How the Modern Middle East Is Reappropriating Street Culture
We visited Sole DXB to get a first-hand look at the phenomenon.
The Middle East is probably not the first place that comes to mind when thinking about street culture hotbeds around the globe. However, just as Dubai is known around the world for its rapid growth and the expeditious development of its real estate, the growth of its urban culture community is following suit. The biggest city in the Gulf might be most famous for its glamorous appearance and ever-expanding and increasingly impressive skyline, but its liberal lifestyle and progressive spirit cultivates the perfect breeding ground for alternative cultures, including urban and street.
The Sole DXB event is quickly becoming a staple in the region’s emerging street culture scene. The footwear, fashion and lifestyle fair was founded in September 2010 as a communication platform for relevant news, and has since grown to a full expo of all things street in this region where urban culture as a whole is still in its infancy. We visited Sole DXB in November and chatted with Filling Pieces’ Guillaume Philibert, Mobb Deep, D.M.C. of legendary hip-hop group Run-D.M.C., hip-hop pioneer Bobbito Garcia and others about their observations in regards to the adoption of street culture in the modern Middle East.
