Medina is a Swedish

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

duo formation with Arabic influences made up of Swedish artists of Tunisian descent, being Sam-E (born Sami Daniel Rekik), a former professional football player in Tunisia and Alibi (born Ali Jammali). Sam-E is also of Finnish descent as his mother is Finnish.

Career

The two started making music in 2003 under the name Medina after they met in

Knivsta Knivsta is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Knivsta Municipality, Uppsala County, Sweden with 20,133 inhabitants. It is known for being one of the safest areas in Sweden, consistently ranking among the top 5 safest municipalities ...

promoting a special genre they called "Haffla music" with rhythm from the

Arab World The Arab world ( '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, comprises a large group of countries, mainly located in West Asia and North Africa. While the majority of people in ...

mixed with hip hop. Their debut release was mixtape/album ''Rumble in Fiskayyet'' and the resulting single "Magdansös". They followed up with a series of albums, ''Fullblod'', ''7 dar'', ''Mosh Normal'', ''Hayat'' and ''Sista Minuten''. Their single "Miss Decibel" from the album ''Sista Minuten'' reached number 2 on

Sverigetopplistan Sverigetopplistan (, lit. "the Sweden top list") is the Swedish national record chart, based on sales data from IFPI Sverige. It was formerly known as Topplistan (1975–1997) and Hitlistan (1998–2007) and has been known by its current name si ...

, the official Swedish Singles Chart. They have also released series of 4 mixtapes under the title ''Varsågod de e gratis'' and two volumes in the series ''Haffla Music''. Sami Rekik of the duo took part in

Melodifestivalen 2021 Melodifestivalen 2021 was the 61st edition of the Swedish music competition Melodifestivalen. The competition was organised by (SVT) and took place over a six-week period between 6 February and 13 March 2021. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all s ...

in collaboration with WAHL with the song "90-talet". Medina reunited to enter

Melodifestivalen 2022 2022 was the 62nd edition of the Swedish music competition Melodifestivalen, which was organised by (SVT) and took place over a six-week period between 5 February and 12 March 2022. The winner of the competition was Cornelia Jakobs with the so ...

with the song " In i dimman" and qualified for the final from Heat 4; at the final on 12 March 2022, they gained 109 points and finished in 3rd place. They participated in

Melodifestivalen 2024 2024 was the 64th edition of the Swedish music competition , which was organised by (SVT) and took place over a six-week period between 3 February and 9 March 2024, hosted by Carina Berg. The winners of the competition, Marcus & Martinus wi ...

with " Que Sera", finishing second in their heat on 2 March 2024 and qualifying to the final where they came second.

Solo projects

Ali Jammali

Ali Jammali collaborated with G Mansour co-writing 10 of the rappers 16-track album ''The Cage''. He also recorded and produced the track alongside Sami Rekik in the Medina Studios.

Sami Rekik

Sam-E has released his own solo releases including the album ''Om ni ba Wuisste'' and collaborated with other artists including with OIAM in "Avundsjuka", a charting hit on

. He has also collaborated with

SödraSidan Christopher Wahlberg (born 10 December 1985) is a Swedish singer and songwriter. In SödraSidan He is known as a member of the hip hop duo SödraSidan. The band was established as Dalenbarn in 2009 as a duo of two childhood friends Daniel Jutte ...

, Alpis, Petter,

Anis Don Demina Anis Don Demina (; born Anis Dhahir, 25 April 1993) is a Swedish media personality, YouTuber, rapper, DJ and comedian. Early life His Iraqis, Iraqi father, an auto mechanic, fled from the Gulf War to Russia where he met Anis's Belarusians, Be ...

, Elias Abbas and many others. In 2021, Sami Rekik under the mononym SAMI took part in

with the song "90-talet" alongside member of duo SödraSidan Christopher Wahlberg under the stage name WAHL. The duo performed their song on 13 February 2021 during the second semi-final of the qualification round for

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

for representing Sweden in Eurovision. WAHL featuring SAMI, the song came 6th of 7 acts during the night failing to qualify to the final or the Second Chance. However their song has charted in

, the official Swedish Singles Chart.

Discography

Albums

Mixtapes

*2004: ''Rumble in Fiskayyet'' *2004: ''Varsågod de e gratis Vol 1'' (free album online in 2005) *2009: ''Varsågod de e gratis Vol. 2'' *2010: ''Haffla Music Vol. 1'' *2010: ''Varsågod de e gratis Vol. 3'' *2011: ''Varsågod de e gratis Vol. 4'' *2011: ''Haffla Music Vol. 2'' *2012: ''Svarta tårar''

Singles

Notes

Discography: Ali Jammali

Albums

;as songwriter *2010: ''The Cage'' (by G Mansour)Discogs: G Mansour - The Cage page
/ref> **Ali Jammali co-wrote 10 tracks from the 16-track album **All tracks recorded and mixed by Ali Jammali & Sami Rekik at Medina Studios

Mixtapes

;Solo as Alibrorsh *2010: ''Parabol Paradis''

Discography: Sami Rekik

(using various names, mainly Sam-E, but also the mononym Sami (SAMI))

Albums

*''Om ni ba Wuisste''

Singles

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Medina Swedish hip-hop groups Swedish musical duos Swedish-language musical groups Hip-hop duos Musical groups established in 2003 Musical groups disestablished in 2018 Musical groups from Uppsala County