Balti

Long before million-view videos and well-equipped studios, there was Balti. Born in Tunis in 1980, he made his name in the early 2000s, when local rap still travelled hand to hand, from one neighbourhood to the next. A Balti poster honours the man many see as the pioneer of Tunisian rap, the artist who turned a niche genre into music for everyone.

The Balti poster: a piece of heritage

A print in his image draws on the city itself: whitewashed walls, the blue doors of the medina, graffiti on grey concrete. It suits the grain of an old video, slightly faded colours, like a concert photo found at the back of a drawer. The tension between that past and the artist's stature today is what gives the image its weight.

In 2017, "Ya Lili", sung as a duet with the young Hamouda, broke viewing records in Tunisia and across the Arab world. The song carried Balti into homes that had never played rap, which may be his real gift: bringing people together. It's worth remembering, too, that he has stayed in the game through two decades of change, from tapes passed hand to hand to the YouTube era.

How to hang it

Balti belongs at the centre of a Tunisian rap wall, as the starting point of a timeline. Around him, add the generation that followed: Samara with his Menzel Bourguiba trap, or KTYB with his drifting cloud rap. Three prints side by side tell the whole story.

In a family living room he also works alone, in cream and blue tones that match a classic Tunisian interior. The rest of the scene is waiting in our Arab pop and rap collection.

Printed in Tunisia, for an artist who has told its story better than most.