Meeting Everlast and falling down the stairs

Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009

Behind the Screen

When I was just a wee college girl back in the day, there were rumors floating around that the musician known as Everlast was Muslim.

My friends and I thought that was SO cool and anytime we found out a bit of news we’d share it. There was an article in some  magazine that floated through people’s emails for awhile and it talked about how Everlast had a near death experience and found out about Islam through his friend and fellow musician Q-Tip.

We analyzed his music and noticed that he had Islamic terms in there and were so excited by it. This was back when people were still shunning music and there were no Muslims, or at least those who admitted they were Muslim, in the mainstream music industry.

Lo and behold one day we find out that Everlast is coming through our small town of Urbana-Champaign during his music tour and would be performing at a nearby venue.

His tour was passing through our town in the middle of Ramadan  so on the evening of his performance after Taraweeh prayer at the mosque, my friends Takeya and Nadia, myself  and one of my younger brothers Imran, decided to go and stalk the venue in hopes of catching a glimpse of Everlast. For some reason we though if we went there we could yell out Ramadan Mubarak or something cheezy.

Right next to the place Everlast was performing was a local coffee shop. We hung out inside plotting and planning what to do. The concert wouldn’t be out until late that night, so we figured we’d be able to catch him if we hung outside by his tour bus.

Takeya, Nadia, Imran and I walked around the tour bus. We tried to peer inside the window by the door, we took out our disposable camera and just as we were about to take pictures of ourselves in front of the bus a stout little bald man appeared out of nowhere.

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EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Five Eighty

Monday, November 10th, 2008

Hijabtrendz Exclusive

MC lyricist Five Eighty, whose real name is Amir Abdul-Shakur, has been busting into the hip hop scene with lyrics that contain a message and music that has meaning.


Above: Amir Abdul-Shakur who goes by the stage name Five Eighty.    

Five Eighty says ever since he was a child rap and hip hop played a big roll in his life.

“Growing up I had an older sister who played old school records, you know like Rob Base and MC Hammer and I just got fascinated with it.”

Five Eighty says around the age of nine he began writing poetry.

“I started dibbling and dabbling thinking I wanted to be a rapper.”

That’s when Five Eighty says he started to write down the lyrics of his favorite MC’s like Big Daddy Kane.

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