From left, Naeem Muhammad, Joshua Salaam and Abdul-Malik Ahmad form the Islamic hip-hop group Native Deen - Image Credit - Philip Scott Andrews/New York Times.
The New York Times recently ran an article on the band Native Deen, which took a State Department sponsored tour of several countries and recently released their latest album. When they were first asked to participate in the first tour they had qualms:
“We had a debate in the community,” said Abdul-Malik Ahmad, one of the three members of Native Deen. “ ‘Should we do it?’ ‘Should we not do it?’ Some people were saying, ‘Y’all are going to be puppets, going over there saying: ‘Everything’s O.K. We’re bombing your country, but we have Muslims, too!’ ”
They decided to accept the offer and go on a concert tour of Mali, Senegal and Nigeria – and later to Egypt, Tanzania, Jordan and the Palestinian territories. But the article also notes how their work as cultural diplomats entails what they do in US as much as it does tours overseas: