Shaaban Abdel Rahim

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Shaaban Abdel Rahim (also known as Sha'bola) is an Egyptian pop (Sha'bi) singer, best known for catchy songs with political lyrics and his outrageously tacky and flamboyant sense of fashion.

Shaaban was born in Cairo and worked for many years in obscure poverty as a laundry worker before his songs became popular.

In 2000, Shaaban's breakthrough song "I hate Israel," accompanied by the catchy refrain "But I love Amr Moussa", caused a great deal of controversy, and many were surprised that it passed Egyptian censors. Many of Shaaban's songs were sold informally on cheaply processed cassette tapes. His poor background, informal language, and frank lyrics have made him very popular with the lower class Egyptian public.

Since then, Shaaban has continued to produce popular political songs, often quickly following current events. After the September 11, 2001 attacks, he produced a song entitled "Hey People, It Was Only a Tower and I Swear by God that They Are the Ones Who Pulled it Down." In 2003, he had a popular song entitled "Don't Hit Iraq", in 2005, a song about the Muhammed cartoon controversy entitled "We’re All Out of Patience", and in 2006 a song about the 2006 Israeli-Lebanon conflict.

Shaaban claims to be illiterate; all his lyrics are written by his friend Islam Khalil, an Arabic teacher a primary school.