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 " " 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 podcast with Frannie Kelley.
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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. -
"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." -
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.
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We spoke to the rapper, producer and head of Awful Records, while we were in Atlanta in May. Our onstage conversation was brief but covered a lot of ground fast.
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Once he was an aspiring rapper, now he represents Ali, Earl Sweatshirt, Vince Staples and the estate of Biggie Smalls. He's also worked with Michael Jackson, Prince and Stevie Wonder.
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When we sat down with Iamsu, the Bay Area rapper had just as many questions for Ali Shaheed Muhammad as we had for him.
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The Texas rapper's experiences as, at once, a member of an all-girl posse, the only woman in the room and a person strangers underestimate are fundamental to her formidable style.
