Peace and blessings.
It's been a grip, init? I'd like to thank all of you for supporting me and staying interested in both of my career endeavors, my music and my writing. It means a lot. For my first post, I wanna ease into it and give y'all something basic but it's in response to me running into the same question a lot. As I become more popular, I'm getting more press, doing more interviews and the question comes up both on and off the record, "Jaxx, who is in your top 5 or top 10?" Most people actually gotta take time to contemplate that. Not me. My list has been etched in stone since around 2006. So for all those curious I'ma break it down for you. The who and the why. The Ayatollah's top 10.
*DISCLAIMER* These are my favourites, mind you. I'm not necessarily saying they are the greatest of all time, but they hold firm to me.
1. Big Moon Dawg. You may know him by another name, Big Punisher. To me, Pun was the definition of an MC. There wasn't a style he couldn't deliver. From Beware, to You Came Up, to 100%, to the iconic single Still Not A Player to the legendary remake of Dre&Snoop's Deep Cover, Twinz 98. Twinz set the bar so high for MCs from then on out, with one infamous, spectacular lyrically insane line: "Dead in the middle of little Italy/ little did we know that we riddled some middle man who didn't do diddly/" - nigga please. You aint nicer than that on your best day. Pun was the MC that made me make up my mind and say "yeh, this is what I wanna do with my life".
2. Ghostface Killah. Ghost is actually my favourite rapper of all time. I'm an aggressive, very forward type of person with a very vivid vernacular. If that doesn't sum up GFK, I dunno what will. Initially the most enigmatic of the Wu, Ghost made his way in no time flat to be the most consistent and arguably the face of the Wu. Pretty Tony paints the most opulent pictures with words, he literally takes you right there in his songs. Boundaries are non existent to Ghost. The same man who did the classic Supreme Clientele also dropped one of the illest albums of the 2000s, Wizard Of Poetry In Emerald City. I love rap records with R&B hooks. Ghost recognized that ladies love hip hop as well. He went hard for the ladies and the fellas, always. Ghost always kept it gully no matter what the theme was.
3. Nas. Nasty Nas to Esco to Escobar even to Nastradamus. "Streets disciple, my raps are trifel/ I shoot slugs out my brain just like a rifle/..." that line will for ever mark the moment hip hop witnessed a living legend emerge. Nas' catalouge to me represents the true definition of a man. Nas came under fire for being a hypocrite and doing a lot of "wack" shit. But bottom line is, he kept it funky to himself and that's what counts. I remember when Nas "rip the Freeway, shoot through Memphis and Money Bags/ stop in Philly order cheese stake and eat Beans fast/". Nas went toe to toe with every one worth mentioning. Jay-Z, Beanie Sigel, 50 Cent and B.I.G. No matter what, Nas will forever and always be King of New York. Until he willingly vacates the throne, niggas just gotta be patient. Bottom line. Pun made me wanna rap, Ghostface made me learn how to rap, Nas taught me the importance of being a fan.
4. Kardinal Offishall. Huh, what? Toronto stand up? What? Yeh, hoe. NO ONE in the history of hip hop can or has done what Kardi has brought to the game. Kardinal is the EPITOME of versatility and the antithesis of boring. I've been a concrete fan and supporter of Kardi since 00. I was in grade 8. Kardi conveyed to me, battle rhymes, radio hits, party anthems, all topped with socially conscious commentary that never came across as preachy. This was all infused with the raggae, dancehall sound now synonymous with Toronto. Lyrically, in my opinion there are few on par with Kardi. Off wax his live show is just phenomenal. He delivers a concert like no other. Hip Hop's diamond in the rough is Kardinal Offishall.
5. Black Thought. Honestly, Riq and The next MC always switch places but I think I've locked this position in, pause. Black Thought in my opinion is the most underrated MC ever. He's so much more than the front man of The Legedary Roots Crew. He's so much more than the celebrated underground champion. Thought is hip hop's tour guide and walking example of talent. "You wanna be a man, then stand your own/ To MC requires skill, I demand some shone/". I feel Thought has the best delivery in hip hop, it's so comfortable, he's always in the pocket no matter the beat. Your favourite MC wants to be him. I promise you.
6. Mos Def. Four words. The Mighty Mos Def. What more do you really have to say? Black On Both Sides, Black Star, The New Danger, The Ecstatic. Damn. Mos is one of the most prominent voices in and out of hip hop and it's been that way for the better part of a decade. Mos Def represents the other side of Brooklyn. Mos aint a gun man, but he can take you there if you want. Black Dante conveys the emotion, truth and realism that few have been able to. Mos Def crafted the legendary status and made a footprint in conscious/underground hip hop that every MC will forever live in the shadow of.
7. Common. The boney homie from stoney is easily hip hop underground's cinderella man. Just when you counted him out, he smashed you in the mouth, took the title, gotta SAG card and went to become a house hold name. Com is easily hip hops most insightful lover. A lover of the culture, lover of the music, lover of the knowledge and lover of the women who love the art. Common built classic records before Kanye and pioneered the Mid West movement when no one else was around or able to do it. Like Water For Chocolate solidified Com's presence in my life. From an MCs perspective, Com made me hate my delivery and my flow so much. I learned so much about the art of rhyme just by listening to Common's catalouge.
8. Rakim. Rakim is the godfather of modern rap. Aint nothing else to say about it. Ra laid the ground work for every nigga on this list. The only reason I don't have him higher, is because I didn't grow up with Ra like I did with these other MCs. Ra's legacy was all but finalized in hip hop history by the time I made it my true love. However, I overstand his prowess and recognize the impact he left on the culture and the game. Rakim's name demands respect and as a serious MC you are obligated to pay homage to him. In all truthfulness the first song that made me entertain the thought of MCing was "Microphone Fiend" and is my favourite song of all time. Ra's rhymes from the 80s still rock harder than 80% of the shit that's out now. Fact.
9. Lupe Fiasco. Lupe Fiasco immediately caught my attention as being the most gifted lyricist of my generation from the first time I heard him. His lyricism, wordplay just everything blew me away. I knew he was on a sure fire path to greatness after he dropped the CLASSIC Lupe Fiasco's Food&Liquor. A lot of people consider him a nerdcore rapper, I say they're mad. A lot of people consider Lupe a hipster, I don't agree, however, he pioneered that lane for both of those sub-genres of hip hop to exist. With out Lu, there'd be no Wale's no Kidz In The Hall, no Ayatollah Jaxx'! Not only does Lu step up to the plate on lyrics but his image is impeccable. A Muslim kid from the hood who showcases his religious beliefs, his upbringing and most importantly, self respect.
10. Kanye West. Kanye West. Mr. West is easily the most prolific voice in hip hop since Chuck D. Kanye has the most complete album catalouge as any one on this list and from where I stand, in all of hip hop. Kanye says some of the realist shit in life, ever. All Falls Down, Jesus Walks, Crack Music, Gold Digger, Through The Wire, Heartless, I mean, if that isn't what hip hop's about, I dunno what is. Kanye symbolizes the hip hop icon, the hip hop superstar, the hip hop legend. His production game inspired hundreds of thousands of carbon copies and the only thing to outshine Kanye is his own ego. That's what rap is. Rap is a contact sport. I've said that for years, rap is about at face value who can appear bigger and more important. Kanye takes the cake easily.
The Ayatollah Has Spoken.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Fresh Music Friday
Salaam, salaam!!
Check it out, I know brothers have been slacking, but training for these fights and recording an album while looking for a job is NO JOKE. Very time consuming folks, brothas is out here exhausted!!!
Anyway, I dunno if this is going to be an every Friday thing, but I'ma try to make it work. You know mans be on Twitter with the Follow Fridays, but I wanna show love to what I hear that's new, and I like.
First off, Jasiri X. Every one knows, Jasiri is my brother from another mother. So check this, his video is blowing up all over the inter net. He shot this DURING G-20, in front of the jakes!!! Definition of Gangsta. Mansthem need to step there street cred up 10 fold now. The respectable Minister Jasiri was really in full effect. Check his video out:
Next up! My man G5 Clive out of Chocolate City (Washington DC for all of you ignorant suckas) just dropped a brand new mixtape called 'Reign Cheque'. Clive is one of the most creative and lyricaly flexible brothers out right now and also is one of DC's biggest names, right behind the 2009 break out artist Wale. Reign Cheque features the internet smash (and my favourite song out right now) Vice City, also featured on the production is some guy from Toronto named Fundamental. He's half of this group called Good Company, I dunno if you ever heard of them.
Those familiar with my blogs, are familiar with Tito Lopez. Tito has been on a meteoric rise, from numerous mixtapes gaining steam online, to storming AllHipHop.Com and a fued with Saigon. I'm a little late with his newest release The Strictlee Tito lopez LP, but better late than never. This is 5 tracks of pure HEAT, from in my opinion the best MC with out a deal (next to me of course).
Last but not least, we're coming back top Pittsburgh. Jonny Quest is a new jack on the scene, and is ready to make noise. He has a song for us regular joes who deal with rejection from the opposite sex because we aint dope boys. Well ... Mr. Quest has some dope commentary on the subject with his song She Tried To Tell Me prod by Chemist. It's a real early 90s type feel, something like Lord Tariq would of done. So here it is!
Check it out, I know brothers have been slacking, but training for these fights and recording an album while looking for a job is NO JOKE. Very time consuming folks, brothas is out here exhausted!!!
Anyway, I dunno if this is going to be an every Friday thing, but I'ma try to make it work. You know mans be on Twitter with the Follow Fridays, but I wanna show love to what I hear that's new, and I like.
First off, Jasiri X. Every one knows, Jasiri is my brother from another mother. So check this, his video is blowing up all over the inter net. He shot this DURING G-20, in front of the jakes!!! Definition of Gangsta. Mansthem need to step there street cred up 10 fold now. The respectable Minister Jasiri was really in full effect. Check his video out:
The Only Color That Matters Is Green
Next up! My man G5 Clive out of Chocolate City (Washington DC for all of you ignorant suckas) just dropped a brand new mixtape called 'Reign Cheque'. Clive is one of the most creative and lyricaly flexible brothers out right now and also is one of DC's biggest names, right behind the 2009 break out artist Wale. Reign Cheque features the internet smash (and my favourite song out right now) Vice City, also featured on the production is some guy from Toronto named Fundamental. He's half of this group called Good Company, I dunno if you ever heard of them.
Sex Ed: Like Water (Remix) prod Fundamental
Reign Cheque
http://www.mediafire.com/?zjzcn3gyeon
Those familiar with my blogs, are familiar with Tito Lopez. Tito has been on a meteoric rise, from numerous mixtapes gaining steam online, to storming AllHipHop.Com and a fued with Saigon. I'm a little late with his newest release The Strictlee Tito lopez LP, but better late than never. This is 5 tracks of pure HEAT, from in my opinion the best MC with out a deal (next to me of course).
Last but not least, we're coming back top Pittsburgh. Jonny Quest is a new jack on the scene, and is ready to make noise. He has a song for us regular joes who deal with rejection from the opposite sex because we aint dope boys. Well ... Mr. Quest has some dope commentary on the subject with his song She Tried To Tell Me prod by Chemist. It's a real early 90s type feel, something like Lord Tariq would of done. So here it is!
She Tried To Tell Me prod Chemist
http://www.zshare.net/audio/66408103993cf30a/
http://www.zshare.net/audio/66408103993cf30a/
The Ayatollah Has Spoken
Monday, September 14, 2009
The Devil @ The VMAs
Asalaamu alaykum wa rahman tu Allah!
May the peace and blessings of God be upon you. To All my Muslims, Ramadan Mubarak! Only 6 more days left in this glorious and holy month. All praises be to the most high, the one God to whom all praises are due.
Sorry for the hiatus, but I like to take Ramadan off and focus on Islam. The blog will be back up with much new content after E'id, insh'Allah (God Willing).
Allow me to say one thing. This is MY blog. If you're familiar with me, you know I speak what I feel, I speak my mind, and I speak my heart.
For those who aren't familiar and have no idea who I am or haven't figured it out yet ... yes, I am a Muslim. (shocking init?)
Quick summary. In Islam we believe in praise to One God, the creator of all, the same God you all pray to, except we assign no partners to him. We believe in the Torah and The Bible, but we believe God sent us the Qur'an as a final sign and to clear up errors and make things right with both books, and the Qur'an is the actual word of God. We don't believe he had a son, we don't believe he came in the form of a man, or none of that. We believe he sent many prophets, whom all were Muslim and Muhammed Ibn Abduallah of 1400+ years ago was the final prophet and seal of the prophethood. That's it, in short at least.
So I'm sure every one watched the VMAs last night, or at least heard about the antics. Kanye West again stole the show and made off like a bandit. Kudos to him for keeping himself relevant. Kanye West ladies and gents, taking over the world one non assuming white girl at a time. Say what you want, I thought it was staged and hilarious.
But that's not what I'm going to address!! *Gasp* I know, I know, I'm ever the rebel compelled to go against the grain. Nah, see what I'm going to put on blast is a joke every one thought was harmless fun, but in actuality was like 6 day old milk with a brussel sprout blend, very pour taste.
A Muslim brother by the name of Anas brought the following video of Jack Black calling for a Jummah (congregational) prayer to praise the Iblis (the devil). Watch below
Surah An-Nahl:
"When thou dost read the Qur'an, seek Allah's protection from Satan the rejected one.
No authority has he over those who believe and put their trust in their lord.
His authority is over those only, who take him as patron and join partners with Allah."
Surah Al-Ra'd:
"To Him is due the true prayer, any others that they call upon besides him hear them no more than if they were to stretch forth their hands for water to reach their mouths, but it reaches them not: For the prayer of those with out faith is nothing but vain prayer."
There are other verses, but I felt those two dealt with the matter at hand quite fittingly.
See I wanna make this short and sweet. I don't care what you worship, or how you practice your beliefs. That is indeed your business. However, I do believe in showcasing strong moral fibre and upholding the theorem of responsible behaviour when amongst the presence of children and impressionable minds.
Yeh, yeh, I get it, Jack Black is a really funny guy. I'ma huge fan of his. But that was just straight out fuckry. I never expect MTV to show any type of cooth now days but come on. People were saying Kanye has no class for his antics. How can you even associate the words "class" and "MTV" in the same paragraph other than this very paragraph? To straight out co-sign devil worship is beyond me. I guess that really lets you know what time it is! ... I wonder if BET would of allowed that? Meh, I wouldn't doubt it.
Lemme bring it to a close on this note though. Lets say, one of these famous MUSLIMS, Akon, T-Pain, Mos Def, Lupe Fiasco, Snoop Dogg (chuckle), Dave Chappelle, or Shaq would of received an award and said "all Praise be to Allah" or something of that nature? I can PROMISE you that 1 of the following would occur. That segment would of been edited out of the broadcast, the speach would of been cut and the recipient of the award would be hurried off stage, he would catch immediate backlash for being "preachy" on stage and not keeping his beliefes at home, or he'd have been the target for any and all type of Islamic-bashing devices. But you can worship the devil on MTV. That's one hell of a message folks.
I really dont have any conclusion other than this. In the words of Jay-Z (who's new album is TERRIBLE)
"Dough to get, more shows to rip, I suggest you all roll with the click, who you wit?"
PS. I bet NO website or news out lets covers this outside of here ... so make sure to credit the source!
PPS. My birthday is Sept 16th ... just throwing that out there ... That's Wednesday. I'll be 24.
I wear a size 34-34 pants, XL shirt, 7 3/8 hat - thank you very much.
The Ayatollah has spoken!
May the peace and blessings of God be upon you. To All my Muslims, Ramadan Mubarak! Only 6 more days left in this glorious and holy month. All praises be to the most high, the one God to whom all praises are due.
Sorry for the hiatus, but I like to take Ramadan off and focus on Islam. The blog will be back up with much new content after E'id, insh'Allah (God Willing).
Allow me to say one thing. This is MY blog. If you're familiar with me, you know I speak what I feel, I speak my mind, and I speak my heart.
For those who aren't familiar and have no idea who I am or haven't figured it out yet ... yes, I am a Muslim. (shocking init?)
Quick summary. In Islam we believe in praise to One God, the creator of all, the same God you all pray to, except we assign no partners to him. We believe in the Torah and The Bible, but we believe God sent us the Qur'an as a final sign and to clear up errors and make things right with both books, and the Qur'an is the actual word of God. We don't believe he had a son, we don't believe he came in the form of a man, or none of that. We believe he sent many prophets, whom all were Muslim and Muhammed Ibn Abduallah of 1400+ years ago was the final prophet and seal of the prophethood. That's it, in short at least.
So I'm sure every one watched the VMAs last night, or at least heard about the antics. Kanye West again stole the show and made off like a bandit. Kudos to him for keeping himself relevant. Kanye West ladies and gents, taking over the world one non assuming white girl at a time. Say what you want, I thought it was staged and hilarious.
But that's not what I'm going to address!! *Gasp* I know, I know, I'm ever the rebel compelled to go against the grain. Nah, see what I'm going to put on blast is a joke every one thought was harmless fun, but in actuality was like 6 day old milk with a brussel sprout blend, very pour taste.
A Muslim brother by the name of Anas brought the following video of Jack Black calling for a Jummah (congregational) prayer to praise the Iblis (the devil). Watch below
I'm sure those who aren't Muslim are all too familiar with what is said in their respective books and religion about the devil, but what does is said in Islam? Well I have included two excerpts from Al-Qur'an to quench the thirst for the aforementioned knowledge.
Surah An-Nahl:
"When thou dost read the Qur'an, seek Allah's protection from Satan the rejected one.
No authority has he over those who believe and put their trust in their lord.
His authority is over those only, who take him as patron and join partners with Allah."
Surah Al-Ra'd:
"To Him is due the true prayer, any others that they call upon besides him hear them no more than if they were to stretch forth their hands for water to reach their mouths, but it reaches them not: For the prayer of those with out faith is nothing but vain prayer."
There are other verses, but I felt those two dealt with the matter at hand quite fittingly.
See I wanna make this short and sweet. I don't care what you worship, or how you practice your beliefs. That is indeed your business. However, I do believe in showcasing strong moral fibre and upholding the theorem of responsible behaviour when amongst the presence of children and impressionable minds.
Yeh, yeh, I get it, Jack Black is a really funny guy. I'ma huge fan of his. But that was just straight out fuckry. I never expect MTV to show any type of cooth now days but come on. People were saying Kanye has no class for his antics. How can you even associate the words "class" and "MTV" in the same paragraph other than this very paragraph? To straight out co-sign devil worship is beyond me. I guess that really lets you know what time it is! ... I wonder if BET would of allowed that? Meh, I wouldn't doubt it.
Lemme bring it to a close on this note though. Lets say, one of these famous MUSLIMS, Akon, T-Pain, Mos Def, Lupe Fiasco, Snoop Dogg (chuckle), Dave Chappelle, or Shaq would of received an award and said "all Praise be to Allah" or something of that nature? I can PROMISE you that 1 of the following would occur. That segment would of been edited out of the broadcast, the speach would of been cut and the recipient of the award would be hurried off stage, he would catch immediate backlash for being "preachy" on stage and not keeping his beliefes at home, or he'd have been the target for any and all type of Islamic-bashing devices. But you can worship the devil on MTV. That's one hell of a message folks.
I really dont have any conclusion other than this. In the words of Jay-Z (who's new album is TERRIBLE)
"Dough to get, more shows to rip, I suggest you all roll with the click, who you wit?"
PS. I bet NO website or news out lets covers this outside of here ... so make sure to credit the source!
PPS. My birthday is Sept 16th ... just throwing that out there ... That's Wednesday. I'll be 24.
I wear a size 34-34 pants, XL shirt, 7 3/8 hat - thank you very much.
The Ayatollah has spoken!
Friday, August 7, 2009
Back Packer Weekly: New Muslim Cool
Salutations and Salaam.
Whats gwanin BPW faithfuls? I know, I know, it's been a long time since I've made an installment on this thing, shame on me, right? To be quite honest, brothers have been bare busy, lots of things on the agenda, but this isn't about me. This BPW is a special BPW, unlike any I've ever wrote before. This is a movie review, of sorts.
Look at the definition of "Cool". Cool is more than a vague temperature placement. Cool is an adjective; following suit of a trend, a state of acceptable being with report and praise, relative to ones point of view. Brother Lupe Fiasco dropped an album called "The Cool" which utterly and irrevocably embodied the definition. There are a lot of new trends, a lot of new things we as a people as a culture find attractive and refreshing. Be it detrimental or not, what ever the vast array of subjects in question, from the music we listen to, to the dress we fashion for ourselves, to steroids, selling crack, it's all "cool" at one point. So for a religion to be new, cool, exciting, and what ever else, seems kind of like a contradiction, right? Wrong. The New Muslim Cool is sweeping the world over, as Islam is the fastest growing religion in the USA and now the number one practiced religion in the world, with numbers well exceeding 1billion. Islam is a religion that dates back centuries, so why is the prefix "new", attached? Well the influx has become increasingly noticeable since the events of September 11th. Islam before may have been a 2o minute discussion in your social studies class. You may have had one or two exchange students who were Muslim, but you were never really that interested in them, so you didn't ask many questions. Now look at it! All the sudden Islam is every where you look. In the classroom, in sports, in cartoons, and even in movies.
PBS and POV films banded together to create a very fresh and insightful look into a young man who is an MC, a father, an activist, and above all a Muslim, Mr. Hamza Perez. A member of the well known Hip Hop group M-Team, Hamza is a Nuyorican transplant living in Pittsburgh. Now I don't wanna give away the film because it's an amazing body of work, however, I will give a short synopsis. The cameras follow brother Hamza through out his day to day life. The jihad (struggle) of self, the jihad of religion and the trials and tribulations all mighty God places in front of us to keep our faith strong and our hearts pure. You will see Hamza performing his daily fatherly duties, in the studio with his brother, and partner in rhyme Suliman, working as a religious leader in prison and even getting married. Depending on how familiar you are with the Pittsburgh Hip Hop scene and how well you network, you may see some people you know all through out the film.
I met Hamza and his brother once, my first E'id Al-Fitr in the Pittsburgh Muslim community in 2006, they forever made an impression on my heart and brain. They were two of the most warm, kind and inviting brothers one would hope to meet. So upon hearing the news of this documentary, I was overjoyed that an occurrence of this magnitude was taking place so close to where I am and involving people with in my cipher.
This is more than just an opportunity for a brother to get press, or to get his 15 minutes of fame. This is something far greater. With the misrepresentation of Islam ever prevalent in the biased Zionist media, in schools, in the books you read, a counter balance was past due. All too often the image of the "towlhead" warrior and or suicide bomber yelling "Allah'u akbar" is seen in movies, magazines and nightly news stillshots. All too often is the image of the long robe wearing, oil hording greedy Arabian Muslim presented to you with no alternative to digest. "New Muslim Cool" opens up the viewers eyes to a tangible facet of society that is no different than the every day American encounters. In fact the places of Hamza and the deacon at your church could be easily changed around and the exact paths would still be trodden, more less.
This documentary is paramount in bridging the gap between a world with in a world that has been victim of slander, demonetization while literally sitting across the street from your residence. As Islam continues to grow and more and more people begin to recognize and accept the presence of it as a mainstay in American/Global culture. It behooves one to educate themselves on the unknown. What better way then watch a former drug dealing, Puerto Rican Muslim from New York who was raised Catholic go through his day to day ordeals? "New Muslim Cool" is an accurate portrayal of true Islam, the peace and the submission of one's will to the one God. This film shows exactly how real Muslims deal with real struggles in real life. I hope you all enjoy this as much as I did.
I have to give an over sized phat shout to sister Rashida James-Saadiya who blessed me with the link through the will of Allah (SWT) and had a hand in getting this wonderful documentary viewed in Pittsburgh. May Allah (SWT) continue to bless and reward you, those responsible for the creation of this project, and its focus points.
I urge you all to watch the documentary here : send this to as many people as you can, edyourselves and buy the DVD!
Asalaamu alaykum
The Ayatollah has spoken
Whats gwanin BPW faithfuls? I know, I know, it's been a long time since I've made an installment on this thing, shame on me, right? To be quite honest, brothers have been bare busy, lots of things on the agenda, but this isn't about me. This BPW is a special BPW, unlike any I've ever wrote before. This is a movie review, of sorts.
Look at the definition of "Cool". Cool is more than a vague temperature placement. Cool is an adjective; following suit of a trend, a state of acceptable being with report and praise, relative to ones point of view. Brother Lupe Fiasco dropped an album called "The Cool" which utterly and irrevocably embodied the definition. There are a lot of new trends, a lot of new things we as a people as a culture find attractive and refreshing. Be it detrimental or not, what ever the vast array of subjects in question, from the music we listen to, to the dress we fashion for ourselves, to steroids, selling crack, it's all "cool" at one point. So for a religion to be new, cool, exciting, and what ever else, seems kind of like a contradiction, right? Wrong. The New Muslim Cool is sweeping the world over, as Islam is the fastest growing religion in the USA and now the number one practiced religion in the world, with numbers well exceeding 1billion. Islam is a religion that dates back centuries, so why is the prefix "new", attached? Well the influx has become increasingly noticeable since the events of September 11th. Islam before may have been a 2o minute discussion in your social studies class. You may have had one or two exchange students who were Muslim, but you were never really that interested in them, so you didn't ask many questions. Now look at it! All the sudden Islam is every where you look. In the classroom, in sports, in cartoons, and even in movies.
PBS and POV films banded together to create a very fresh and insightful look into a young man who is an MC, a father, an activist, and above all a Muslim, Mr. Hamza Perez. A member of the well known Hip Hop group M-Team, Hamza is a Nuyorican transplant living in Pittsburgh. Now I don't wanna give away the film because it's an amazing body of work, however, I will give a short synopsis. The cameras follow brother Hamza through out his day to day life. The jihad (struggle) of self, the jihad of religion and the trials and tribulations all mighty God places in front of us to keep our faith strong and our hearts pure. You will see Hamza performing his daily fatherly duties, in the studio with his brother, and partner in rhyme Suliman, working as a religious leader in prison and even getting married. Depending on how familiar you are with the Pittsburgh Hip Hop scene and how well you network, you may see some people you know all through out the film.
I met Hamza and his brother once, my first E'id Al-Fitr in the Pittsburgh Muslim community in 2006, they forever made an impression on my heart and brain. They were two of the most warm, kind and inviting brothers one would hope to meet. So upon hearing the news of this documentary, I was overjoyed that an occurrence of this magnitude was taking place so close to where I am and involving people with in my cipher.
This is more than just an opportunity for a brother to get press, or to get his 15 minutes of fame. This is something far greater. With the misrepresentation of Islam ever prevalent in the biased Zionist media, in schools, in the books you read, a counter balance was past due. All too often the image of the "towlhead" warrior and or suicide bomber yelling "Allah'u akbar" is seen in movies, magazines and nightly news stillshots. All too often is the image of the long robe wearing, oil hording greedy Arabian Muslim presented to you with no alternative to digest. "New Muslim Cool" opens up the viewers eyes to a tangible facet of society that is no different than the every day American encounters. In fact the places of Hamza and the deacon at your church could be easily changed around and the exact paths would still be trodden, more less.
This documentary is paramount in bridging the gap between a world with in a world that has been victim of slander, demonetization while literally sitting across the street from your residence. As Islam continues to grow and more and more people begin to recognize and accept the presence of it as a mainstay in American/Global culture. It behooves one to educate themselves on the unknown. What better way then watch a former drug dealing, Puerto Rican Muslim from New York who was raised Catholic go through his day to day ordeals? "New Muslim Cool" is an accurate portrayal of true Islam, the peace and the submission of one's will to the one God. This film shows exactly how real Muslims deal with real struggles in real life. I hope you all enjoy this as much as I did.
I have to give an over sized phat shout to sister Rashida James-Saadiya who blessed me with the link through the will of Allah (SWT) and had a hand in getting this wonderful documentary viewed in Pittsburgh. May Allah (SWT) continue to bless and reward you, those responsible for the creation of this project, and its focus points.
I urge you all to watch the documentary here : send this to as many people as you can, edyourselves and buy the DVD!
Asalaamu alaykum
The Ayatollah has spoken
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