“All praises due…” Announcing #Streets2016 Headliner
“’All praises due to Allah and that’s a blessing.’ This line from the legendary Eric B & Rakim track “Move the Crowd” stands out like a glimmering minaret in the annals of Hip-Hop.
I remember asking, who is this Allah to whom Rakim gives the entire credit for his excellence, and how do I get some of this in my life? He stood in the video in front of a crowd donning a kufi, seemingly teaching them how to unlock their inner Rakim. I’ve been trying to do so ever since.
As the competitive spirit of Hip-Hop evolved into the dance, art and innovative DJing of Rap, Rakim–a small-framed, monotone-voiced teenager with the most intricate, intelligent and smooth rhymes ever heard–became the undisputed poet laureate of Hip-Hop’s golden era. Rakim’s cool emanated from a spirituality that was at his very core. As a kid, back then, struggling to find my voice and honor my story, Rakim emboldened me to be a person of integrity.
So it’s a profound honor for me to announce that Rakim will headline IMAN’s 2016 Takin’ It to the Streets Festival & Summit. This is even more powerful in a year when activists and artists from across the country will converge on Chicago’s Marquette Park on Saturday, August 6 to commemorate Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Chicago Freedom Movement’s historic march into that same park exactly 50 years earlier.
You don’t want to miss this event. See you in the front row.”
Peace and Love,
Brother Ali