![]() ![]() He begins all his projects with the first word of the Quran, Bismillah, dedicating his work to god. I felt that I was put here for that purpose and I just want to fulfill my legacy as far as being a conscious rapper and putting the word that I felt the streets needed to hear out there.” Yasiin Bey Fear no man (1999)įormerly known as Mos def, Yasiin Bey is another founding father of conscious rap and another pioneer in the interweaving of arabic into hip hop. “I applied it to my rhymes and I felt that I wanted the people to know what I knew. ![]() “I love what I live and I live Islam, so I applied it to everything I do,” the rapper told the magazine Final Call. ![]() The New Yorker is known for his powerful and conscious use of faith, including the track Flow Forever, where he features the religious term Bismillah for one of the first times in US rap. Recognized as one of the best lyricists in the rap scene, William Griffin adopted his new name, Rakim Allah, at sixteen when converting to Islam. In his track Aint no Half Steppin, he makes the almost unprecedented move of introducing arabic into his rhymes: Known for his quick flow and raw lyricism, Big Daddy Kane paved the way for hip hop. Tracing it back to the roots: Big Daddy Kane : Aint no Half Steppin (1988) Highly respected artists such as Jay Z, Kendrick Lamar, Kid Cudi, Frank Ocean, Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar each refer to arabic in their work. Rap emerged from block parties in 1970’s New York City, and Arabic made its’ earliest appearances within the music only about a decade later, through Brooklyn’s MC’s such as Big Daddy Kane and Boogie Down Productions.Įnduring through time, arabic secured its way into the tracks of today’s most praised hip hop. Regardless of their personal devotion to Islam, numerous rappers have welcomed Allah, the Arabic word for God, into their narrative, along with commonly mentioned phrases such as “ Allahu Akbar” to praise Allah, “As-Salaam-Alaikum” to indicate peace and brotherhood, or “ Bismillah” to dedicate the piece to the name of God. ![]()
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