Ali Shaheed Muhammad
Ali Shaheed Muhammad is a world-renowned producer, songwriter and musician, and a founding member of A Tribe Called Quest, Lucy Pearl and production group The Ummah. He cowrote D'Angelo's " Brown Sugar" and has worked with John Legend, Maxwell, Mint Condition, Angie Stone, Mos Def and Gil Scott-Heron among many others.
He's the co-host of the Microphone Check podcast with Frannie Kelley.
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"Whatever I feel like is missing, or whatever type of track or energy I'm trying to feel or I feel like I'm not hearing in wherever music is at that period of time, I try to create it."
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"I want to get whatever's on my chest off my chest when it feels right," says the rapper, who makes songs that turn the personal into the political.
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"What really blowed my mind was the way it unified a room full of people," says the Miami rapper, about his earliest memories of hip-hop. "That's what we all have in common."
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He who signed De La Soul, Queen Latifah and Digital Underground sat down with his old friend Ali Shaheed Muhammad to tell stories about Tribe, ODB, Cypress Hill and everybody in between.
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The Atlanta rapper, actor and businessman spoke about being mentored by Andrew Young and using songwriting to talk to himself, as well as everybody else.
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"The best way to represent the places where you from is be yourself, completely," says the musician and actor.
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The Brooklyn rapper spoke to Microphone Check about the music business, the old neighborhood, the kids and a theoretical campaign to be Mayor of New York City.
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The Oakland group most widely known for the ageless "93 'til Infinity" has made a new concept album based on a true story. To make it, they went old school.
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"Now is the time that I'm actually thinking of myself as a musician," says Issa. "Things are hitting me like, 'Oh, damn, you have this responsibility.'"
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The New York rapper on the music industry — from sitting on the shelf, to refusing deals, posthumous releases to sales expectations — music journalism and taking risks, personal and professional.