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Controversy Surrounds Muslim Rapper's Debut Single
NEW YORK, July 13 (IslamOnline) - The debut single from Muslim rapper Sakinah Nabi has drawn criticism from a number of music distributors because of the single's cover art.
According to Phil Rust, CEO of Marcion Records, Nabi's label, several distributors, including ones from Canada and France, first expressed concern over the artwork, and then refused to distribute the CD.
In question is a picture of Nabi, standing in the foreground with The Dome of Rock behind her to her left, and a young Palestinian boy hurling a rock at an Israeli tank behind her to her right.
While Rust could neither confirm nor deny that any pressure was brought to bear upon the distributors, he did attribute the reaction to prevailing, popular sentiment in the West concerning the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
"The fact that [the cover art] is being taken as offensive shows that there is considerable bad conscience on the side of the Jewish community," said Rust, speaking to IslamOnline.
"I mean, I think it speaks for itself. It speaks to the insecurity of the Jewish community about what they're doing [in Palestine]."
Interestingly, the single, entitled "Project to Pyramids", is not directly Islamically themed, nor does it make any direct reference to Israel or Palestine. However, according to Rust, Nabi's music in general is integrally linked to her faith as a Muslim.
"Being what she is, a black woman from the depths of the ghetto," said Rust, "her faith is definitely a very important aspect of her life-force and it's being reflected in her consciousness and her lyrics."
Nabi, who lives in the impoverished South Jamaica Queens neighborhood of New York, was not available for comment.
Her debut album is in the works but will not be completed until 2002 at the earliest.
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