A Saudi Arabian rapper who goes by the stage name Asayel Slay is facing arrest after releasing a song titled "Girl Of Mecca" (alternately translated as "Mecca Girl"). In the song, she praises the women of the holy city, describing them as "powerful and beautiful." She gives a more unconventional compliment in another line: "Our respect to other girls but the Mecca girl is sugar candy."
Despite the fact that Asayel Slay kills the track, the governor of Mecca, Khaled al-Faisal, was not pleased to discover its music video. On his administration's official Twitter account, he ordered that Asayel Slay and everyone else responsible for the video be taken into custody. The tweet claims that "Girl Of Mecca" "offends the customs and traditions of the people of Mecca and contradicts the identity and traditions of its high-ranking children."
While the official video have been removed from YouTube, it continues to float around online in light of this story. Supporters are rallying behind it with the hashtag, #Mecca_Girl_Represents_Me. The video is set in a cafe and shows young girls dancing. The video has no sexual undertones and the lyrics have no obscenities. "This is so typical of the Saudi government to do - bring western influencers to artwash the regime but attack real Saudi women who try to artistically express their cultural identities," tweeted Amani Al-Ahmadi, who identifies herself as a Saudi-American feminist.
