Some of you think that I shouldn’t be so vocal about listening to music. Fact is, almost all of us do. But it saddens me to see my hijabi sisters and faithful brothers listening to the radio and singing along with “Buy you a Drank” and “Crank That.” Just the other day I saw a super religious person humming Buy You A Drank, and before that I saw a young guy trying to be a Mullah humming “Superman that Hoe, YOUU crank that soulja boy.” My goal is to show Muslims alternative music that sounds great but remains Islamically correct in terms of lyrics and message.

Anyway, I was looking through my music, and thought about my favorite albums of 2007. Here they are, in order:

10. [[As I Am]]- Alicia Keys

Unlike most female pop albums, I would have to say that this album is very good in the fact that it avoids haram subjects. She provide soul in her music in a way I haven’t seen since [[Stevie Wonder]]. Not to mention, she actually knows how to sing. This album is just too good to pass up, and I can see a lot of my sisters loving this album.

9. [[Kala]] - M.I.A.

Made by a Tamil Brit girl who knows how to put electronica, reggae, and rap together, this album is probably my guilty pleasure album. It’s not Islamically correct, but it really catches my ears. Sorry people, I know I say I avoid Non-Islamically correct music, and I’ll try to listen to this album less next year.

8. [[Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga]] - Spoon

What can I say, they are from my school . Ultimate College Indie Rock Album. Period.

7. [[Sweeney Todd Soundtrack]] - Steven Sondheim

Sweeney Todd is basically High School Musical, Beethoven, Romeo and Juliet, and a Horror Cartoon put together. Ultimate ensemble for the Emo. Not that I’m Emo. It’s just this album was really dark in a cool way.

6. [[Even If It Kills Me]]- Motion City Soundtrack

Just listen to it. It’s a great Pop/Punk Rock album. The title song, “Even if it Kills Me” defines my 2007 year.

5. [[Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace]] - Foo Fighters

Great rebel album. I think everyone in the world thats fighting the system, from Latin rebels to Mujahideen in Iraq should have this album be their anthem album. This album will have your blood rushing fast, and anger you pretty easily and basically hate unjust government.

4. [[In Rainbows]]- Radiohead

This is my “listen while I’m studying” album. I don’t know how to explain it, and I don’t think most Muslim ears are used to Radiohead chaotic form of rock/electronica. So I’m just gonna say listen to it, and you’ll either love it or hate it.

3. [[Minutes to Midnight]]- Linkin Park

Ok, so this album sounded absoluetely nothing like what they made before, but I found it really amazing. I miss Linkin Park, but this new Linkin Park 2.0 is definitely a band I’m going to keep my eyes on for a while. They actually cuss in this album so I can’t listen to it with my family around, but its really good.

2. [[The Undisputed Truth (album)|The Undisputed Truth]]- Brother Ali

Most of you don’t know who Brother Ali is, so let me sum him up. He is an albino white guy, adopted by black parents, and sometime when he was older he converted to Islam, became a rapper, got married, had a kid, and got divorced. This album goes through all of these struggles in a way that truly touches me. He is very vocal in this album, from critizing the American government to explaining to his kid the concept of divorce. Faheem is definetly my favorite song. It talks about keeping faith in Allah during times of struggle. Its not family friendly, but the album definitely deserves a 4 1/2 stars when it comes to being Islamically correct. I really think that every Muslim who likes rap should cop this album.

1. [[Lupe Fiasco’s The Cool]]- Lupe Fiasco

Lupe Fiasco is definetly my most favorite rapper (Muslim by the way), and although The Cool didn’t touch me personally like his first album did, the depth and concept behind The Cool was amazing. Ill write a full review about this album later. Is it Islamically correct? Well, its dark. Very dark. But in a good way. So it talks about really touchy subjects like rape, but it does it in a way that provokes thought, so I would find it correct. I would give it 4 1/2 Chucks in terms of how good it was, and 3 1/2 Chucks in terms of Islamic correctness.
Whew, that list is random. Although not listed here, I still listened to my old music more than this new stuff, particularly Bob Marley.

People always attack Jihadis for brainwashing and propaganda. Lets look at these:

From http://www.thoseshirts.com

Even John McCain said that [[waterboarding]] is torture, yet it is promoted by the President.

I don’t see any difference between the torture that this country does and what other countries do. Many Americans recognize this, but most think they have no power to change anything.

I’m a musician. I’m also a Muslim. Most people can’t imagine these two together, but recently I have noticed how much Muslims influence music today.

Many people know about Muslim influence on rap, particulalry a subgenre known as [[Conscious Rap]]. [[Rakim]], [[The Outlawz]], [[MC Ren]], [[Common]], [[Ice Cube]], [[Brother Ali]], [[Busta Rhymes]], [[DJ Khaled]], [[Lupe Fiasco]], [[The Roots]], [[Mos Def]], and [[Talib Kweli]] are just to name a few. I like to call them the [[Dave Chappelle]] (who is also Muslim) rappers, because Chappelle used to promote musicians like this on his show. Many people consider Islam the official religion of conscience rap because so many big name rappers in this genre are Muslim.

Thats not to say that Muslims only touch conscience rap. They also are very prominent in mainstream music and rock. I bet most people don’t know that [[Akon]] and [[T-Pain]], the musicians currently controlling the iTunes top 40, are Muslim. [[Michael Jackson]] converted to Islam in 2003, following in the footsteps of his brother [[Jermaine | Jermaine Jackson]], who also converted. [[U2]] although not Muslim, said that their upcoming album will be very different and heavily influenced by Sufi musicians of Morocco. [[Richard Thompson]], ranked 19 in greatest guitarists by Rolling Stone Magazine, became a committed Muslim in 1974. [[System of a Down]], known as leaders in heavy metal, are a group of Albanian Muslims. And of course, there is [[Cat Stevens]] (Yusuf Islam), who is known worldwide for converting to Islam. He just came out recently with a new album, [[An Other Cup]]. Many Muslims may also recognize [[Sami Yusuf]], a multi platinum musician with music about Islam.

Business-wise, [[Atlantic Records]] was created by Muslims. If you don’t know, Atlantic is one of the largest labels in the world with artists like [[Death Cab for Cutie]], [[Led Zeppelin]], [[James Blunt]], [[Metallica]], [[The Notorious BIG]], [[Paul Wall]], [[TI]], [[Sean Paul]], [[Yusuf Islam]], and [[Lupe Fiasco]].

It’s is notable that most of these musicians are not [[Nation of Islam]] as many would believe. Most are actually Sunni or Sufi, with a few Nation of Islam members and Shiites.

The story of Muslims influencing the arts are very much an unheard of story. Modern music is just the first of many arts that I will try to touch up on in the future.

I will also try to promote Muslim musicians in this blog, so stay touched. I got at 5000 song library on iTunes (with almost all Islamically correct message-wise), so this might take a while.

(Sorry for not posting for so long. I was stitching my soul back together.)

Pat Robertson is known as the leader of the evangelical Christians (not all of them), and also a leader in the religious right. He is the host of the 700 Club and probably is the pastor with the largest following in America.

Pat Robertson is known in the Islamic world for his comments on the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), saying he is “an absolute wild-eyed fanatic … a robber and a brigand.” In the beginning of 2007, Pat Robertson predicted that there would be a HUGE terrorist attack on America the second half of 2007, and he also said that God told him this.Well, it’s 2008. Nothing. Some people need to realize the difference between God talking and Arrogance talking.