Something I did very long ago and still find fun:
1. "Supermagic" — Mos Def, The Ecstatic (2009)
The track opens with a sample of Malcolm X speaking as part of a debate at Oxford University in 1964, and thus seemed a fitting start for this playlist. Malcolm's call for revolution, coupled with another sample from a Turkish song before Mos breaks into the rap, combines several themes present throughout these selections, as does Mos Def himself, who now goes by the more 'Islamic' name Yasiin Bey. The combination of the very American figure of Malcolm X with Middle Eastern music, and the different versions or visions of Islam associated with each of those images, helps to illustrate the story of American Islam, from its connections with black identity and resistance movements, as well as an orthodox and cosmopolitan religion practiced by over 3 million Americans, whether first or second generation immigrants from across the Muslim world or those with very deep American roots.
2. “Blues for the Orient” – Yusef Lateef, Eastern Sounds (1961)
Yusef Lateef was a hugely important and influential multi-instrumentalist in the jazz music scene of post-World War II America. Lateef was one of the first jazz musicians to incorporate ‘Eastern’ influences in his albums, including Middle Eastern as well as East Asian elements ranging from the instruments used to different types of melodies and musical structures. Lateef himself converted to Islam in the 1950s, after encountering the Ahmadi community in Detroit. The Ahmadiyya are a group that emerged in Pakistan in the late 19th century, following the leadership of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, a man who considered himself a mujaddid, or religious renewer, and eventually claimed to be the Mahdi, or messiah. The Ahmadis worked to establish a community of followers in the U.S. in the early 20th century, including many from quasi-Islamic groups like Noble Drew Ali’s Moorish Science Temple (more about them below).
3. “Arabia” – Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Mosaic (1961)
Like Lateef, Art Blakey was another prominent Ahmadi jazz musician and band leader. This group, the Jazz Messengers, were an all-Muslim band, also drawing inspiration from Middle Eastern motifs. Along with the religious message, many black musicians found Islam useful in their careers. White audiences were especially curious of the exotic sounding names and musical influences, and adopting an ‘Islamic’ persona allowed black men to pass as Middle Eastern, which regardless of their skin color, afforded them a certain amount of access and respect that would otherwise have been denied in many parts of the U.S., including the Jim Crow south.
4. "Meaning of the 5%" — Brand Nubain, In God We Trust (1993)
Brand Nubian is one of the better known bands with lyrics explicitly drawing on their involvement in the 5% Nation, a group that broke away from the Nation of Islam, and whose presence in hip-hop is incredibly wide reaching and influential. This particular track is a sample of Louis Farrakhan, the current leader of the NOI, giving a speech that explains the name chosen by the 5% Nation (aka the Nation of Gods and Earths). According to their philosophy, 85% of the world’s population is ignorant of the truth, 10% knows the truth and uses their power to exploit the 85%, and the final 5% are those who seek to share the truth.
5. “Anger in the Nation” – Pete Rock and C.L. Smooth, Mecca and the Soul Brother (1992)
Regarded as one of the top hip-hop albums of all time, Mecca and the Soul Brother contains several tracks that highlight teachings of the Nation of Islam. This song mentions beliefs such as the Asiatic Black Man, part of Noble Drew Ali’s teachings in the Moorish Science Temple, which was a precursor to the Nation of Islam. Ali believed that black people were descended from the Moors, and thus of Muslim ancestry. Members asserted their Moorish nationality in opposition to an American identity, often adopting Middle Eastern-sounding names and dressing in ‘oriental’ clothing. The larger message of the song, however, is that of black power, resistance, and protest, practices that were deeply intertwined with the religious teachings of the Nation of Islam.
6. “Astronomy (8th Light)” – Black Star, Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star (1998)
Mos and Talib Kweli’s album explores the idea of blackness in America in several ways, and this track introduces the project while drawing upon images and ideas from Islam, both its more orthodox and heterodox varieties (“like the Prophet love Khadija,” for example, coupled with the ‘third eye’ and ‘five side dimension’). Notice the shout out to John Coltrane and his first wife, Naima, who was Muslim. Coltrane, though never officially Muslim himself, was at the very center of the Ahmadi music scene of which Yusef Lateef and Art Blakey were a part.
7. “Supreme Architecture” – Wu Tang Clan/RZA, Chamber Music (2009)
It’s a bit of a deep cut from Wu Tang, but this track has RZA talking directly about his Five Percenter beliefs. He mentions the Supreme Mathematics, which along with the Supreme Alphabet is a series of alternate meanings and philosophies associated with the numbers 1-10. For example, 1 = knowledge, 2 = wisdom, etc.
8. “For the Prophets” – Native Deen, Deen You Know (2005)
Following Malcolm X’s conversion from the NOI to Sunni Islam, many others in the Black Muslim community also converted. Native Deen’s music reflects this shift, incorporating hip-hop influences into what is essentially nasheed—traditional chanting or a cappella music—and which also avoids the use of wind and string instruments in accordance with some, more conservative interpretations of Islamic law (Deen meaning ‘religion’ in Arabic/Persian/Turkish). Their lyrics, too, are explicitly religious or didactic, much like Christian rock and pop.
9. “Muhammad Walks” – Lupe Fisaco, Fahrenheit 1/15 (2006)
Lupe is one of the best-known Muslim rappers today, and despite often being political or associated with ‘socially conscious’ rap, most of his work isn’t necessarily or primarily about his religion. This is a track from an early mixtape, a remake of Kanye’s “Jesus Walks,” and I chose it because it does explicitly address Islam. Like Mos Def in the first track, Lupe begins with a bismallah, and follows others in the incorporation of the adhan. After all of the tracks by minority or quasi-Islamic groups like Ahmadis and NOI/Gods and Earths, it’s important to remember that mainstream, Sunni Islam also has strong ties in black and other American communities.
10. “Patriot Act” – Heems, Eat Pray Thug (2015)
Heems (aka Himanshu Suri) isn’t Muslim, and this isn’t a song about Islam. But it is a song about being brown in Post-9/11 America, which is just as much a part of the story of race and religion and identity as any of the other tracks. The commonly held ideas of what a Muslim looks like and what that person’s background is have changed quite a bit from the middle of the century. And as Heems tells us, the correctness of that assumption doesn’t always matter—a sikh’s turban, a name that’s hard to pronounce, and someone’s skin color are understood as representative of a particular identity regardless of reality.
For further listening, a more inclusive playlist is on Spotify