showed the collective working beyond the page. Together, those activities offer a concrete picture of what naarfr.com set out to do: give artists room to explain their work and bring different scenes into the same conversation.
A Collective With a Clear Editorial Position
In its February 2018 welcome post, naarfr.com identified the uneven competition between artists as the problem it hoped to address. That framing matters because visibility is not simply a measure of talent. Artists working in different places have different access to established media outlets, touring circuits, and audiences accustomed to their cultural references. The collective’s response, as reflected in its archive, was to publish substantial attention to artists whose work might otherwise be discussed within separate national or genre categories.
Moroccan artists were central to that approach, but the coverage was not confined to Morocco. The index included interviews with The Garden, Christopher Owens, Jaakko Eino Kalevi, Albert Hammond Jr., Moses Sumney, and Weyes Blood, as well as pieces on Shayfeen, Issam, Meriem Bennani, and Karim El Maktafi. Presenting those names together did not imply that their careers or circumstances were identical. It did make space for readers interested in one scene to encounter another without treating either as an isolated curiosity.
Several features of the published selection make the collective’s scope easier to see:
- Music crossed national lines: Moroccan rap and trap appeared in the same index as French rap, American indie music, and other international acts.
- Visual art had a place beside music: the archive featured New York-based Moroccan artist Meriem Bennani and Moroccan-Italian photographer Karim El Maktafi.
- Interviews looked beyond releases: descriptions of the articles pointed to childhood, family, identity, creative decisions, and the making of records and images.
- The project had an event dimension: the SAFAR Tour announcement named Moroccan rap acts Shayfeen and Madd as headliners for concerts in European countries.
This was an editorial identity built through choices of subject and context rather than a single prescribed sound or visual style. The available posts also place limits on what can be concluded: an archive shows what the collective published at that time, not the size of its audience or the later outcomes of every project it covered.
Moroccan Rap at the Center of the Coverage
The April 2018 interview with Shayfeen is one of the clearest examples of naarfr.com’s interest in Morocco’s contemporary music scene. The duo, made up of Shobee and Small X, was presented as a significant presence in Moroccan rap. The article’s introduction emphasized the members’ open-mindedness and forward-looking approach, pointing toward an interview concerned with how they saw their place in the scene, not merely whether a particular track had become popular.
Issam’s September 2018 feature approached another part of that scene. naarfr.com described him as an independent-minded figure in Moroccan trap whose preferences shaped both his music and his videos. That pairing is important: the article treated the visual presentation of his work as part of his artistic identity. Its introduction also called him a child of the internet, suggesting questions about the influences and online culture around his practice rather than a narrow account of genre labels.
The collective’s reach extended to French rap through its April 2018 interview with Laylow. The introduction named his records Mercy and Digitalova and focused on the distinct artistic world he was building across them. In the context of the archive, Laylow’s inclusion connected neighboring but different music environments. It offered a point of comparison without collapsing French and Moroccan rap into one story.
The SAFAR Tour made that cross-border interest tangible. Announced in February 2019, it was described as a series of concerts in European countries headlined by Shayfeen and Madd. The information available in the announcement identifies the format and featured acts, though it does not by itself establish how many shows ultimately took place. What it does establish is that naarfr.com’s role was not limited to writing about Moroccan rap: the collective was also involved in presenting its artists to live audiences beyond Morocco.
What the Interviews Revealed About Identity and Work
Music was only one route into the questions that interested naarfr.com. The November 2018 profile of photographer Karim El Maktafi introduced him as Moroccan-Italian and described his search for a balance between those two parts of his identity. His first project, Hayati, was connected to a broader question about what it means to belong to a second generation. Rather than treating that background as a biographical detail separate from the photographs, the introduction placed it close to the purpose of the work.
The archive’s range is visible at https://naarfr.com/, where El Maktafi’s profile sits alongside conversations with musicians and visual artists whose experiences cannot be reduced to a single scene. Meriem Bennani’s February 2018 interview, for example, was introduced while she was between an exhibition in Dubai and one in her adopted city. The New York-based Moroccan artist discussed her work and the women portrayed in it. Those details locate the conversation in both a specific artistic practice and a life conducted across places.
Moses Sumney’s March 2018 feature provided another perspective on growing up between cultures. Its introduction also pointed to the long process behind his album, connecting personal history with the time and decisions involved in making music. Published after his brief Oscars appearance alongside Sufjan Stevens, the piece used a moment of public visibility as an opening for a fuller account of the artist.
The recurring subjects can be traced through the archive without assuming that every interview arrived at the same conclusions:
- Background: artists discussed family, childhood, or cultural identity where those experiences informed the work.
- Process: the introductions highlighted how records, photographs, videos, and other projects were developed.
- Presentation: attention extended to performances, exhibitions, and visual choices, not just finished recordings.
- Movement: Morocco, Europe, New York, and Dubai appeared as meaningful parts of artists’ working lives rather than interchangeable settings.
That pattern gave the interviews a recognizable perspective while leaving room for differences among the artists. El Maktafi’s examination of second-generation identity was not the same project as Bennani’s portrayals of women or Sumney’s account of making an album. naarfr.com’s editorial link between them lay in taking those particular concerns seriously.
International Artists in the Same Frame
naarfr.com also published interviews with artists who already had recognizable names in international music. Its October 2018 Weyes Blood feature introduced Natalie Mering through Front Row Seat to Earth, then turned toward the spiritual thinking behind her music and performances. The description signaled an interest in the person and ideas shaping the songs, beyond an account of the album’s reception.
Earlier pieces showed a similarly broad selection. In February 2018, Albert Hammond Jr., known both for The Strokes and his solo work, discussed subjects including an improvised trip to Morocco and his approach to making covers. Christopher Owens’s interview acknowledged his songwriting, his modeling work for Hedi Slimane and Yves Saint Laurent, and the following he had gained among indie listeners. Jaakko Eino Kalevi spoke about his album and his experiences as an artist associated with Berlin. These were different careers, but each interview offered details beyond a short promotional description.
The Garden’s February 2018 feature described the twin musicians’ routine of making records, modeling, and performing around the world. Their presence in the archive alongside Moroccan rap acts illustrates the publication’s breadth. It also helps explain why the collective’s self-description matters: the coverage did not ask readers to choose between a local focus and international music. It placed both within one editorial project, while allowing each artist’s circumstances to remain distinct.
That mixture could create useful connections for readers. Someone arriving for an interview with Shayfeen could also encounter Bennani’s art or Weyes Blood’s approach to performance. Someone drawn by a familiar indie musician could come across Issam’s videos or El Maktafi’s photography. The archive does not prove how often readers made those journeys, but its organization made them possible.
Reading the Project Through Its Published Record
The strongest account of naarfr.com is grounded in what its published record actually shows. A welcome post set out a principle of cultural equality and concern about unequal opportunity. The 2018 index applied that principle across interviews with Moroccan and international artists working in several disciplines. The 2019 SAFAR Tour announcement added a live-music initiative centered on Moroccan rap. Those are observable parts of the project; claims about its long-term impact would require more evidence.
Its distinctive contribution was the combination of a stated position and specific editorial choices. The collective did not present Moroccan creativity only as background to better-known international acts, nor did it exclude those acts to maintain a narrow geographic focus. It gave Shayfeen, Issam, Bennani, and El Maktafi named space in an archive that also featured Laylow, Sumney, Mering, and others. In several cases, the introductions identified the questions each artist was working through, from second-generation identity to the construction of a musical or visual world.
For a reader assessing naarfr.com today, that record is more informative than a broad label alone. It identifies the artists the collective chose to cover, the subjects its interviews opened up, and the step it took toward live events. Most importantly, it shows how the project understood cultural exchange: not as an abstract celebration of variety, but as sustained attention to particular people, their work, and the conditions in which that work was seen and heard.