CONCERT: Hip-Hop for Palestine!
Saturday, Feb 2 ·   8:00 pm ·   Great Hall
When MC's have something to say, it is powerful. Hip-Hop and spoken word artists from all corners -- from Philly to Detroit, from Baltimore to Oakland -- are coming through to perform for the Triangle community. As progressive artists, they bring lyricism and story-telling to Palestinian solidarity. See these traveled MC's rhyme about Palestine and connect it to other places and cases. This free show will be hosted by the Iron Sheik and includes performances by Excentrik, Jacob the Poet, S.O.N. and local emcees AdoubleB and L.E.Q. -- with DJ Elite spinning tracks. Check them out!

Iron Sheik
http://www.ironsheik.biz
Don't miss the Iron Sheik as he hosts Hip-Hop for Palestine at UNC! One of the early founders of activist Arab-American hip-hop, the Sheik relays informed views on the Palestinian movement for independence, the war on terrorism, US foreign policy in general, the Arab world, and growing up Arab-American. Since releasing his first album, Camel Clutch 2003,' he has toured nationally, and performed internationally. Musically, the Sheik often draws on Arabic music, such as the legendary Um Kulthoum, Fairuz, Marcel Khalife, Abdel-Halim, and more. Intellectually, he draws inspiration from thinkers such as Edward Said, Ilan Pappe, Walid Khalidi, Hannah Arendt, and many others. He was a featured performer at the national American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Convention in 2003, the Palestinian-American Women's Association banquet in March, 2004, and at Awal Rabie (first Spring) put on by Al-Mawred Al-Thaqafy in Cairo, Egypt. Among other places, the Sheik has performed at Native American reservations, inner city schools, and community centers. Media as diverse as the Berkeley-based radio station KPFA, Egypt's Nile TV, the web-zine Muslim WakeUp, Wayne State University's South End Press, and the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Jerusalem Report, and the New York Times have covered the Sheik's work.

Excentrik
http://www.myspace.com/excentrik
Excentrik (Tarik Kazaleh) is a Palestinian-American producer, composer and MC from San Francisco, CA. Hailing from a musical family, Excentrik began playing Guitar and Arabic Tabla in 1992 under the supervision of Chuck Holden, a well respected Blues theorist. He began producing Hip Hop beats in 1996 and went on to perform with some of the dopest MC's in the Bay Area and Detroit. Furthering his passion for music, Excentrik went on to study Oud and Arabic Maqam (Modes which are the basis for Oud improvisation) and eventually studied music theory and free improvisation with Josh Allen (from the Berkeley Jazz School). This lead to the forming of The 3 Mohammads, a Free Jazz trio with Timothy Orr (of the Dave Brubek Institute and Monterrey Jazz Festival) on Drums and Percussion, Josh Allen on Tenor Saxophone and Excentrik on Oud, Tabla and Electric Guitar.

In 2003 Excentrik toured the U.S. with Iron Sheik and produced many of the tracks on his album, "Yet We Remain." It was during that tour that Excentrik met the great composer Halim al-Debh, who's works with Leonard Bernstein and Martha Graham are seen as some of the most important contributions to the musical avant garde, and who's early electronic music (circa 1950's) had a huge influence on Excentrik. In 2006 Excentrik moved to Los Angeles where he linked up with Omar Offendum (The Nomads) and Ragtop (The Philistines). He produced their single, "Hala," and the collective captivated audiences in Amman, Jordan alongside the Narcycist (Euphrates) and Fred Wreck. Excentrik's current collaborative project, Arab Summit, recently performed at the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee's National Convention.

Jacob the Poet
http://www.myspace.com/jacobthepoet
I started my LYRICAL JOURNEY as a high school sophomore who liked to FREESTYLE with friends and occasionally battle. Also while still in high school I was a member of the Philadelphia Student Union, a student ACTIVIST group in Philadelphia that works to improve PHILADELPHIA's public schools. While in the student union I flourished as a public speaker, energizing crowds at RALLIES and bringing attendees at school board meetings to tears. My other passion in high school was peer EDUCATION. I worked with a peer education group in putting on educational plays and workshops for students about living healthy lives. During the summer of 2004 it struck me that I could combine my rhyme SKILLS from freestyling, my POLITICAL beliefs that came out in my speech writing, my stage presence which I learned from THEATER and my personal experiences from my life, into poetry. I have been MADLY IN LOVE with poetry ever since. An activist at heart most of my poetry is meant to be a piece of the process of creating social change. I especially believe that young people are the key to CREATING social change and must be the LEADERS in doing so. I work under the guise that POETRY can be used as a great tool to educate and ORGANIZE people while entertaining them. I am a young poet who is growing every time I write a poem down and every time I put it on stage. I am a lot goofier than my poetry (or this bio) will ever be so dont be scurred to holla at a POET when you see him in the streets. ;-) !

S.O.N.
http://www.sonofnun.net
Political hip hop artist, former Baltimore City high school teacher, activist, cancer survivor, sickle cell battler, and recipient of praise by Public Enemy’s Chuck D as “[Leaving] a mean look on somebody’s face” for being “More than relevant!,” S.O.N. doesn’t just entertain his crowds he empowers them. He’s shared the stage with artists like Dead Prez, Immortal Technique, and Tom Morello from Rage Against the Machine as well as activists like Howard Zinn, Cindy Sheehan, Rosa Clemente, and Liam Madden from Iraq Veterans Against the War. Music from his 2004 debut cd “Blood And Fire” has earned him spots on compilations with iconic artists ranging from The Last Poets to Sonic Youth, won him a “Best of Baltimore” award from the Baltimore City Paper, and took “Best Song of the Week” on NPR’s website. S.O.N.’s forthcoming cd, “The Art of Struggle,” is a collaboration with producer DJ Mentos and will be released in early 2008.

D.J. Elite
http://www.dj-elite.com
Nick Pardo, also known as DJ Elite, was born and raised in New York City. After dabbling in DJing during high school, he moved to North Carolina to attend Duke University and rediscovered his passion for mixing music. He can now be found bringing that New York flair into the hottest clubs all over the triangle, spinning the hottest hip-hop, reggaeton, dancehall, and latin beats every weekend.

AdoubleB
In 2005, one ambitious MC, AdoubleB (Abbas Rattani) set out to combine hip-hop, rap, R&B, and nasheed into a new genre of music designed especially for the Muslim youth. After teaming up with SIdoubleD (Adnan Siddiqui), a well versed Qur'anic reciter, the perfect combination of these two talented artists began to be collectively known as the Mujathid Brothers. The Mujtahid Brothers along with their newest brother, JMill, are currently working on their debut album entitled "ijtihad" or scholarship, with one of the best local producers, DJ Knock Knock Who's There?. This album that fuses the truth, justice, and peace of Islam with raw, heavy, and direct styling of hip-hop, is expected to release in May 2009. Alhamdulillah.

L.E.Q.
Lyrically Equipped, also known as L.E.Q., debuted on the underground North Carolina hip-hop circuit in 2006. Pulling from the best of three very distinct areas across the globe. Brooklyn, New York, Lagos, Nigeria, and the nation's capital Washington, D.C. L.E.Q. formed in UNCP university with the intent to return the lyrical edge back to rap music. Fresh out of the studio after completion of their second full length album entitled Hip-Hop Anonymous, lyricists J.E.Free and Po, along with producer K Swiss are here to show ALL that hip-hop is a genre of beauty, substance, and intelligence. Truth & Justice for Hip-Hop!