Islam in Rap

Hey what’s up guys, sorry for the late post I’ve been sooo caught up doing my dissertation and other essays for uni but I’ve finally got around to writing this post. As the title suggests this post will be focusing on Islam in Rap. I know I’ve already touched on the 5% Nation of Islam in rap music but this is completely different.

There a loads of Muslim rappers/producers in rap music, the likes of Q-Tip and Ali Shaheed Muhammad of A Tribe Called Quest, Rakim, Lupe Fiasco and Mos Def. And to be honest you can see their faith reflected in their music.

Rakim.

The man many consider the greatest rapper of all time, spoke about how his faith affects his lyrics, the brother said, ‘’I love what I live and I live Islam, so I applied it to everything I do” and if you peep his lyrics you can understand what he means. In his song R.A.K.I.M. he begins at the beginning saying how the A in his name stands for ‘Allah who I praise to the fullest’, he finishes the song with the Quranic reference too, ‘rest assure, when I rock, dance crowds and scream, Bis-Mi-Allah A-Rahman A-Rahim’.

This saying has also been heavily incorporated in the albums of Mos Def who starts by saying Bismallah ir Rahman ir Raheem. These themes of religion ran throughout his song ‘Fear Not of Man’ where he raps, ‘Angels hold a pen keep a record in time which is passing and running like a caravan trader’. Later in the song where he talks about how he sees the wealthy and wicked running the world he says, ‘God is sufficient in disposing of affairs, gunmen and stockholders try to merit my fear but God is sufficient over plans they prepared’. This in fact a running theme throughout all this albums so if you wanna check it out via Itunes and Spotify go ahead, but please no illegal downloading…

The rapper Lupe Fiasco, in respect to his faith, did a cover song of Kanye’s Jesus Walks, called Muhammad Walks. He talks about how his faith truly is but also how it’s perceived in current world affairs. He raps:

‘G’s up along with Muhammad and Jesus. In the Quran they call him Isa, don’t think Saddam is our leader. We pray for peace, but the drama intrigues us all, so we fall for the illusions of the beast – so instead of trying to teach we show our teeth’

In fact one could say that Lupe is teaching (as the above suggests) in this song how the faith has been grossly misunderstood in light of events such as 9/11. And finding no other way to teach he resorts to the medium of rap in which he can teach, and successfully teach I reckon right?

Unfortunately, that’s all I can touch on when looking at Rap and Islam, if anyone else has any links feel free to comment.

Peace.