The Travelers Podcast with Brother Ali · Travelers Media

Remembering Harlem’s Imam, Talib Abdur-Rashid

·46 min·3 clips

Imam Talib told Brother Ali, "hip-hop is not inter-chainment. Hip-hop is war."

1. The Travelers Podcast with Brother Ali remembers Imam Talib Abdul Rashid, the imam of Harlem, after his death. 2. Brother Ali speaks as host and longtime friend, and Imam Talib matters because he led Mosque of Islamic Brotherhood for 30 years. 3. The episode asks what Harlem's Imam left behind in Black Muslim history, hip-hop culture, and Brother Ali's own life. 4. Brother Ali links Imam Talib to the song "Good Lord," which was commissioned by Mo Amer, Preacher Moss, and Azhar Usman. 5. He says the song was filmed at the Audubon Ballroom, now the Malcolm and Dr. Betty Shabazz Cultural Center, during a gathering organized by IMAN. 6. Brother Ali names people present there, including BK1, Popmaster Fable, Tila Rock, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Dr. Umar Faruq Abd-Allah, Rami Nashashibi, Dr. Suad Abdul-Khabir, and Dr. Rasul Miller. 7. He says Imam Talib spoke at the beginning of that video about what it means to be an artist as a Muslim. 8. Brother Ali traces Imam Talib's teacher, Sheikh Alama Tawfiq, from South Carolina to Harlem and through Malcolm X's Muslim Mosque Incorporated. 9. He says Sheikh Tawfiq studied at Al-Azhar University, learned languages like Swahili, Arabic, French, and German, and memorized and recited the Qur'an. 10. Brother Ali says Sheikh Tawfiq was the first American-born person to record a recitation of the Qur'an, including Surah Yasin and Surah Al-Yusuf. 11. Brother Ali describes Imam Talib giving out a CD of Sheikh Tawfiq's Qur'an recitation to anyone who came through the mosque. 12. He says Sheikh Tawfiq later taught Malcolm X's daughters, including Ilyasah Shabazz, after Malcolm's assassination. 13. Brother Ali connects Harlem, the Nation of Islam, Sunni Islam, the 5% Nation, and the Moorish Science Temple to the foundations of hip-hop. 14. He says Afrika Bambaataa defined hip-hop through graffiti, DJs, dancers, and MCs, with knowledge of self as a fifth element. 15. Brother Ali also mentions allegations of sexual abuse around Afrika Bambaataa and says he believed the people who came forward. 16. He recalls Imam Talib giving special classes for hip-hop kids like Crazy Legs and Popmaster Fable and telling him, "hip-hop is not inter-chainment. Hip-hop is war." 17. The episode sounds like a remembrance, a history lecture, and a set of personal stories delivered in Brother Ali's conversational style. 18. The tone is mournful, direct, and intimate, with long digressions into Black history, Muslim history, and Harlem memory. 19. People interested in Black Muslim history, hip-hop, and Imam Talib Abdul Rashid will get the most from this episode. 20. Listeners wanting a short, tightly edited interview without long historical reflection may skip it.

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