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Artist
Yusuf Abdul Mateen
6+ albums
underground hip-hopHip-Hopunderground raprapeast coast rap
about
Muslim MC Yusuf Abdul-Mateen was born in the Merrimack Valley of Massachusetts to a Catholic family. His passion for hip hop culture was developed while attending high school in Lawrence, MA. This interest was superseded only by his interest in Islam, which he started reading about as a child. He finally converted to Islam in 2003. By then his recording career had already begun but now his lyrics would take on a spiritual and political edge. As one-half of the Boston unit Blak Madeen, Yusuf has shared the stage with the likes of Lupe Fiasco, Brother Ali, Immortal Technique and KRS-One. In fall of 2009, Blak Madeen released their album, "Sacred Defense", featuring collabos with Lord Jamar of Brand Nubian, Hasan Salaam and others. The focused, hard-hitting album touched upon several sociopolitical and spiritual issues. Yusuf now focuses his attention on solo material. "This is a music that gives a platform for ideas which might otherwise go unheard", he says. "Hip-hop gets a lot of credit for bringing cultures together, but Islam has been doing that for 1,400 years". User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
