With "The Attack on Iraq," he goes after the same target. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon "stays in a swimming pool," he sings, "while the blood falls like rain." "Look at Israel and its army," he says. "It attacks and it kills, and why isn't that too much?"

But fans of Abdel-Rahim say that, with an uncanny ear for today's mood in much of the Arab world, he has captured more than the people's anger. He chastises Iraqi President Saddam Hussein for not listening to other Arab leaders. He worries about "dirt-poor and pitiful" Iraqis who are always the victims. He suggests the United States is "spreading corruption and oppression" and trying "to achieve Israel's dreams" in the region. And he laments the powerlessness of Arab governments.

...."Artists are frustrated. We are very angry. A bit of anger is beginning to creep inside me, basically because of the double standard of America," said Nabil Sawalha, a prominent Jordanian satirist whose plays poke fun at everything from U.S. policy to Arab leaders. "The artist is a reflection of the mood. I don't want to sing about love, love and love. The mood is very angry."

Abdel-Rahim has what his fans describe as the added advantage of street credibility. He celebrates his working-class origins in a slum on Cairo's outskirts. He boasts that he makes his clothes from the fabric Egyptians use to cover their furniture. His popularity has rattled Egypt's elite, who dismiss him as without talent and illiterate, not to mention poorly dressed. But those very objections seem to endear him to fans, who point out — in the words of an Egyptian cafe owner — that "he says it like it is." Or like the Arab "street" thinks it is. Populism is very powerful where the populace is disdained by the elites.