Mohamed Ramadan is once again number one. The Egyptian superstar of music and film has topped the YouTube music charts for the last five days since launching his latest music video, “Versace Baby”, during Eid al Fitr.
The video, shot in Dubai and directed by Len Presad, has amassed nearly 6 million views since it was posted on YouTube, and a staggering 2.7 billion views on TikTok. According to a message at the beginning of the video, all proceeds will be donated to the Palestine Red Crescent Society.
Bollywood actress Urvashi Rautela also makes a key appearance in the video.
As the name of the song implies, there is a strong link to the Versace brand, including clothes and on-location shots at the Palazzo Versace Dubai hotel. In the video, Ramadan is surrounded by exotic animals and cash money, a signature of his recent video work. He can also be seen riding on top of luxury cars on some of Dubai’s busiest roads.
It’s the latest in a string of huge hits for Ramadan, whose videos for songs such as “Ya Habibi”, “Number One”, “Ana El Batal”, “El Malek” and “Bum Bum” have racked up over 500 million views on YouTube alone, while also going viral on other platforms such as TikTok and Facebook across the region, and the world.
Ramadan spoke to Esquire Middle East for this month’s cover story for a personal and revealing conversation about the current state of his life and career, as he garners controversy while soaring ever higher as arguably the Middle East’s biggest current star.
No one but Mohamed Ramadan knows what he’s climbing towards. Not his fans, not his business partners, not his wife Nisreen. He won’t even tell Mahmoud what he has planned, his manager and big brother, the man with whom he rose from poverty to become Egypt’s biggest and most hotly-debated star.
“Everything is run by me and Mahmoud, but we only discuss current projects. I can’t talk about my future plans with anyone because no one can see my vision. I can only trust myself. I just go with it and I explain it to people as it comes,” Ramadan tells Esquire Middle East.
When we push him, he’s willing to talk about his ambitions in broad terms. For instance, he’s already the number one actor at the box office and music charts in Egypt, and in the Middle East—and, this month, he becomes the first Arab star to ever appear as a playable character in the world’s number one mobile game Garena:Free Fire. Next, he’s got other borders in mind.
Mohamed Ramadan wears Polo Shirt, by J.W. Anderson at Bloomingdales Dubai; Trousers, by Berluti; Sneakers, by Christian Louboutin
“I also want to be number one in Africa. That would satisfy me. My country, my language, and my continent,” says Ramadan.
“And then everywhere else in the world,” he adds as an afterthought.
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