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Brother Ali On Religion, Consciousness & Being Albino

blame it on Shake May 24, 2012

The good Brother recently sat down with TheWellVersed for a fantastic conversation about hit Bite Marked Heart EP, being comfortable in your own skin, why being a Muslim emcee isn’t a contradiction and how KRS-One telling him to “unite humanity” was a life changing experience.

Was hip hop how you got introduced to Islam?
I went to see KRS-ONE when I was 13, a lecture. I bought the book he and Nelson George did. I asked him to sign the book and he asked me to come on stage during the question and answer. My birth name before I became Muslim was Jason and when he signed the book it said, “To Jason, unite humanity.”

He talked about Malcolm. Him talking about Malcolm really stuck with me. This was before the movie. That’s the first book I ever read. There are a lot of white people that converted to Islam because of Malcolm X. We all know subconsciously, most of us don’t fuck with it in our conscious mind because it’s too scary, but it’s hard to acknowledge that the worst crimes in humanity have benefited me and I’m part of that. And that’s tough unless you love the shit out of yourself. It’s interesting that I learned that self- love from black people.

READ: Brother Ali: The Face In The Mirror
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