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.