Hasan Salaam = Encore Status

Jersey native Hasan Salaam is the answer, if you've been questioning what conscious without corny sounds like. Hasan Salaam is as gritty as any hood rapper, with a poetic cadence and an unmistakable flow, that's as far from the soft and cushy spoken-word that plagues other purposed emcees. He's refreshing; definitely hip hop and not hip pop. He has clearly sacrificed fame for purpose, because unlike so many conscious rappers, mainstream is not out of the question for Hasan. His look doesn't typecast him either way and his sound is hood credible.

He is a rapper that is not misogynistic, materialistic or indulgent and a man who is not afraid to reveal his love for the woman he describes as the "Earth by his side" in Suga. Lyrically, he's reflective. On the track 15 Minutes he admits that music does have an affect on the youth and tells them that the fantasy portrayed in songs are not a reality. He spits "kids no longer separate life from entertainment and with all the gangsta sh*t no one explains an affidavit/You're ghostwriters ain't coming out to you're arraignment emulating your favorite rapper is a painstaking engagement." But don't be prepared for a musical lecture; Hasan is not some beat box-soap box preacher. The must-hear, Prayer of a Sinner delivers a gritty but heartfelt ode that's both revealing and profound; "First was the word/and if life is a test, hope we graded on a curve/'cuz we weak in the flesh…"

Is he unparalleled or unabridged? Uncertain. But what Salaam does possess is the ability to invoke the totality of a history of a people that he deeply cares about. He quotes Jackie Robinson ("a life is unimportant except in the impact it has on other lives"). He seems to really believe this and he acts on it, by volunteering with inner city youth. He credits reading the Autobiography of Malcolm X for his young conversion to Islam. Yea, he's conscious, on that I'm-well-read-I-know-my-history deal. So what if he falls short on the "it's the message not the messenger thing." (Read: it's always the messenger). Hasan Salaam escapes the shadow of the coterie of many non-mainstream rappers by avoiding the shuck and jive club banger, the obligatory I-get-money track, and not selling out to make a vain attempt at fame and selling out venues. And for that, he just might restore some context to the game and remind mainstream of its core.

-Makila M.