The San Francisco Bay Area has one of the largest Muslim populations in the United States: nearly 250,000 Muslims live in the six counties surrounding the city of San Francisco. With this being said, I find that Muslim music was very hard to find in the bay area to include the United States. this was due to a couple of reasons, Muslim artist in the United States have only until recently been spreading. This includes Muslim artist in the hip hop, and even country. I had to really do my digging to see where the Muslim artist where hiding, come to find out, Muslim music is not hiding but evolving and fused with many other type of music to which they call their own. The first interesting part was that Muslim had a huge part in the molding and cultivating of American Rap.
Lupe Fiasco, an American artist, and unbeknownst to my knowledge was Muslim. He has created many songs to include a Grammy with Kanye West, but he has also created songs to include Muhammad walks; a song which incorporates Islamic references such as the five pillars of Islam, Allah, the Quran and many more.
Lupe Fiasco, an American artist, and unbeknownst to my knowledge was Muslim. He has created many songs to include a Grammy with Kanye West, but he has also created songs to include Muhammad walks; a song which incorporates Islamic references such as the five pillars of Islam, Allah, the Quran and many more.
Other rappers to include Most Def who took his shahada at the age of 19, has risen as rapper/actor and is twice Grammy nominee. He also sheds light on being Muslims in many of his lyrics. such as
mean, do you know how much information – vital information – you could get across in three minutes?! You know, and make it so that... I mean, the Qur’an is like that. The reason that people are able to be hafiz is because the entire Qur’an rhymes . . . Like, there’s a rhyme scheme in all of it. You see what I’m saying? And it holds fast to your memory . . . and you learn it and you recite it. And you learn it and you recite it. Then one day you’re reciting it, and you start to understand! You really have a deeper relationship with what you’re reciting . . . Hip hop has the ability to do that – on a poetic level.
Native Deen" in Arabic means "religion" or "way of life." Native Deen comprises Joshua Salaam, Naeem Muhammad, and Abdul-Malik Ahmad, young Muslim men who were born and raised in the District of Columbia. Their music seeks to inspire young people to keep their Islamic faith and the pressures and temptations of daily life. There music again, is one of the hip-hop genre but has inspired a lot of young Muslims to evolve their faith in the music.
mean, do you know how much information – vital information – you could get across in three minutes?! You know, and make it so that... I mean, the Qur’an is like that. The reason that people are able to be hafiz is because the entire Qur’an rhymes . . . Like, there’s a rhyme scheme in all of it. You see what I’m saying? And it holds fast to your memory . . . and you learn it and you recite it. And you learn it and you recite it. Then one day you’re reciting it, and you start to understand! You really have a deeper relationship with what you’re reciting . . . Hip hop has the ability to do that – on a poetic level.
Native Deen" in Arabic means "religion" or "way of life." Native Deen comprises Joshua Salaam, Naeem Muhammad, and Abdul-Malik Ahmad, young Muslim men who were born and raised in the District of Columbia. Their music seeks to inspire young people to keep their Islamic faith and the pressures and temptations of daily life. There music again, is one of the hip-hop genre but has inspired a lot of young Muslims to evolve their faith in the music.
Another Artist to mention which as exploded in the country world is a first generation American born Egyptian who grew up in Oklahoma, his name is Kareem Salama. Salama grew up on country music and found that he could fuse his Muslim faith with country music, to which he was very successful. One of his songs was inspired by the writings of an 8th-century Islamic scholar, Imam Muhammed Al-Shafi’ee, endorses the idea of tolerance and avoiding violence in his debut single "Generous Peace":