Hip-Hop Hero SHIREA is as Rare as they come

I wrote this for our school newspaper. Lets see if they publish it. Islamic Music Sucks Don't be alarmed as I am quite aware of the oxymoron: how can music be Islamic? Ha! Disregarding the fiqhi discourse for a minute, I would like to bring to attention a rather disheartening trend that I've been observing for a while. Under the guise of 'halal', nasheed artists have been pumping out a substantial amount of, to put it rather bluntly, bad music for a while now. With the exception of the lyrically talented (and oft underrated) Dawud Wharnsby Ali, it seems like all you have to do to be a 'nasheed artist' is churn out some generic sounding Islamic nursery rhymes and pepper them with offbeat and dull duff sounds and you're ready for primetime at Muslim Fest. It's almost an insult to the art form itself. Who said taking away instruments and being Muslim meant writing uninspiring, empty and most of all, badly written songs? Is there not enough material to work with in our tradition's vast ocean of prose and literature? Is it that difficult to listen to successful musicians or at the least read their lyrics? In my opinion, nasheed artists don't bother to study music and nor do they look into just what sort of sociological effects it has on society. The argument I hear most is that it's a 'halal alternative'. Brothers and sisters, I regret to inform you that if you were ever aiming to replace ordinary (or rather, 'haram') music, you are looking at an uphill battle with a very steep slope. In order for music to be any good, it must contain some of these elements: Emotion. Whether it's the portrayal of despair, the feeling of elation or even of frustration and bitter anger, a song cannot mean anything if it does not move you. Hell, despite my hate with the Hizb-ut-Tahrir sponsored Soldiers of Allah, I carry tremendous respect for what they were able to achieve. With their anger fueled rhymes of fury (bashing everyone from the US School System to Mustafa Kamal), SOA was able to inspire and bring awareness to an entire generation of confused and bewildered youth. Lyrical Depth. 'A is for Allah. I love Islam. Let's all pray' This my friends is not something any sane person would want to listen to as any type of music. It requires talent to write good rhymes. There is art to wordplay and not everyone can do it. There is nothing more frustrating than listening to a brother's potentially brilliant voice being wasted on lyrics that are about as deep as a Nike sweatshop worker's pockets. Dawud Wharnsby Ali (there's a reason I like him) is a shining example of a musician who can write rhymes that are concentrated in their content and sound like they're dripping from his veins. One can feel the brother's life simply from the way he can make you visualize everything from praying in the snow to sneaking in late night as a teenager. On the whole, Muslim artists better start reading up on history, start attending music workshops or atleast start researching good artists or else 'Islamic Music' is gonna end up being a laughingstock of people we are aiming at touching. For a comprehensive list of Muslim artists I am not a fan of, please feel free to email me so I can send you back a personalized message highlighting exactly why they suck. mudasser@gmail.com