PBS News Hour

MNA NAWAZ: With the use of streaming and social media apps, Arabic music is breaking through to new audiences.

"PBS NewsHour"'s Deema Zein spoke to two experts on what this moment means for the music world and the Arab community.

DEEMA ZEIN: So, back in the day, we'd hear Arabic beats or Arabic words and phrases like inshallah and habibi being used in Western pop songs and Western songs in general.

Do you think this has helped or hindered the movement?

DANNY HAJJAR, Music Writer: When Drake says "Habibti, please" and like does that whole thin, yes, is it corny?

Is it cheesy?

Is he playing on a little bit of a -- is he trying to take advantage of a trend?

Yes, all of those things.

It does move the needle though when the biggest artist in the world is trying to speak Arabic, albeit very butchered.

Like, that is a big thing.

And I think it's a huge deal when you see artists like Nicki Minaj, like Maluma collaborate with a Lebanese pop star Myriam Fares.

I think it's a big deal when you see a deejay like Marshmello collaborate with another Lebanese icon, Nancy Ajram.

Everything that's happening right now are little pieces of the larger puzzle.

DEEMA ZEIN: Can we touch a bit about the right people being on top or at the front?

Why is that important?

PHILIPPE MANASSEH, Co-Founder, Laylit: What ends up happening a lot, it ends up being labeled.

And big festivals end up deciding who is going to be at the forefront of this particular movement.

I think, as long as we have both, like, big mainstream artists and a thriving underground, that's the only way for the scene to actually grow, because the underground is where everything brews.

It's where all the ideas brew.

And they trickle down and get diluted at the top, at the end.

But, for that to happen, the underground needs to continuously be renewed.

GEOFF BENNETT: And you can find that full interview online at PBS.org/NewsHour.