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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Crown Heights came to North Hollywood so we could talk about crossed signals on the highways between artist and industry.
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The new father spoke about his inspirations, including the memoirs of Rick James and George Clinton, his business acumen, what the war in the streets is really about and, of course, Gucci.
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The Virginia Beach denizen spoke about the reverse troll he laid on Def Jam, what it's like to go back and forth with Puffy, the fallacies of textbooks and the perils of ignoring the youth.
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"I'm telling the fans what I'm trying to tell myself because nobody was telling me at the time," says the rapper, who hails from Maryland.
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"It's liberating to realize you have the freedom to make mistakes. You have the time," says the Pittsburgh rapper, who lifted himself out of a dark period. "Because you're so small."
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Masta Ace had his first drink at a Cold Chillin' Christmas party. He began his career surrounded by the greats, and he continues to push himself to operate on a higher level.
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"In Flushing, Queens, where I came from, we're right down the block from this fair, the Globe. Something about that town, it's just Olympic, Olympiad kind of a — we wanted to jump the highest."
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One of the foremost architects of New York rap has been decorating this planet since the late '80s.
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The Long Beach, Calif., rapper made his debut album, Summertime '06, so that people who hear it will know how he felt then. "That's when we understood the power we had in fear," he says.
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The musician and NPR host on his motives, his rituals, Lucy Pearl and his one regret.