NYC Event: @metmuseum Musical Encounters from the Lands of the Mughals

Read an article about a new rapper Brother Ali. Tunes sounded slick, but his name caught my attention. Was he Muslim? Was he Muslim-chic (yes, it exists in hip-hop and in dress)? Did some b/g, and he is Muslim. Tunes are slick. Technorati Tags: Islam in the US, hip-hop

Letter from America – Givin’ It to the Man, Islamic Style – NYTimes.com. No doubt for many — probably most — Americans, Islam is associated these days at the very least with ultraconservative social mores — the lesser status of women, for example — not to mention the practices of the radical extreme — the cult of death, suicide bombings, acid thrown in the faces of girls going to school. So how about Muslims who embrace feminism, play in punk rock bands, and castigate orthodox, official Saudi Arabian-supported Islam as “Islamofascism?” Yes, it starts with some clichés, but we will…

A Diplomatic Mission of Muslim Hip-Hop – NYTimes.com. But Native Deen’s faith places it in the history of American hip-hop more generally. Pioneering hip-hop artists like Afrika Bambaataa and Wu-Tang Clan have demonstrated in their lyrics the pervasive influence of Islam in black America. Even when rappers are not themselves Muslim, Dr. Abdul Khabeer said, many borrow ideas and terminology from orthodox Islam and from Muslim-identified groups, like the Nation of Islam and the Five-Percent Nation.