Finding Allah Through Hip-Hop

Brother Ali: An Honest Act Of Worship : NPR.

If you must see one rapper this year who happens to be Muslim, albino and legally blind, it should be Brother Ali. The musician, now on a national tour, counts some of hip-hop’s biggest names among his fans, including Chuck D of Public Enemy.

Back in the 1980s, Brother Ali was a teenager named Jason Newman, cutting school and beefing on the streets of North Minneapolis. He loved hip-hop’s energy and joy, and its criticism of harsh social systems.

“He said, ‘All praise due to Allah’ — that’s a blessing. I wanted to know what that was,” Brother Ali says. “And so when Chuck D and KRS-One were saying things like, ‘Farrakhan’s a prophet, I think you oughta listen to him,’ that is initially what made me track down the Quran.”

A legally-blind albino Muslim who can lyrically flow with the greatest of ease; the rapper known as Brother Ali is taking the hip-hop world by storm.

According to National Public Radio, “If you must see one rapper this year who happens to be Muslim, albino and legally blind, it should be Brother Ali…The musician, now on a national tour, counts some of hip-hop’s biggest names among his fans, including Chuck D of Public Enemy…”

“You know, a kid like me from the Midwest, who was so enthralled by the poetry and artistry of people like Rakim … It made me want to know, what’s he talking about?” Brother Ali said during a recent musical profile of him on NPR’s All Things Considered.

He adds that both Hip-hop and Islam tend to get caught up in the same misconceptions — that they’re somehow inherently violent, disrespectful of women and homophobic. Brother Ali says these attitudes are much bigger than either hip-hop or Islam.

“In my old work, I was so ignorant to the hell that gay people are put through because they’re deemed to be different,” he says. “I said the word ‘faggot’ in my first album, and I’m so thoroughly embarrassed by that now. I have gay friends and gay people I look up to…”

Admittedly, Brother Ali’s language is not always so squeaky-clean. On his tracks, he curses a lot and he says that has drawn some disapproval from more-orthodox Muslims. But the musician says he can express his faith even with what he calls his ‘grown-up words’.

“Everything in Islam is an act of worship — everything good and pure and genuine you do is an act of worship,” Brother Ali says. “I believe being the best artist I can be translates to being the most honest artist I can be. Were I not to show the crass side of myself, I’d be holding something back from my artistry…”

As a blind albino Muslim rapper in the hip-hop world, one might think that someone like Brother Ali would find it difficult to become successful in the world of hip-hop today. With other major Muslim hip-hop stars like actor/rapper Mos Def, Q-Tip (of A Tribe Called Quest), Lupe Fiasco and (apparently) Ice Cube; Brother Ali hopes to become another major sensation within the hip-hop world of tomorrow.

And even though he was born both blind and an albino, his lyrics from his video single of ‘Good Lord’ below shows his eternally optimistic spirit:

“The Good Lord made me what I am/And I play the hand I am dealt/Sometimes the hardest thing to be in this world is just yourself…”