Inside SAÜD’s High Octane Release
Photo Credit: Mahmoud Noor
Steeped in fresh perspective with a nostalgic essence, High Octane is described as a “love letter to hip hop”, intentionally crafted through passionate determination over two and a half years as SAÜD’s deeply personal tribute to the culture that has shaped him. Growing up in 90’s Saudi where “hip hop was really big” he shares how some even learned English partly through hip hop. Among the featured artists are Swizz Beatz, Cyhi, Bas, Mercston, Josh Kye, Belly, and Jeed to name a few, bringing together talents from across the globe into one dynamic offering, released May 7th - a shared world built from SAÜD’s life, culture, and resilience.
Opening the interview in light humour (a joking, but not entirely joking scenario), we acknowledged our shared habit of keeping backup upon backup of files and being big on punctuality; but these are not passive facts about SAÜD. It speaks to his attention to detail; having the sight to both seize and create opportunity by honouring the concept of timing, and his reverence for the craft. For the bigger picture, we hone in to the finer details that brought him to this moment. Born and raised in Saudi, SAÜD studied marketing, beginning his university journey in Montreal before moving to Los Angeles, a city he fondly refers to as his “second home” and “the place that I really felt like, oh, I could really do this [music].” The journey was one of tenacity, quiet building and patience sharpening his craft in a landscape unlike today’s. His first project was released in 2017 yet had started making music early 2010, admitting “it took me seven years just to feel confident enough for people to listen.” As a reflection of his journey, SAÜD recounted starting his career when Saudi Arabia had a limited hip-hop scene, later returning from L.A to a “blank canvas” that offered the chance to help build a new industry from the ground up, a position he described as both inspiring and demanding given the pressure to set a high standard for an emerging generation.
Forward to 2026, SAÜD’s metaphorical comparison to a phoenix from the ashes is born after years without releasing music. From his experiences, SAÜD shares, “Music is the global language today,” and self-defines his industry position: “personally, I'm not a rapper. I write songs. I'm a tastemaker, a curator, a producer.” He challenges stereotypes about Arab artists and the expectations placed on them by genre and nationality, questioning why identity often overshadows artistry, “Why does it always have to be ‘Saudi producer’? I’m boxed twice now.” While pushing back against labelling, he emphasizes that Saudi audiences themselves are musically diverse and not confined to a single sound. Also rejecting limiting categorisations like “local artists”, he prefers to use “homegrown”, affirming that the region is no longer just “up next” in music, but already fully present and active on the global stage. Reflecting this, Be The Way the second single released off the project was a change of pace from the first release, offering raw emotional depth and notable Sudanese representation featuring Bas and artists from The C!rcle: Eaz Da Bully and G-Salih. SAÜD happily admits “everyone knows I’m a huge fan of Sudani music and culture.” His open-minded perspective was nurtured early, growing up in a musically diverse household shaped by his parents’ very different backgrounds, where Arabic legends like Om Kalthoum, Fairuz, and Mohammed Abdu played alongside artists such as Engelbert Humperdinck, Sammy Davis Jr., and Nat King Cole. With siblings adding everything from Arabic folk love songs to rock, his upbringing was a “constant blend of genres”, something he sees as a reflection of Saudi culture at large and its range of music scenes.
With SAÜD drawing from art imitating life and growing up in close proximity to where oil in Saudi first took hold, the album’s sound, visuals and concepts are thematically anchored in the language of the energy industry; pressure, extraction and alchemy - world-building rooted in correlation. “The oil that I’m giving you is the highest octane… the cleanest, pure form of oil.” The sonic identity is energetic, powerful, and global, driven by a central metaphor of pressure transforming into ignition. It aims to give listeners a kind of “fuel”, something both potent and refined, operating on both literal and symbolic levels. In doing so, it stays rooted in Saudi identity yet speaks a universal creative language. Commanding dual identity balancing both corporate and creative careers he shares, “I live two lives pretty much… my corporate life and then my music life… work becomes life, life becomes music.” Describing music as “therapy” even on work travels he will “take off the suit, put [my] sweats on and go to the studio and try to meet people and connect.” Duality and cross-cultural influences fuel the album’s emotional core, crediting the project’s creative director Chndy, SAÜD describes the process of “hours spent on the phone dissecting the idea of the album and figuring out how to bring it to life by building a world.” As they both threw around ideas across multiple long conversations, it clicked in place: the music and personal experiences were all connected, a fully realised universe that reflects his life.
He breaks down the framework behind High Octane “built on three main pillars: unity, mind, and grind.” Unity: bringing together artists from all over the world to “work together on this unified project.” Mind: the music “speaks to the soul”, where each artist delivers their message through the overarching idea of the album. And finally grind: the hustle and “the drive that puts together this project forward.” Collaborators onboarding the project were enthused by the premise of offering their relatable iterations of struggle versus personal triumph, the project crafted with high‑powered intention. As we spoke, each and every track had an organic, serendipitous nature in its coming together, SAÜD sharing “there's no specific formula on how to approach a song with an artist. It all depends on the right place, right time, right approach.” Going into some of these “look at God work” moments - the collaboration with Busta Rhymes took place in Saudi Arabia, SAÜD explains, “We were in the same vicinity in so many different times and different places, but it happened in Saudi… I like to believe that everything happens for a reason.” An unexpected yet meaningful connection after meeting at the Billboard Arabia Awards, the two shared an extended conversation about life and culture, which led organically led to the record created at Riyadh’s Merwas studio, developing the track over a session that also involved producer Darhyl “DJ” Camper, one of SAÜD’s favourite RnB producers he connected with previously when Kanye West came to Saudi.
The collaboration with Westside Boogie also began through a Saudi connection, after he was brought over by Jeed to perform, eventually leading to a seamless cross-continental collaboration. Months later, they reconvened in L.A. to shoot a simple, DIY-style video, and what began as a standalone idea evolved into a larger creative concept centred around the track Pressure. It goes on: connecting through Faris "Faroos" Al-Majed (part production group The ANMLS) who co-produced several records and mixed & mastered the project, SAÜD disclosed the instant synergy with artist Belly - “We cut like four or five records in one night… none of them were Good Fellas”; the first single off the High Octane project to set the album’s high-energy aspect, with the visuals curated during Belly’s first trip to Saudi. I had to ask how our UK gem Kojey Radical came to feature on two tracks; and revealed yet another story of time and place. Through a work trip to London and SAÜD performing at and attending SXSW, recording at Tinie Tempah’s studio with artist Jeed and producer duo Dot Inc., the introduction to Kojey was made. After playing tracks, they gravitated to not one but two within the session, with executive producer Don Cannon pulling Rapsody in to grace the feature with a verse to complete the collaboration.
SAÜD expresses genuine gratitude for the support of the MDLBEAST Records team who challenged him to “think more strategically”, as he confesses, “I’m a very ‘let’s go now’ type… I don’t like to wait six months to release once a project is done… it's kind of like carrying a backpack and depending on how good the music, the heavier the music, the heavier the backpack, right, you just want to let it go, and want the people to listen to it.”
Carrying the weight of High Octane is now over; 14 tracks are now available on all streaming platforms. As a final message from the curator himself-
“It’s the most honest version of me I’ve put into music. Whatever people take from it, I’m proud of what it represents.”
