brotherdash.com

Spoken Soul CD

Check out the review of my album Spoken Soul by Zaufishan Iqbal. Zaufishan is an artist and writer based in the UK and hosts a top rated blog www.zaufishan.co.uk. She took some time out to review the album. Have a read.

Fish, Grits and Couscous: Islam and The African-American Experience

The following are some web quality stills from the event held at Rutgers University in the Fall of 2009. I was commissioned to do some photography for the event. Below are two photo galleries. The first focuses on the audience at the event and the second focuses on the speakers. This will give you a bit of insight into how I compose shots. All photos are under creative commons license.

Audience Pics	Speakers Pics
Audience Preview Pic	Preview Pic For Speakers
Photos by Brother Dash	Photos by Brother Dash

Just A Test

by Brother Dash

The razzle dazzle of big city night life, Miller High Life, got you blind to the realities
of the true to life street life. Champagne wishes and Caviar dreams are the beams
connected to the foundations of various nations, Haitians be the carriers of Green Monkey viruses?, clouds in Mankind’s Irises, but that’s to be expected in the land of resurrected Osirises, Boulevard gods  Peachfuzz squads, make you be on your guard even the righteous be at odds. Advocates for Satanic Whispers, sisters that love to bicker, will get you there quicker while the bugger flickers standin’ in the alleyways hidden from the moonlight street lamps, their mental clamps on contenders and champs, and those that get Amped, scan the UPC forehead stamps, persistent so they walk the dry streets…DAMP!!

Throw your Booyaka’s in the sky, watch the skate boards fly, Bastard Daddies say
Bye-Bye and the world keeps on spinnin’ as all this sinnin’ got him grinnin’ as he brags about everybody that he done been in, Blend In the sounds of thoracic thrusts, unripe fruits that bust, with screaming tears, dreaming their, gleaming fears appear like shattered sunshine raining from dark skies fall and slice like twice on blood soaked faces but the pain of children’s rain barely stains Insane Brains in chains while necks crane to see pubic manes and little remains for those not in the fast lane, they’re on the other side of the window pane, lickin’ dead bugs and dirt granules from the ledge, Are they the ones who are living on the edge? There must be a wedge or a veil on the hearts, On the Hearts torn aparts, When they speak they just fart call it aroma, call it a stench, This woman Free!!!, I see a wench, Girly mags, Hags with bags, no more playin’ Freeze Tag, Rudy orders the gag, why do weather men brag? Why does he leave when they sag?
Why is Philistine such a nag? Do you really donate your clothing or do you simply throw away your rags?

When the Sun rises from the West, When the mother suckles her daughter’s breast,
when children become pests, when the Earth coughs up phlegm from her chest, When nuclear families have empty nests, When housewives are seen as something less, When 12 year olds get buddha blessed, When Stars and Stripes become personal crests, When so-called scientist puff up him chest, When the tongue whips your brother’s back without a rest, When neighbors go hungry and enemies become guests, When leaders of believers sell souls for Kaffir quests, When this poem won’t end even at your behest, When Color and Birth determines who’s best, When lies become meals that we chew and injest, Then with crystal clarity you’ll see the reality that this whole world was just…a test.

The ChaiPod has a conversation with Muslim rapper Miss Undastood one of only a handful of Hijab wearing rappers. Miss Undastood discusses the triumphs and challenges of being a scarf wearing, Muslim female rapper. She discusses the unique issues facing Muslim female performers and the subject matter in her lyrics. Never one to mince words this native New Yorker answers the ChaiPod questions with honest bluntness and wit.  Listen to one of the only interviews on the web featuring a Muslim female rapper!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Masjid Marauders
by Brother Dash

Barreling like boulders through young gardens they trample
With bad breadth and I don’t mean the odor
They are the masjid marauders
In blue jeans and kufees
Baseball caps and man dresses
Green passports and a bad attitude that can only be described as arrogant
They pluck thorns with bulldozers
Fight fires with…More fire
Suck nectar and spit blood
They are the masjid marauders

They leave dirty footprints on the carpet
The color of jaundice with a foreign funk
It must be the wet paint off America’s streets of gold
And too many episodes of Al-Baywatch
Do they remind you of Columbus and his discovery of the red heathens?
Fortune seekers turned fortune tellers
They are the masjid marauders

While they sipped tea and smoked hookah
Southern trees were bearing strange fruit
In 2 K they rode the White elephant
Didn’t Jesse tell them to stay out of the Bushes?
And when black rain poured over Baghdad
And a baby sister I never met cried the collateral blues
Only then did they search their garbage for our poetry of warning
The house of prayer? A social club
For men who share a foreign tongue
Unruly kids spit disrespect and I do mean literal
This place was built on blood and sweat
And hopes and tears
And dreams deferred
The first house was build on the dirt of slaves
Not on the fringes of outer whitelandia
We beat our words on their inner ear duffs
But they turned away ‘cause “music is haram”
Islam like a bomb, napalm for native dwellers
‘Sisters go pray in a cellar’
They are the masjid marauders

Like the Feds they give you a new identity, a foreign look
And definitely a new name
But those fruits and veggies are out of season
And your body is craving local produce
Organically Grown
Are they rotten? Naturally poisoned?
Prob’ly not
But they’ll still give you indigestion
Either from the candidate or from surrogates with issues
They are the masjid marauders

We’re not monkeys with tin cups that sing and dance for alien agendas
We deconstruct
Then we self-construct
With a contextualized prophetic state of mind
See they barrel like boulders
Through young gardens they trample
With bad breadth
And I don’t mean the odor

They are the masjid marauders

Can I Breathe?

by Brother Dash

This air I must reach
‘Cause I’m chokin’ on the phlegm
of the him and the her and the you and the them

Can I Breathe?

I best not speak
And I better not seek
And if I got cuts then I best not leak

But can I breathe?

I mean I Gotta, I Wanna
This world’s like a sauna
And I Can’t smell the fauna
My Nostrils are stuck!
With communal mucous
But don’t confuse this

Can I… Breathe?

Before my death?
I’m on a cliff
It won’t be suicide
They’ll call it murder
Please take my hand
Oh Wait!
Purdahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Can I breathe?

So much constriction
Friction, Inhibition
“Better watch your diction”
Culture shock
See he’s the hard place
And you’re the rock
If “Identity”
Means get rid of me
To become the we
Or become the you
I Become defined
I Become confined
Become defined
Become confined

Can I Breathe?

Don’t talk, Don’t think
Don’t float, Don’t sink
Don’t look, Don’t wink
Don’t hyperlink

Can I Breathe?

Don’t ask, Don’t tell
Got pain, Can’t yell
Don’t smile, Don’t frown
Don’t laugh, Don’t clown
There’s just one way
No workarounds

Can I Breathe?

Your style is truth
And I’m so uncouth
And these eyes must see your tapestry
And my soul must act accordingly

Breathe!

My lungs must fill
With the breadth of self will
My soul felt whole now it’s all broke up
Should I make you breathe me til you’re all choked up
I wanna breathe in a world not just in a nation
Escape from the weight of cultural suffocation
Feel the elation of spiritual liberation
Sing me a song of her creation?
And I don’t need your validation!

Breathe? Can I…Can I…

Breathe…Can I… Can I…

[huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh]
Breathe!

Poet Becomes First Muslim Recording Artist to Release an Album That Blooms Into Flowers

Somerset, NJ- Poet Brother Dash has become the first Muslim recording artist specializing in Spoken Word Poetry to release an album that can be planted in soil and bloom into wildflowers.  The album, Spoken Soul, launched September 23^rd2009 in three formats.  One such format is as a “seeded” paper card.  This card, which is about the size of a business card, includes a unique code that takes the user to a website to download the album.  In a unique twist the card itself is embedded with wildflower seeds which when planted in soil blooms into wildflowers.  When asked about the idea Brother Dash responded “For my new album I definitely wanted to have more than one format.  I’m also a bit of a closet tree hugger and so I was never thrilled about plastic CDs in bulky jewel cases anyway.  When I researched formats for my new album I discovered Dropcards.com which had these cool “seeded” paper cards. I was like whooooooooa…I’m goin’ green…FOR REAL!!!”

In addition to the novel idea of a seeded card the new album Spoken Soul is also available as a standard CD (in 100% recycled cardboard), and via electronic download on iTunes, Amazonmp3 and others.  Spoken Soul features eight original spoken word poems written and performed by Brother Dash.  Seven of the eight tracks on the album are acapella. The final track which is also the title track contains Brother Dash’s spoken word performed over a smooth jazz background.

Spoken Soul is the follow up to Brother Dash’s well received debut album Poetically Speaking and differs greatly from that album. Dash’s maturity as a poet is evident in what is a markedly more personally vulnerable album.  Spoken Soul’s lyrical content is much more personal with topics dealing with the “self”, interpersonal relationships and affirmation.  While Brother Dash never hides his Islamic faith his poetry is quite atypical of overt religious fare.  “I never liked preachy people so I don’t push my faith on others through my art. I always gravitated towards that which was truthful and genuine so hopefully the album resonates with people on the level of honest, soulful, spiritually infused grit” remarks Brother Dash.  Poems on the album range in topics from self-determination and expression as on the tracks  “Can I Breathe?” and “Scream” to issues of racial and cultural bias amongst Muslims in the poem “Masjid Marauders”.  He also includes an ode to Women in the poem “The Most Beautifullest”.

All three formats have purchase links on www.brotherdash.com.  CD fulfillment is handled by the number one independent CD distributor in the world www.cdbaby.com and the electronic downloads can be purchased via iTunes and Amazonmp3.com. The seeded “flower” card is shipped by www.brotherdash.com.

Brother Dash is a Spoken Word poet.  He has been the subject of a BBC radio documentary on Muslim poets, has been broadcasted in over 2 million television households and heard by over 4 million radio listeners on four continents, and seen by over 100,000 people in live performances.  He has 2 full albums, an EP, and has contributed to 3 albums by other artists.

Contact:
Brother Dash
brotherdash@gmail.com
www.brotherdash.com

Part 2 With Shaykh Abdallah Adhami

Shaykh Abdallah Adhami continues our discussion on Islam, Culture and Society. In this episode Shaykh Abdallah starts with an explanation of the word poet in Arabic which is Sha’ir. He breaks down the roots that make up the word which according to the Shaykh would mean that the poet emits feeling and light in order to negate fear and terror. He continues with some discussion on the Arts and Islam and what an artist can do.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Marriage Attitudes

An oft quoted saying from the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, is “Marriage is half of the religion”. One of the main points that Muslims take from the hadith that mentions this is how important marriage is for a person of faith. It is one of the most important decisions you will ever make in your life so marriage being ‘half of one’s religion’ is not hyperbole at all. Another hadith that is not quoted as often relates to who one should marry. The Prophet Muhammad was asked this question and he responded by saying that marrying someone for their piety is best (he mentioned that you can marry for other reasons as well but that piety was best). But in a complex world filled with many divisions on race, class, gender, ethnicity, language and culture the reality often times is in contradiction with the ideal. Moreover we must consider how we are socialized as far as ideas and images we have regarding marriage. While there are have been many lectures and several books on marriage in Islam it is rare to have frank and open discussions on how race and culture affect our decisions on who to marry. While certain ahadith are quoted, such as the ones above, what happens when it comes to a real decision? What do Muslims really think? I recently conducted two polls on my website, www.brotherdash.com, on marriage. The results are quite interesting.

The first poll conducted in the Spring of 2008 asked respondents if they would marry someone of another race or ethnicity. The responses are below:

Yes, Absolutely 50%
Probably Yes 21.2%
Yes, but not over my parent’s objections 16.9%
Perhaps 6.8% (removed this option in 2nd poll)
Probably not 3.4%
No way absolutely no 1.7%

The second poll conducted in the Summer of 2008 asked a more specific question and of females only. Would you marry an African-American or Afro-Carribean brother? The results are below:

Yes, Absolutely 52.5%
Probably Yes 9.3%
Yes, but not against my parent’s wishes 16.1%
Probably Not 12.7%
No, Absolutely Not 9.3%

There were exactly 118 Respondents for each poll.

Anecdotally speaking many in the African-American community have suspected that the issue of “Blackness” is much more significant in marriage than we may pay lip service to. Many African-American Men have often complained amongst each other that Arab and South Asian Muslims would object to their daughters marrying them based on nothing but race not on Islamic knowledge nor perceived spirituality.

While no scientific studies have ever been conducted to confirm or reject this perception the data from the polls lends credence to these prevailing attitudes. What do the polls say when we compare them side by side? While we notice that there is some displeasure amongst a minority of Muslims regarding marriage outside of one’s culture or race it is much more noticeable when the race is specified to African-Americans and Afro-Caribbeans. Conversely however in both polls those who appear to have no concern over marrying outside of perceived race and culture are consistent whether the person is African-American or not. 53% would marry outside of their race/culture when race is unspecified and 50% would do so when African-American is specified. This is fairly close. You also notice this consistency when the respondent states that they would marry outside of their race as long as it was not against parental desire. But there is a glaring difference amongst the “probably nots”, and “absolutely nots.” The difference is huge. Only 5% of respondents said that they would probably not or absolutely not marry someone outside of their race in the 1st poll where race is UNSPECIFIED. But 22% said that they would probably not or absolutely not when the race is specified to marrying an African-American. What the data suggests is that when it comes to marrying a Black man there is not much middle ground and there is much more polarization around the issue. You are either very much for it or very much against it when it comes to “Blackness”.

There is some insight into the respondent’s feelings however. Some of the “no” respondents did send private emails and two of them were actually Women of African and Afro-Caribbean descent themselves. One of the Women discussed how she had a bad marriage with an African-American brother and thus would not marry another. The other respondent said that she was basing her “no” decision on what she has seen in her own personal experience in the community.

I believe that the community would find it to be interesting to have a more comprehensive forum surrounding relationships and gender attitudes amongst Muslims. On the more “pro” side many Women responded that what was most important to them was the brother’s faith, personality, drive or ambition. These are characteristics that are fairly universal desirable qualities in a mate. With such a difference between “no” responses where 5% said “no” with race unspecified (thus leaving the person to pick any race/ethnicity in their mind) and 22% said “no” when forced to pick African-American it begs to ask the question as to why this is not being discussed more in the Muslim community.

Brother Dash