Dave Chappelle who is Muslim as you know (also his brother and most of his family is as well) had a block party in Brooklyn for free a while back. Now rumor has it he wants to do a second one in Dubai.
According to New York Magazine, ?uestlove (of The Roots) recently spoke with the comedian, who has maintained a low profile as of late. “He wants to redo ‘Block Party,’” said ?uestlove, referring to Chappelle’s 2005 documentary which chronicled the process of organizing and throwing the block party. “I saw Dave the night of Erykah [Badu]’s birthday party in Dallas.”
?uestlove elaborated, revealing Chappelle’s desired location for the project. “Over in Dubai,” he explained. “Except he wants to spice it up a bit and have us perform with a 60-piece orchestra. He’s just like, ‘Promise me you’re going to rhyme over ‘Star Wars,’ that’s all I want.’”
Dubai pays more than the U.S. nowadays. Although the rappers and singers at the Brooklyn Block Party weren’t the typical commerical (c)rappers and singers. Groups like The Roots and rappers like Talib Kweli were the main performers. There lyrics are much better that than of Soulja Boy or Lil Wayne (although he’s currently the killer MC in the game).
If you can rhyme, recite poetry, or sing, then you may get a chance to be part of the opening act of one of the shows in the Outlandish tour in America. Click here for more information.
Select portions of “Halal Mix Tape Vol. 1“, featured in Lota Pani Pictures’ “Gandaghee (Dirty)” 2004 DVD release.
Also features an EXCLUSIVE performance of “Sunnahback”, from the forthcoming “Halal Mix Tape Vol. 2″ to be featured on the Fall 2008 DVD release of “Gandaghee 2: Return of the Lota”
Performed live at the 2008 MSA National East Zone USA Conference entertainment session on April 5th, 2008 in Newark, NJ.
Fat Joe, famous rapper from the Bronx, NYC, recently gave his salams in a song called “300″. Who cares? Well probably no one (but me). But if you did, you can listen to it here (warning contains music) :
“We’re just beginning the processes,” Bono told The Independent. “We did some recording in Morocco last year. All the band went to an amazing religious music festival in Fez with some incredible sufi singers. It was a real humbling thing for a punk-rock shouter, listening to these people who just close their eyes for 40 minutes and sing the most sophisticated melodies.” - Bono, band member of U2
SubhanAllah! Can you imagine millions of people who will be listening to some beautiful poetry praising Allah (swt) and sending salawat upon Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)!? Although many of you will shout out haram. It’s not haram for a non-Muslim to use it for their music. It’s also not haram for the millions of non-Muslims to listen to the Sufi melodies. Who knows, maybe some will want to investigate more about Sufism and then start studying Islam. Only Allah knows if this will be a bridge for people to come to Islam.
May Allah accept our good deeds, our fasting, our prayers, and our charities, and may Allah help us to be more consistent on them after Ramadan. May Allah extend our lives to witness next year’s Eid, and by that time, may Allah give the nation of his beloved one the glory and sovereignty, under the flag of “There’s no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his messenger”.
