With his high school friends Q-Tip, Phife Dawg and Jarobi White, Brooklyn DJ and producer Ali Shaheed Muhammad launched the genre-defining ’90s hip-hop group A Tribe Called Quest. Over five classic albums their innovative approach — sampling rare jazz and funk, clever rhymes, sharp bohemian flows and warm, full-bodied basslines — became pivotal to beatmakers and rap crews worldwide. Besides his output with ATCQ, Muhammad has worked as a producer and remixer; formed part of production unit the Ummah alongside Q-Tip and the late Jay Dee; and scored big hits for Busta Rhymes, Towa Tei and Janet Jackson, to name a few. After both ATCQ and the Ummah disbanded, he founded R&B supergroup Lucy Pearl with Raphael Saadiq and Dawn Robinson, and produced music for Angie Stone and Mos Def. His 2004 debut album, _Shaheedullah and Stereotypes_, saw him take to the mic for the first time, spurred on by his experience of being a Muslim in America post-9/11.
