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Bismillah Ar-Rahman Ar-Rahim.2 This is the phrase Rap artist Mos Def whispers to open his solo album "Black on Both Sides." His invocation of this Qur'anic verse follows an Islamic tradition that encourages Muslims to recite this phrase in order to purify their intentions and actions. While some may hold notions of 'Islam' and 'hip hop' that position the two phenomena as polar opposites, Mos Def's recitation is not an anomaly in hip hop music and culture, but rather an example of a rapper drawing on an Islamic tradition in the reciprocal relationship between American Muslims and hip hop. In this article I examine one side of this relationship: the growing number of American Muslims who look to hip hop as a source for situating personal and community identity.
American Islamic hip hop artists see their work as serving two particular ends: to preserve the Islamic identity of Muslim youth and to educate nonMuslims about Islam and Muslims. Through an examination of these ends, I will show that American Islamic hip hop is embedded in the larger project of developing an authentic American Muslim culture.3 This ongoing project is comprised of organized and informal discourse and practices through which American Muslims negotiate between competing definitions of American Muslim identity and culture. Thus, American Islamic hip hop artists promote discourse and representations of whom they believe Muslims are, as well as who they should and can be.
My conclusions regarding American Islamic hip hop are based on a series of qualitative interviews with nine American Muslims: five rap artists, an Islamic hip hop promoter, a video and nlmmaker, a music producer and an imam (religious leader). One of these conclusions involved a change in terminology, from referring to the type of hip hop addressed in this article as American Muslim hip hop to American Islamic hip hop. I use the term Islamic rather than Muslim to distinguish a genre of hip hop music and culture created by American Muslims that seeks to comply with Islamic religious standards and practices and whose current and primary audience is Muslims. For example, Islamic hip hop may restrict the types of musical instruments used, generally does not employ expletives and frequently refers to issues of doctrinal import. By foregrounding religious...