We have something special for you all today! We have an in-depth interview between two future pillars of the hip-hop industry, on the verge of making a difference in the world, and they have quite a bit in common, to say the least!
This interview was conducted by, George Fakes, who goes by the stage name Jirias. Jirias is a Palestinian-American rapper & writer based out of New Jersey who weaves in references of his Palestinian heritage into his music. Jirias is also a long-time blogger who is well connected with various multimedia platforms and independent blogs.
mUsa is a Pakistani-American artist, also based out of New Jersey, who brings musical innovation and political engagement to the table. As a first-generation immigrant, mUsa brings a unique perspective in today’s casually racist world. Incorporating revolutionary thought into his music as well as his writings, mUsa brings an entirely unique perspective to today’s world.
Below you will find several selections of transcripts from the original audio interview. You can find a link to mUsa’s work at the bottom of this piece.
Jirias: I’ve seen some of your articles, tell us a little about that. You do political stuff in music, but you manage to keep it separate as well in your writing, can you go into that?
mUsa: I started a website entitled 7th international. I created the platform to proliferate revolutionary thought and action by covering selected political & historical topics. This platform is the farthest thing from CNN or FOX. I also keep this platform separate from my music. I’m not really trying to put myself and my name out there through the website.
Jirias: What type of sources do you look for in arguments? What do you look for?
mUsa: I read a lot of books, meaning a lot of first hand & second-hand sources. Theoretical, historical and political works; never fiction. I like reading my news from the global south, as they are viciously slandered by western imperialists. I can see the inherent bias in most western news sources, which I still keep up to date with despite the obvious lack of accuracy. I don’t like Al Jazeera because it is run by the Qatari government, who supports US imperialism in Syria. How could I read about Syrian news from an outlet that seeks to imperialize said country?
Jirias: Does this type of knowledge, when you have a factually based opinion on a country, does it distort all the news you hear from that source?
mUsa: You are just falling for propaganda by adhering to western imperialist sources. The public should know that almost all news sources in America are owned by the same company and most are owned by the same man; Rupert Murdoch. Fight against propaganda.
Jirias: We have previously been talking about Radical Islam, how it affects society and how people who live as Muslim Americans. What are your thoughts?
mUsa: Radical islam isn’t a real thing, it is a made up term by the west. If you want to talk about Islam you need to take a look at the history. There was no such thing as islamic extremism, in the modern sense, until the last 200 years. That was a manifestation of imperialism and specifically western-backed ideology of wahhabism. If you go 1000 years back the moors in Africa, you will find a muslim woman actually created the first university known to the world. People in universities now use that platform to slander Muslims without even knowing the first universities were started by Muslims. It is a direct manifestation of western imperialism. All that knowledge has been taken away from us, they don’t want people to know that history because their system is built upon ignorance.
Jiras: There are generations of people and cultures that people ignore. People don’t realize we live in the tiniest percentage of human history.
mUsa: History repeats itself, you can’t visualize a cycle without a complete understanding of history. You can’t move forward without breaking the cycle.
Jirias: What do you think about the idea of history repeating itself?
mUsa: I believe it. As someone who studies history, patterns can be identified and accurately analyzed. You can’t really deny it.
Jirias: Do you think there is room for forgiveness?
mUsa: No. When it comes to Trump, Obama, etc. I don’t think there is room for anything but the complete destruction of those ideas and the people behind them. Those who have destroyed & raped the global south will have to atone for their complicity in genocide, imperialism and colonization. If people realize their errors and fight for revolution only then can they be forgiven through action. Going forward we must eradicate liberalism because it is not conducive to progress. The ideology of Gandhi is actually the exact opposite of revolutionary, there is no room in my heart for forgiveness for those who are responsible for sustaining hundreds of millions of deaths.
Jirias: It’s not really beneficial to always forgive people, like Kanye tweeted picture of the surgeon who essentially killed his mom, like you don’t need to love that guy.
mUsa: I don’t hate anyone. Love comes in different forms, that’s what many don’t realize. Revolutionary violence is actually an act of love, it is a manifestation of love for their people. Love isn’t just what you think it is, they want love to be a conformist idea that doesn’t threaten the system. For them, Love is only something that doesn’t threaten their existence. In reality, Love is the greatest revolutionary force this world has ever seen. A true revolutionary acts upon Love and Love only.
Jirias: Touching on the topic of radicalism again, what distinguishes a radical Islamist thinker from a violent westernized idea of an Islamist terrorist?
mUsa: I would consider myself a Radical Muslim thinker. What I mean by radical is that I want to change society in a revolutionary way, not by working within an oppressive system. We need radical change, we need to make change right now. We can’t wait hundreds of years before we start to give rights to the poor, the minorities and women. We can’t wait hundreds of years before we start to ease our impact on the environment; we literally don’t have that much time before the earth will be unsustainable for the global population. Everything is falling apart, we can’t just wait for things to happen. Radicals believe in destroying and freeing people from oppression while liberals believe in letting everything happen because they are too comfortable benefitting from an oppressive system.
Jirias: Where do you see your music and political aspirations coming together?
mUsa: I believe a political revolution can’t happen without a cultural revolution. The people need to be behind any revolution otherwise it will just be more of the same elitism. I personally believe that, due to systematic infiltration, Hip Hop has become another corporate tool of oppression. I’m not trying to sound like an old head. My music is never boom bap or reliant upon older hip hop aesthetics. All my music is forward thinking; both sonically and thematically. We need to change culture before the system. That is what I am currently doing with my music, my art and my writings. I’m not the only one, there will be others as well. But personally that’s what I’m striving for.
Jirias: You seem to be big on freestyling. You bring a different energy to the mic, do you wanna talk about that? In terms of the rappers I’ve worked with, there is a difference in your energy.
mUsa: Personally what drives me is expression, I couldn’t express myself growing up because I was a first generation immigrant. I felt the need to be heard, even if it’s just some on some light shit. I Express my emotions as raw as possible, without censoring cause fuck it. What I say is my expression. I paint too, I’m not very particular, my main form of expression is just raw. Going with the flow. Wherever the energy takes me I go.
Jirias: A lot of people are looking at places like Fox News, but they have no sources to look up. What do you think of sources?
mUsa: Too many people don’t use sources and people just eat it up just because it’s CNN. People think they have an illusion of free choice with all the different news channels. No, they are just different shades of bullshit. That’s what I call them, different shades of bullshit. It’s propaganda. Most of these news channels don’t even have proper sources and regularly are found to be 100% inaccurate.
Jirias: Alright thank you, any other topics you want to talk about?
mUsa: I’m about to drop hella music. I got this song I just dropped called “Please Shut The Fuck Up.” It’s fire. I talk about Syria, I already knew shit was happening before Trump so the timing of the release is extremely important as the bombings happened after I recorded the song. But you can still bump that shit in the whip with the windows down this summer. You aren’t gonna bump it like “oh shit, this is political shit.” A lot of people who don’t agree with my views will still bump my music and might not even recognize I have political messages, which is why I made the site.
You can follow Musa at:
https://soundcloud.com/king-mansa-musa
https://www.instagram.com/king_mansa_musa/
https://www.youtube.com/user/MystMusa
You can follow Jirias at:
