The Deen Show – Famous RAPPER Reacts to Diddy IN JAIL Thinks he did Tupacs Death – Frenkies Journey to ISLAM
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The transcript discusses the negative impact of racism and racism on people's lives, including the negative impact of past experiences on one's future. It also touches on the importance of being a Muslim to avoid confusion and avoid negative consequences. The speaker emphasizes the benefits of Islam, including its importance in avoiding confusion and avoiding negative consequences.
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Just become Muslim.
They gonna hold you down.
Become a Muslim.
Do it.
Study it.
Now it's time for you to cross the
line to Allah.
Straight up.
Y'all niggas laughing.
I'm dead serious.
Become Muslim, bro.
Now, we got him actually reading the Quran.
Did he?
Yeah.
Sean Diddy Combs?
Sean Diddy Combs is facing dozens of new
allegations of sexual assault and a series of
lawsuits set to be filed.
Just got, I don't know, they have a
certain name for it.
Neighbors, police.
Brothers and sisters, we've all had love.
But one of the mercies of our deen
is that with the right intention, we can
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Inshallah.
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May God Almighty reward all of you.
This is the Deen, the Deen Show.
This is the Deen, this is the Deen
Show.
This is the Deen Show, this is the
Deen Show.
Assalamu alaikum.
Assalamu alaikum, Eddie.
Adnan, Frankie.
Welcome to Bosnia.
Thank you, thank you.
Yes, thank you for having me in your
show.
I must say I'm a, I can say
I'm a fan.
I learned a lot watching you and your
guests, and it's an honor to be part
of it.
It's very nice to have you on the
program.
It's very interesting talking to you and learning
more about you.
It kind of has me thinking about my
past and my transition, some of the things
that you're going through, some of the things
that, because you're a pretty well-known rapper
here in Bosnia.
And you started to, before COVID or during
COVID, you started to ask the crucial questions.
What's the purpose of life?
You started to explore.
Tell us how you got to that position.
Exactly.
Well, before COVID, I had some medical problems.
I have, I got the same problem that
my father and my mother had, and that's
high blood pressure.
And if you work a lot, if you
experience stress a lot, that can be dangerous
at some time.
And I ended up in a hospital, and
I realized that I need to change the
way I live, to start to live a
little bit healthier, to change my food habits,
my sleep habits, all that stuff.
And so I started this road of change,
and I should say that I grew up
like a cultural Muslim, like most of the
people here in Bosnia.
I knew some basic stuff and basic information
about Islam, but I was not really practicing
it.
And in this pre-corona time, I had
like these medical problems, and I started to
also to learn about meditation and stuff like
that.
So I started to meditate.
And of course, I have a lot of
friends who are practicing Muslims, so I saw
some connections between the meditations and the Muslim
prayer, the salah.
I started to talk to them about them,
and then I realized, okay, I need to
learn more about it.
And I started to learn about Islam a
lot, to read some books.
One I can mention maybe is Al-Qarni.
It's a great author that he was the
first one that I started to explore and
read.
And learning about it, I realized that I
have a very small, very little knowledge about
my faith.
And when I started to explore it, I
found out so much nice things, especially in
this book of Al-Qarni.
The book, Don't Be Sad.
Don't Be Sad, exactly.
That's his bestseller, I believe.
There were a lot of quotes from the
Quran, and I was like, wow, this is
so beautiful.
I didn't even know that this is in
the Quran.
And even learning about it and reading about
it helped me a lot to come.
I felt all this anxiety and these problems
that I developed because of the blood pressure
went away or became, I started to control
it a little bit.
And then I thought, if this is helping
me already, just learning and reading about it,
how would it be if I start practicing
it and if I start actually to pray?
So I printed out some surahs and started
to pray reading it.
And I realized right away the first few
days that it's amazing.
I felt like my chest expanding.
Don't feel this anxiety so much.
And all these beautiful feelings that I guess
every Muslim is familiar with, and he knows
what I'm talking about.
And that's basically the start.
So I started to pray at the beginning
just one or two times a day, how
much I can handle, and I'll find time.
And then very quickly after that, I started
to pray all the five times a day
and just started to read a lot of
stuff about Islam.
And that was the beginning of the journey,
I would say.
Tell me this, before you got to that,
were you, because define for our audience, when
you talk about culturally Muslim, what do you
mean by that?
I understand what you're saying, but for people
who are like, what does that mean?
Well, that means, you know, fasting a few
days in Ramadan, stop drinking alcohol in Ramadan,
but continuing after Ramadan again, don't eating pork,
of course.
And a few times maybe eight going to
the mosque with the family and stuff like
that, but not actually praying, not giving zakat,
not doing all these other very important parts
of our religion.
So yeah, like I said, my late grandmother,
she taught me the basics about Islam.
And while she was alive, we used to
live together in a big house.
And with her, sometimes I used to fast
during Ramadan, and that's basically it.
Like I said, when I started to learn
about Islam, to read, then I realized how
little I know, actually, because I thought, okay,
that's it, what my grandmother told me and
what I see with my family and what
I see on TV, but actually it's much,
much deeper, of course.
And yeah, I'm happy that I experienced these
medical problems because they led me to becoming
a better person.
So it was at that point that you
started to, it triggered something to go ahead
and to look deeper into what you were
already sitting on, but just not, it was
a treasure, but you weren't really exploring the
treasure of Islam.
Yes, exactly.
Were you curious about any other religions?
Did you look at, because in Bosnia, you
do have Catholics, Croatians, Serbs, Orthodox.
Were you, Buddhism, Hinduism, you were dabbling in
some meditation and whatnot.
It can be attributed to like Buddhism and
yoga and whatnot.
Did you explore some of the other and
do a comparative search at all?
That came later, actually.
Later?
Yeah, because at the beginning, I knew I'm
a Muslim.
I'm born in a Muslim family, so I
started with Islam.
And while learning about Islam, also, I started
to learn about other religions.
So, for example, the Bible and in the
Christianity and stuff like that.
And while I was learning about Islam and
started to learn about it, I compared it.
And I came to the conclusion that Islam
is the right way and that is my
religion and I should follow it.
And yeah, that's basically it.
Did you, I heard you saying at one
point, you were saying that before when you
were drinking and partying, you, and then, you
know, people really weren't objecting at all.
But then now you started to go towards
prayer or whatnot.
And now people are like, what's wrong with
this guy?
Yes, yes.
I wrote a column for Al Jazeera here
in Balkans for their website, talking about my
experience quitting alcohol.
And when I quit alcohol, that was also
much before Corona and much before Islam.
I realized that just physically I cannot take
it anymore.
It's too much.
It's when I, the day after, you know,
it's very hard to recover.
And so I realized why I'm doing this
to myself.
I'm just putting poison in my body.
And I started by doing it like a
small challenge.
Like I said to myself, let's try one
year without alcohol to see how I will
feel, how my body will feel, how I'm
mentally and physically will change, will it change
something?
And I did that.
And after one year, I was like sitting
there and thinking, okay, what now?
Should I now drink one and celebrate?
Or should I just continue not drinking?
Because I felt the big difference, of course,
I was much healthier, much, you know, all
the benefits that came by a sober life,
I felt them.
And I was not like an alcoholic, like
living on the street and having my first
beer at 9 o'clock in the morning
and shaking.
I was just like, but I also, I
would say that I was like an alcoholic,
but on a lower scale maybe.
Because there was no week passing that I
didn't drink at one or two days in
the week.
So, yeah, to get back to your question,
actually, I talk about it in this column,
people started to look at me wrong and
to ask me, are you okay, what's going
on?
Are you going crazy because you stopped drinking?
Because it's so deep in our society that
drinking is normal and that everybody's doing it.
And the one who's not doing it, he's
like crazy.
And yeah, that was something I experienced.
That's very interesting because now you're saying that
from before when you're partying, when you're acting,
you know how people can act when they're
drunk, right?
Or when they're drinking, they can act like
fools, whatnot.
And then you can end up, you know,
according to the World Health Organization, you've got
yearly, annually, three million people die from alcohol.
And they just, let's stick on this just
for a second because, I mean, people look
at, you've often heard this, like, you know,
Islam is just a bunch of do's and
don'ts.
Everything is haram.
There's just a few things.
Like, for instance, what to drink.
It's just alcohol.
Drink everything else.
Yes, exactly.
So, if we just stick with this, it's
fascinating to see that even they had a
new study, I don't know if you've heard
of this, that, you know, you've heard the
saying that a glass of wine is good
for the heart.
But actually, now, it's not.
They have a new study that came out
that no amount of alcohol is actually good
for you.
Exactly.
And you have a lot of, in America,
conservative Christians and others who are abandoning alcohol.
Very well-known, prominent names.
So, you look at it and you're like,
wow, this is actually a blessing that I'm
not one of those three million that could
potentially die due to all of the underlining
things that can happen.
Totally.
Drinking, not to talk about taking someone's life
from drunk driving and whatnot.
But you didn't have people coming to you
talking about, now, that's a good thing, you
know, patting you on the back, but you
start praying and now they're coming after you.
Well, yes.
I mean, that also was like a little
bit controversial because, you know, as a rapper,
they see you in a way and for
them, you're like this guy, this persona, and
now that changes too.
So, what's going on?
But I must say that I had a
lot of also support from my friends and
my family.
I mean, it's not like, you know, negative
stuff.
And I mean, the best thing that helped
my wife and my friends and my family
realize that this is a positive change is
the change they saw in me, in my
behavior, in my, you know, health and everything.
So, my wife especially, she was a little
bit scared when I started practicing Islam because,
you know, there are a lot of stereotypes.
All the misconceptions.
Is she now going to ISIS, to Syria
or something like that?
I mean, I can understand that too because
she married one guy and now this other
guy comes here.
But after a few months, she realized also,
hey, this guy is getting a…
You're changing for the better.
Yeah, he's getting a better father, a better
husband, everything, better neighbor.
So, it's a positive thing and she was
fully supporting me on that way.
And I don't even mention the health and
what that did to my body and stuff.
So, yeah, I mean, that's something nobody can
deny because when they see you happier, healthier,
and being a better person, that's, I mean,
that's the proof right there.
So, you were saying earlier that you didn't
even start implementing Islam, but you were studying
Islam, you're already feeling better.
Exactly.
Now, you're getting to implement Islam.
Yes.
The prescription that comes from the creator of
the heavens and the earth, God Almighty Allah
is telling us to pray five times a
day, minimum.
Yep.
Leave off certain things.
Yes.
So, you're leaving off alcohol, you're starting to
implement Salah, you end up making Hajj.
Umrah.
Umrah.
Yes.
Tell us about that.
Well, while learning about it and starting to
practicing it, I learned about Umrah.
I didn't even know that Umrah is a
thing.
I just knew about Hajj.
Yeah.
And the perception was Hajj, that's what all
people do.
And when I realized, okay, there is an
Umrah also, you can go whenever you like.
You don't need to wait a special time
of the year and stuff like that.
So, it was Corona.
The lockdown was loosening a little bit.
So, traveling became again possible.
And I was like, as a musician, I
didn't have any concerts, so I had a
lot of free time.
And God thanks, I had some money saved.
So, I said, okay, I want to do
Umrah.
And I thought to myself, okay, listen, I
traveled the world with music.
Went to America, went to Japan, Canada, Russia,
all Europe.
But this one trip that is very important
for my identity, I didn't do.
So, let's do it now.
And I learned what I have to do
doing Umrah.
And also, I went there to experience it,
to visit Medina, Mecca, to see the culture,
to see the people there.
Of course, focusing mostly of my religious duty.
But I also wanted to see, you know,
where the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was
born and where he lived and stuff like
that.
So, yeah, I did Umrah in 2022 or
2021, I think.
And it was a fantastic experience.
I mean, one of my, the first day
we arrived there, we prayed Fajr together.
And then we went to the hotel, rest
a little bit.
And then I came for the noon prayer.
And I was alone.
And I went in the Masjid of the
Prophet.
And I was looking around.
And I was amazed.
And a lot of emotions came over me.
And I started to pray.
And then I realized my grandma, that in
our talks, and how she taught me about
Islam.
And that was so emotional.
I started to cry.
And that was like, I realized why one
Salah in this Masjid is a thousand times
bigger and much more than at home.
So, it's an amazing experience.
I would recommend it to everybody.
And I hope one day, inshallah, to do
it again.
Tell me this.
You are aware of what's going on in
America with one of the most famous rappers
right now.
P.
Diddy?
Yeah.
Sean Diddy Combs?
Combs is facing dozens of new allegations of
sexual assault in a series of lawsuits set
to be filed.
At a news conference today, Texas-based attorney
Tony Busbee said that he's representing 120 accusers
with allegations against the music mogul that happened
over 20 years.
Busbee said that the new accusers include men
and women.
And they come from more than 25 states,
including Florida.
Busbee claims that his clients will mostly face
abuse during after parties and auditions.
The lawyer said that he's had more than
3,000 people come forward to his office
with accusations against Combs.
And that he plans to begin filing lawsuits
in various states within the next 30 days.
Now, today, Combs' attorney said that, quote, he
cannot address every meritless allegation in what has
become a reckless media circus.
That said, Mr. Combs emphatically and categorically denies
his false and defamatory any claim that he
sexually abused anyone, including minors, end quote.
And he has pleaded not guilty to the
federal charges.
Are you familiar with everything that's on packaging?
Yes, yes.
What are your thoughts on that?
It's awful.
I mean, thank God he got caught.
And I didn't like the guy anyway.
You didn't like him?
No, there was something fishy about him all
the time.
I mean, I was a big Tupac fan.
Yeah.
And, you know, also there was this beef.
There was a beef between them.
Yeah, exactly.
So P.
Diddy and with Tupac.
Yes.
Tupac was one side and P.
Diddy and Biggie were East Coast.
Who was East Coast?
Biggie Smalls.
Biggie Smalls, P.
Diddy.
P.
Diddy.
And then the West Coast.
And West Coast is Tupac and Snoop Dogg
and Dr. Dre.
That was the beef in the 90s.
And since then, I didn't like the guy.
Yeah.
And there's also rumors that he is guilty
that Tupac got shot.
He paid some guys to do it.
I hope that he will also answer for
that, that he will get a trial for
that.
I mean, a lot of years, you know,
went by.
And the guys, I mean, I thank God
that he got caught.
And I hope he will end up in
prison for the rest of his life.
We can get a Bosnian perspective on the
whole issue.
And I think because, you know, a lot
of youth, they idolize people like this.
Yes.
And now looking at his life, and he
had the whole world in front of his,
in his arms, in his hands.
Everything.
I mean, what could the guy not have?
I mean, isn't he a billionaire?
Yeah, I guess, yeah.
P.
Diddy, right?
Yeah, right.
I mean, he has all the money in
the world.
I mean, his kids didn't have to worry
about it.
But now the situation changes, and he's in
a prison cell.
And I think that will give him a
lot of time to think.
And I mean, of course, we all know
that this music industry and Hollywood in America,
especially, there are so many wrong things going
on and so much negative, you know, haram
stuff, and promoting some just wrong values.
In Bosnia or in Balkan, it's different, you
know.
Of course, we have also artists like that
who are, like, promoting wrong values.
I was one of them, you know, years
ago.
I also have some songs which I'm not
proud of, and I would like, if it
would be possible, I would change it.
But of course, it's not possible.
I was a young kid then.
I was dumb and, you know, thinking some
different ways.
But Balkan is not like America, you know.
We have also our issues.
If I should talk about and promote or
to tell the viewers about my music, I
would say it's more like a conscious rap.
It's often talked about problems in Balkans and
Bosnia.
And it's changed, of course, after Umrah and
after this Islam, accepting Islam.
And I also started to talk about some
different things.
I also talk about my experience learning about
and changing, you know, Islam.
Yeah, but this is, I mean, it's satisfying
to see that people like that still can
get caught.
Because when you think about powerful people, you
think they are untouchable.
Yeah.
And it's good to see that there's some,
you know, they still can be, you know,
touched and still will answer for their crimes.
They're comparing it almost to like, you know,
the Epstein.
You know, you heard Epstein?
Yes, of course.
The Island, he was on the, from one
angle.
So he now, P.
Diddy, Puff Daddy, from the music angle.
Yes.
And then I had a chance, alhamdulillah, to
interview, you mentioned Tupac, to Muta from Outlaws.
Yes, yes, I watched that.
Yeah, someone comes out like him.
And he's also someone who's in that lifestyle
and talking about now the same thing you're
talking about.
He's experiencing what the money couldn't buy him,
the fame couldn't buy him.
Then you have also people like Loon, who
was with the other side.
Yes, yes, exactly.
We're talking about West Side, East Side.
So really the only hope at the end
of the day for Puff Daddy.
What does he go from now?
Sean Combs?
I don't even, I don't know and I
don't care.
Yeah.
The one thing I would say, I mean,
I was never rich like American rappers.
But even in my most successful years, when
I had like great projects, great tours, earned
money and got everything I wanted.
Even then I felt some emptiness here.
And I didn't know why and why it
still doesn't make me happy.
But, you know, now as a Muslim, I
realize why.
Why I wasn't feeling this happiness and why
I was feeling empty here.
Because I didn't have the Deen.
I was not a Muslim.
I was not believing in God.
And today I still do my music, maybe
not that successful like a few years before.
But I feel happier.
I feel much, much, much happier and satisfied.
And this emptiness is gone.
And you're just actually beginning now because it's
only been, what, a few years?
Yeah, three years.
Yeah.
So this is very important.
This is hearing from people like yourself.
And when we bring up some of these
celebrities, some of these people like that, I
think it's better that we discuss it.
And then we can go ahead and unpackage
this stuff.
Because what happens, percentage-wise, the youth, I
mean, how many?
Like 80, 90% or more are really
engrossed into this culture and following people, if
not this person, the people under him, his
record label, listening to much of the filth
that's out there that's promoting promiscuity, drugs, alcohol.
You know, they even had this rap I
was watching.
It just got, I don't know, they have
a certain name for it.
Where they're actually gunning down people in New
York City.
Their mission?
Stopping the reign of terror caused by teens,
young men and a few women who engage
in running gun battles with their opposition or
ops at all hours of the day and
night, no matter who's in the way, right
in their own community.
It's almost like they were competing with each
other to see who could shoot more times.
For no good reason.
Investigators say the hatred is fueled by inflammatory
disses about murdered ops and drill raps posted
on social media.
That's aspiring drill rapper Ney Benz, who police
say is one of the gang leaders.
The average age of the case subjects is
20.
Teen girls are trigger pullers too.
Like the shooter in this video, says Deputy
Inspector Craig Edelman.
They're shooting at each other with a yellow
school bus filled with kids in between them.
They are absolutely firing bullets without remorse or
regret and without regard of anybody that's around.
There's a certain term for it.
Have you heard of it?
No.
And they're trying to outdo each other.
Okay.
And I forgot the name for it, but
it's literally where they're going and then this
rapper, and then he's talking about what he's
gonna, then he goes up and then people
imitate him.
They go gun down, shoot down this person.
It's like just out of control.
Another local rapper is dead.
Late last night, officers responded to calls of
shots fired.
Violence that has already claimed the lives of
too many.
It's immensely popular, hard hitting, and the lyrics
are provocative.
What is drill?
In layman's terms, it's like a sub genre
of hip hop, right?
The dissing is what established, oh, this is
a drill record.
They're dissing each other.
They're calling each other's names out.
The term drill was coined by the late
rapper Pac-Man.
What exactly defines drill is up for debate.
But everyone agrees that the drill in drill
music is all about one thing, violence.
That's really, I mean, I didn't, I don't
know exactly what, but I can imagine and
I can.
So then I relate and I say, man,
this is, I was listening to this stuff.
You know, I was, that lifestyle, right?
It was something that you get, you gravitate
towards.
You want to be like the stars.
You want to be like the P-Daddies.
But, and then they're having these freak show
parties, right?
You got everybody in Hollywood is now they
have like these tapes and whatnot is going
to come out.
They're scared.
They're scared about it.
So the point here is you have two
ways.
You have the way that people like Muta,
Napoleon, Chose, Loon.
He had an interesting quote when I interviewed
him.
He said, we were paying for the disease
while the cure is free.
And that cure now, you're upon this also.
Or you can be in line trying to
get to the party, the freak show party.
But all that ends, doesn't it?
It's like chasing that, those fleeting enjoyments.
Let's talk about that.
It's like the hamster who runs in a
circle, you know, there's no end.
I mean, if you earn your first million,
then you want your second or your 10th.
It's just, you know, like I said, this
hamster and it's, I'm just happy for the
people who realize that.
That's the point.
They jump out.
You're like a dog chasing your tail, a
hamster in that wheel.
You just keep going.
And it's like, you know who said we
were supposed to have, inshallah, he comes through.
I have a good friend of mine who's
been talking with him.
Right now they're in Dubai with Dan Vazirian.
You heard of him?
Yes, I heard of him.
He's like the new Hugh Hefner of our
time.
But the good news is for the last
year, he hasn't been posting some of that
stuff from the past.
Yes.
He's exploring.
And he compared this lifestyle.
He says it's a dark hole.
Right.
And this is a man who's got everything.
Right.
But now we got him actually reading the
Quran.
He's coming to on his own accord.
I think his good friend, a whole family
accepted Islam.
A whole family.
They all accepted Islam.
And now he's also, he's contemplating, thinking, he's
in Dubai.
He might actually, we're waiting to hear back.
He's supposed to come to Bosnia.
Waiting to hear back.
But you got people like this who lived
a life of debauchery.
Had everything.
Yes.
Like the P.
Diddys.
But one's going in that direction.
Others are exploring.
And they come to where you've come to.
Yes.
I don't know.
I also talked about it in a few
interviews.
It's something also with the age.
When I started to learn about and practice
Islam, I was 39, 40.
Now I'm 42.
And it's also something, you know, when you
reach 40s.
It's like you mature spiritually.
And you are ready to receive the message.
And you're ready to explore this.
And, I mean, the Quran was released to
the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.
Also when he was 40.
So it has something to do with this
age.
And also, I mean, maybe I'm wrong.
But I see some awakening going on.
Yeah.
A lot of people, you know, start to
learn about religion, about Islam.
And I don't know if it's because I'm
now fresh into it.
And I see it.
And I didn't see it before.
But maybe you also.
You're longer in this.
And you'll see that.
I think that something is, you know, going
on.
Some awakening.
Some people coming to Islam.
We're seeing a lot of Americans in America
with everything that's happening in Gaza right now.
Yeah.
And the masks are coming off.
People are starting to realize they've been lied
to.
They're questioning the money that's funding what's happening
now.
This oppression against innocent human beings.
So you've got people like Dan Bazarian who
are speaking out.
Other people, conservative Christians.
And just human beings in general who are
human at the end of the day.
And they're seeing what's happening.
And you can tell us now that something
similar happened here where we're at.
Where we're sitting right here in Bosnia.
Can you talk about that?
Yeah, sure.
I was a young kid.
I was 10 when the war started.
And I moved to Germany quickly with my
family.
But, of course, I had a lot of
family members in Sarajevo, in Tuzla, in Vienna,
who also ended up in concentration camps.
And they were in the army fighting in
the war.
So I witnessed this through them and through
their stories.
But it was similar like now happening in
Gaza.
We all remember this quote after the Holocaust
when the people said, Never again.
Yes.
And then it happened again in Bosnia or
in Southern Croatia.
Never again is not supposed to be just
for certain people.
For anyone.
Exactly.
Of course.
And especially if you talk about Europe.
Europe is this continent where prosperity and where
everybody is living nice and no wars in
Europe anymore.
And then you have it happening in Croatia,
starting in Croatia, coming Bosnia, then Kosovo.
Now we have it in Ukraine.
So never again, never again.
But it happens again.
And now Gaza.
I mean Gaza was…
They have their wars since Israel was founded.
So, I mean, it's a hypocrisy.
Hypocrisy.
Yeah.
I mean, it's just like it's supposed to
be never again for everybody.
But it seems like it's never again just
for some certain people, you know.
And, I mean, I see a lot of
similarities between Bosnia and Gaza.
And you have also, we have a lot
of protests here in Sarajevo, in Bosnia for
Gaza.
A lot of fundraisers and people are ready
to help and willing to help.
Even if they, you know, we're not the
richest country, but still we know how it
is and how it feels.
And so we are always ready to help
when it's needed.
And I just pray to God that this
stops soon and that the suffering of the
people ends.
And, I mean, all I can do is
talk about it.
I'm right now doing also a song for
Gaza with a Croatian rapper that will come
out soon.
And, you know, to support all these protests,
to donate money, and, you know, to build
some pressure towards our politicians and, you know,
to do whatever.
He's also a very, very successful rapper who
did, I think, the second song for Gaza.
And suddenly you realize who's who.
And I was not a big fan of
Michael Moore before, but now he got my
respect.
Michael Moore?
Michael Moore.
Michael Moore.
He is also a great rapper from America.
And that's the point where you see who
got the courage, who's ready to speak out,
to tell the truth.
And, yeah, those people will always have my
respect.
And I also see it as my duty
to talk about that stuff.
My last album, Manifest, there was a song,
it's called Identity.
Of course, where we mentioned the conflict in
Gaza, in Palestine, and the hypocrisy that we
talked about, never again, and then Ukraine and
stuff like that.
So, for me, as an artist, I see
it as my duty and as a...
how should I put this?
I mean, good art always talks about people.
I don't care if it's music or movie
or art, painting, whatever.
I mean, the duty of an artist is
to talk about the problems.
I mean, rap started as a protest for
the people in the ghettos in America, in
New York.
It talked about racism, it talked about, you
know, social problems and stuff like that.
So, when I, as a kid, started to
listen to that music, I realized, okay, if
I'm ever going to do a song like
that, so my duty is to talk about
the problems in my country, in my city,
and, of course, globally.
So, yeah.
Yeah, I mean, this is for people to
reflect.
When you think about your life and you
think about when you had this situation happen
with your health, I'm sure you're thinking about,
what if I die tomorrow, right?
Life is very short.
And now you look at someone going back
to our Sean P.
Diddy Cones.
All of the money that one can have,
he's sitting literally in a jail cell.
That money can't get him out.
He might spend the rest of his life
behind bars.
At the end, what's it worth?
If you just live for satisfying your desire,
because that's what it was about.
It was just about how much more, at
the freak shows, how much more of an
extreme you can go to, right?
So this is something for the youth, the
young, the old to really contemplate.
It's just I love when I talk to
people like yourself who are a part of
that world, and now you're coming to the
realization that there's a purpose.
You start to look into Islam, and now
you're starting to live it, and you're seeing
the benefits.
While some people are still trying to imitate
the Tupacs or whoever is out there of
the rappers, you can see where, at the
end of the day, where that ends up,
you know?
Yes, I mean, again, I'm just happy that
I realized that, because a lot of people
will never realize it and will die not
knowing and not finding out the truth.
And, I mean, that's also something that I
learned through learning about Islam.
For example, the prophet's uncle, who was a
big help in his life, lived with him,
fought with him, but never somehow accepted Islam,
died a disbeliever.
So, I mean, you have the examples in
our religion, and you will see that, I
mean, I can do my best.
I can talk about it.
I can tell my friends about it.
I can promote it.
But at the end, it's up to God
if they find the right path and if
they realize it.
I want to touch upon, coming back to
here, I've spoken to a lot of people
talking about what had happened during the war
and whatnot, the aggression.
And when I ask them at the end
of all of this, does your religion teach
you to hate, to hate someone because they're
Christian or Serbian or Croatian, 100% all
of them say no.
And even many have said, we'd like to
forgive, but no one's asking us for forgiveness.
So, if you can touch upon that, I
just recently interviewed a Serb who actually accepted
Islam.
And you see how Islam transcends, because there's
this misconception that if you become a Muslim,
somehow you have to change your nationality.
Yeah.
But that's totally...
That's a misconception, of course.
Yeah.
Can you touch upon that?
Yes.
I mean, that's the problem of Balkan, I
think, that people, Croats and Serbs and atheists
and whatever, think that Islam is something for
the Turks and...
Are you Turkish?
No, no.
You visited Turkey, right?
Yes, I went there, but...
You're not Turkish.
I actually never explored my roots that far.
I mean, maybe I am.
I don't know.
I don't actually care.
Maybe some of them who are accusing, in
their DNA, they might be more Turkish.
Exactly, exactly, exactly.
So, they look on Islam through this filter
of nationality, which, of course, as we know,
most of the people in the world are
not Arabs and they are not Turks.
And especially in the West, where now Islam
is growing rapidly.
And that's also a misconception that we try
to remove and to get rid of it,
because you can have your nationality, whatever it
is, and just accept the other religion.
I mean, it's totally...
How should I say it?
Totally normal.
To get to the other part of your
question, after the war, I mean, we still
live together here in Bosnia.
With Orthodox Christians, with Catholics, with atheists, with
Jews also.
Many people forget that Sarajevo is also one
of the cities that accepted a lot of
Jews after...
This is very important.
This is considered the Jerusalem of Europe, isn't
it?
Yes, exactly.
We have like a mosque, a church and
a synagogue in 20 meters distance.
And a lot of Jews from Andalusia came
after the Crusaders came back to Spain.
A lot of them went with the Muslims
to Africa and a lot of them came
then to what's then Ottoman Empire.
And they stayed here and they lived also
in Yugoslavia.
And the biggest community of Jews were here
in Sarajevo.
And they lived here until the war in
the 90s.
Then a lot of them went to Israel
and moved maybe to Europe or whatever.
But we still have a great community of
Jewish people here in Sarajevo.
Living safe?
Yes, living safe.
Even now when this conflict in Israel with
the Zionists is going on, you never saw
a problem here.
Because we know to differentiate because they are
our neighbors.
They are here.
They are living with us in Sarajevo.
They are Bosnians.
Another example is maybe a lot of people
heard that in the war, in the 90s,
a lot of mosques were destroyed.
For example, in my hometown, we had like
six, Bielena, I was born in Bielena.
We had six mosques.
Demolished to the ground?
Like all six at the same time and
same day.
Demolished, stones picked up and drove into a
river.
And on the other side, we have Sarajevo,
which has like, I don't know how many
churches.
Orthodox, Catholic, synagogues.
There was not like a window cracked.
So that's the difference between Muslims and the
other.
That's because of Islam.
Exactly.
Because we were taught that also a church
is like, it's our responsibility.
Like in the times of Sahabas, you know,
there were other, you know, religion communities and
you need to protect them.
They are, you know, they're your neighbors.
You live with them.
It's your duty.
It's interesting because you see people projecting many
things onto Islam, this hate and this violence.
And they try to attribute these things to
Islam, but they're projecting what they're doing.
But you see a firsthand account, what you're
saying here, when you study what happened here,
the aggression.
It's a very deep history.
I think we don't even really study this
back.
People don't know what happened over here.
So I think this is a shining example.
And then the Jerusalem of Europe being here
and it's amazing.
So much to learn.
Yes.
People should come visit Bosnia-Sarajevo.
I mean, we see a big increase of
tourists every year.
And it's cheap.
The food is good.
You know, weather is nice.
It's nice people.
Everybody's welcome here.
So everybody should come, explore, learn about it.
And yeah.
Thank you, brother.
Thank you for spending some time with us.
No problem.
Thank you again.
Like I said, it was an honor.
And salam to all the viewers.
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