"Islam Made Me Hip-Hop Star"
By IslamOnline on Everything Else from www.islamonline.net
"There have been a lot of life-changing moments," Brother Ali told IslamOnline.net in an exclusive story.
"Some of the big ones were becoming involved with Islam and being involved with music."
He was born Jason Newman, with the rare genetic condition of Albinism, which is also accompanied by visual difficulties.
His childhood was marked by cruelty and exclusion by his white classmates.
"I was kind of an outcast as a kid," he recalls, adding he felt most at home amongst African Americans.
"When I come across white people and hear all the racism and the white supremacy, it makes me really confused and angry and upset."
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The Role of Music in Today's World
But Ali, 33, says that Islam, which he embraced at the age of 15, helped him go through his difficult times, from parting ways with his wife of 10 years, to becoming homeless and trying to secure custody of his son.
"Islam helped me with a lot of those things. It helped me understand myself and the world better."
