Britain’s first Muslim hip-hop duo, Poetic Pilgrimage, have been making music for years but the outfit only recently achieved widespread recognition. Born in Bristol to Jamaican parents, Muneera Williams and Sukina Owen-Douglas converted to Islam in 2005. Since starring in a documentary earlier this year, the London-based pair, dubbed the “hip-hop hijabis”, have been performing…
July 19, 2014 A revival of the Nation of Islam connection—if it avoids repeating some of the errors of the past—could signal a new era of consciousness in commercial hip-hop. In the late ’80s and early ’90s, a wave of commercial hip-hop artists, like Public Enemy, Poor Righteous Teachers, Brand Nubian, Eric B. & Rakim,…
In the early 1970s, singers such as the late Larry Norman transformed Christian music from hymns to rock ‘n’ roll by asking one simple question: Why should the devil have all the good music? Now a group of young Muslim musicians is doing the same for Islamic songs known as “nasheeds,” by combining hip-hop, country…
March 20, 2013 Issam Mrini, aka Lama Islam, was born in Morocco and raised in Bologna, where, from an early age, he was exposed to the hip hop culture. Today, thirty years, Lama Islam is a well-known rapperand known throughout the Italian underground scene. In 2002 Lama Islam opened a hip hop clothing store in…
To hip hop and fashion mogul Russell Simmons, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is like “a rap beef” that can be resolved through dialogue and understanding. “A little trust, and it’s over,” he said. When he isn’t managing his clothing line Phat Farm or promoting artists, Simmons champions an eclectic mix of causes, from veganism to gay…
