I'm going through a disagreement with a friend about a small line in this track "Give Me The Chance" by Egyptian singers/rappers MC Sadat and Alaa Fifty Cent—the duo is a part of the electro chaabi movement that first exploded in Cairo's hoods in the second half of the previous decade. At the "2:03" mark, you will hear the rapper say...

Yes, it sounds as if he has jumped right out of the Arabic flow and into a brief burst of English. What does he say in our language? "Women here, women I do." And why is this even important? Because it appears as if English is being used subversively. The rapper can only say so much in Arabic without alarming the standard sensibilities of his society, and so he playfully switches to English to avoid detection from the censors. But my friend, who is part Iranian, is certain that the line is not English but Arabic. It only sounds like English, and I have made a mistake. There is no such subversion going on here. My friend in an email:

Something close to "women" in Arabic means "it is." I cant understand the rest but i think it could be coincidental that it sounds like that... I just asked a friend of mine who speaks Arabic what does this song say at 2:04, and he/she says: "something from a mother or another about an enemy"... Yeah, def not English. that much is sure.

I listened to the line again a minute ago, and I swear it is in English. He is clearly saying: "Women here, women I do." Could this be a pure coincidence? It seems so unlikely. We expect a young male rapper to say something of this kind, something about his success with women.

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