C L O S E R

Muslim Produced!

Posted on August 24th, 2004 by .
Categories: Islam in the Netherlands, Young Muslims, Youth culture (as a practice).

ReligionResearch Islam Blog

No no this is not an item on the Rabobank, a Dutch bank, that is going ‘halal’ but an item on muslim artists.  Warbuxrecords " is
an independent hip-hop record conglomerate that finds it imperative to use
hip-hop to create social change and build solidarity amongst marginalized groups."
Altmuslim.com  an item on the Top 10 muslim hiphop lyrics that is
published on
Shobak.org. The list, in short, looks like this:

1. Artist: Eric B and Rakim
Album: Don’t Sweat the Technique
Song: Don’t Sweat the Technique

2. Artist: Nas
Album: I Am…
Song: Ghetto Prisoners

3. Artist: Common and Q-Tip
Album: Get on the Bus soundtrack
Song: The Remedy

4. Artist: Mos Def
Album: Black on Both Sides
Song: Mathematics

5. Artist: Common f/ Cee-Lo
Album: One Day It’ll All Make Sense
Song: G.O.D. (Gaining One’s Definition)

6.Artist: Gangstarr f/ Big Shug, Freddie Foxxx
Album: Moment of Truth
Song: The Militia

7. Artist: The Roots
Album: Things Fall Apart
Song: The Spark

8. Artist: Public Enemy
Album: Fear Of A Black Planet
Song: Fight The Power

9. Artist: Wu-Tang Clan
Album: Wu-Tang Forever
Song: Triumph

10. Artist: Jurassic 5
Album: Unified Rebelution 12"
Song: Unified Rebelution

Note that not every artist on this list, is presenting him or themselves as muslims (Public Enemy for instance, doesn’t). But anyway the claim is that these
are all ‘muslim produced’. There is also a Muslim Artists union that tries to be a platform for muslimartist under the slogan: One God, One Ummah, One Love. On their website you can find a link to MPac a hiphopgroup that I talked about on the
Islam Blog Islam Blog before. They have, of course, their own website
MPac online. On this website you can find, under music, a track called Anthem of the Anthem album. Listen to it, and you find a sort of mission statement. (Real player file). MPac is an example of Muslim artist who use their beliefs explicitly in the raplyrics. Less explicit are for example AMAN and
Native Deen and their Islamic
Broadcasting Network with a lot of interesting and sometimes hilarious stuff
(who says muslims cannot make fun of themselves?). Other examples of muslim
rappers (but not all them present themselves as clearly as MPac) are in Holland
Ali-B, Riza and in France
McSolaar. German rapper in Germany Ali
Cinak is a good example of the challenges young muslim hiphop artists in
Europe face: "He riffs in German. He rhymes in Turkish. Moving like liquid, he has the joints of a ghost. He’s a cross-cultural rapper in a Europe restless about identity. His hip-hop is a staccato barrage rumbling between two worlds, and the inherent contradictions, Ali Cinak will tell you, can be confusing when you’re a Muslim with a taste for sausage."

On websites their is a lot of discussion going on about this muslim hiphop.
Read for example these forumentries on Islamica.com:

Hip Hop
thread

I may start a new hiphop forum

Hip-Hop Heads enter…

AMAN – Hip Hop group in the Bay Area

Hip-Hop Fanclub

Do only muslims rap? Of course not. Read this feature on the

Church Hip Hop Club: "There’s more to life than getting high, just for thrill or buzz and getting drunk is just a sin, I hope you’re feeling because counting the women that you sleep with that don’t make you a man. God says bstain,". Or read these review on a muslim group (soldiers of Allah) and a hindu group

Hindu Playa and probably their are boeddhist and jewish as well.

Ow and before I forget, it will be Ramadan soon and
Ramadan for the hip hop soul could be a good story to begin the Ramadan with, if you are muslim and want to fast: You
hear Biggie Smalls rappin’ it in his flows- "…quick fast, like Ramadan its
that rap phenomenon." Tupac talks about it in his lyrical verses, "Oh you a Muslim now, no more dope game…wanna go to the Mosque, don’t wanna chase tail…" We often find hints of Islam in today’s hip hop. But what does it really mean to be young, American, & Muslim? During this time of Ramadan is when these identities surface and sometimes conflict."

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