To my amazement, one of New Jerseys finest ever MCs Lakim Shabazz remains as underrated as he was in his active recording

days with Tuff City Records. Somehow, the rapper whose rhymes were heavily influenced by the Nation Of Gods & Earths seemingly disappeared after two albums. After recognising his name on a social network site, I immediately took the opportunity to request an interview with the God. Lakim immediately agreed & I welcomed the chance to find out what hes up to nowadays & build with him about his hip hop career. Peace Lakim, Thanks for allowing me to build with you. Im sure many people who remember your music are wondering whatever happened to you. How are you & what are are you up to these days? LS: Peace Almighty, I hope this finds you in the best of health mentally and physically. I come in the name of God Lakim Sha-rik Allah, formerly known as God Lakim Shabazz Allah. Im great lord, building and teaching the children. Ive been constantly elevating taking care of my Earth and seeds, still creating music and working in healthcare which Ive been in for 17 years. Im a supervisor in a hospital and I work part-time for a paediatrician. Most of all I am being a true and living God, performing his duty which is teaching civilization. From my research very little seems to be documented about your music career, what influenced you to rap & write rhymes? LS: I was influenced to rhyme when I first heard it. It was the year 1980-81 when I first got a taste of Hip Hop music. Sugar Hill Gang and Jimmy Spicer Super Rhymes. Once I heard that it was on. Then the Furious 5 came with Freedom and the rest is history. I used to spend nights in the Bronx over my Aunt Pearls house when I was in the 8th grade. From there I got turned on to Cold Crush, Fantastic Romantic 5, Crash Crew the Boogie Boys Funky 4 and many others. Id say my greatest influence was Kool Moe Dee and Grandmaster Caz, they were my idols. How did you meet The 45 King? Was it through him that you got the Tuff City record deal? LS: I met 45 King through a mutual friend of ours. Mark used to be the record boy for Breakout Funky 4 plus 1 more DJ. He had moved to Irvington NJ. and Im from Newark, NJ. We used to go over Marks house to see him cut 45s & 33s & he was cool with Tito from the Fearless 4. Tito used to rock in Marks basement and I used to take pointers. Tito was nice and he still is. Indeed it was through 45 King that I got the deal through Tuff City. I met Mark around 1983-84. With all the 12s & compilation albums, your collaborations with The 45 King stretch much further than your two albums. What was it like working with him? LS: I love working with him. Especially after hearing Red Alert mention his name every weekend on the radio for those hot beats. I feel like it was destiny. See, I knew Mark for about 3 years before we got together to record and once I heard his name on the airwaves I sought him out. Biz Markie actually linked me up with him around the time he was recording the Vapors. Biz kept telling me to be patient yet I was a fiery energy ball ready to unleash, I have no regrets however looking back I should have exercised more patience and not signed with Tuff City. Yet I accomplished what I set out to do and that was spark the minds of millions of mentally blind people through my music, so its peace. Compared to the original line up, The Flavor Unit had a much different image when Queen Latifah & Shakim took over. How did this situation arise? LS: Latifah and Shakim had the finances to incorporate the name and build a brand behind it and thats how that happened. She at the time was the most successful out of the original members financially, so it was discussed and agreed upon that they would incorporate the name which eventually grew into a worldwide management company and record label.

I remember the production work that you did with Diamond D, what made you decide to start making beats as well? Also, apart from your own tracks, who else have you produced for? LS: With the 45 King & being around him, seeing how he made beats I just gravitated towards it. One thing about God is that we dont limit ourselves to just one thing, Allah is lord of all the worlds so it was just another sphere of existence to master, Ive always had an ear for music & I used to DJ before I ever spit a rhyme so once I learned it was just something to add on to what I was already doing. My beat influences are 45 King, The Bomb Squad, Marley Marl, Howie Tee, Herbie Lovebug, Louie Vegas, Diamond, Large Professor, Buckwild, Showbiz, The Beatnuts, Pete Rock, Q Tip and Prince Paul. All of them influenced my production. Besides Diamond Ive done production for Latifah, Apache, Latee, lots of unsigned acts and Shabba Ranks. Your debut album Pure Righteousness firmly put you on the hip hop map. After your second The Lost Tribe Of Shabazz & the production work, you disappeared into obscurity. Did you choose to follow a different career path? LS: I was going through trials and tribulations, striving to get released from Tuff City. Labels were interested yet Aaron Fuchs the owner was asking for too much money to release me. It was at this period in my life when I started to learn all the business aspects of the industry which was actually backwards. I should have learned that first however I was young and naive, I just wanted to make records not knowing that I was being used as a tool and a slave for Tuff City. It took me 4 years to get out of that deal yet I did it on my own without owing him anything. Actually he owes me and I have legal vultures taking care of that now. I went through a state of depression yet through the help of the true and living Gods I came out right. I was also managing my nephew Shatim at that time. Hes the young kid dancing in the Naughty By Nature OPP. video. Clearly the Nation Of Gods & Earths was & still is to this day a major part of your life. When did you first become aware of the culture & how much of an active part do you play now? LS: I got knowledge of self in the year 18 of Allahs Nation at the age of 13. Since I had the knowledge Ive been active. My name is in the Nations Book in Allah School and Im a well respected, healthy, strong and good multiplier for our nation. Ive performed at show and proves and many of our nations events. My life is dedicated to being a true and living god, dealing with living Mathematics. I was sparked by a brother name Lamel Born Allah in 1982. Then around 1991 I met a Brownseed by the name of Prince Naikwan Allah who introduced me to a Blackseed from Medina (Brooklyn) name Born Allah. Born was an older god from Medina who moved to New Jersey and started teaching in Orange. They used to call it the Orchard. Indeed Im very active, we frequent the Universal Parliaments, family day events, children day events and etc. We also have events in our land as well, rallys, children days and civilization classes. I deal with living Mathematics cause I live-in Supreme Mathematics and Alphabets. Man shows and proves who and what he is by building and developing useful things for self and nation. Need I say more? In my experience, those who are unaware of what the Nation Of Gods & Earths is truly about either have misconceptions or endeavour to learn the truth. You were part of the great era that included Poor Righteous Teachers, King Sun, Brand Nubian & Rakim (amongst others). How much of a part do you feel you played in enlightening the 85% about the Nation Of Gods & Earths through your music? LS: I build that I played a major part for what its worth people new the gods in the Tri-state area However no-one came with the knowledge on wax as raw as I did with pure righteousness. Rakim was out already and hed drop a jewel here and there yet every song on my album I was dropping it. Science of self is truth and truth is power, the more truth you tell the more power you have, I had that supreme knowledge in me and it was powerful, it was seeking expression through my wisdom so I brought it forth. At the time of recording those albums I hadnt met Born Allah yet but I had it and I

gave it as I saw it. So yes, I build that I played a major roll in enlightening those without knowledge of self, youre a perfect example of how one word can change the course of a nation. Hip Hop has been through many different changes & trends. Whats your view of the scene now & do you feel there is a need for more positivity in hip hop? LS: I like how it has grown from a baby to a grown man. I dont like the corporations and 10% minded people that control the outlets that give it to mainstream audiences. We created it so we should own every aspect of it however we dont. Its a cash cow now with everyone sticking their claws in it just to make a buck. However theres positive and negative in everything. The real still exists and is seen and heard. Do you have any plans to record any new music either as an artist or producer? LS: Indeed Im recording now. My next album will be titled the Explanation with production from myself and 45 King. Maybe Diamond and Large, I say maybe because I want the world to know my production skills so with this project its real personal to me. Im a free agent in the game, a veteran who can still go bar for bar with any of these so-called nice MCs. I got some offers on the table yet now Im just concentrating on composing a divine classic. I titled it the explanation so the world can see what Ive been doing, where Ive been and were Im heading. Im an understanding seed and its my job to bring forth understanding. In the future Id like to do an all-God album with myself, Rakim, Lord Jamar, Wise intelligent and Allah Justice (The GZA/Genius). It will be made a living reality in time just as I come in time. Were not on the clock and there is no mystery God cause the dead is not known to return from the grave. You are a person that is associated with having a positive character. With so much negativity in this world, what message do you have for all those people striving to better themselves & their communities? LS: Trust in self. A mind is a terrible thing to waste. Set your goals in life stay determined and go for it. Only one can stop you is you. One only learns what one teaches self. Its not so much what we say yet what we do which will have a positive or negative impact on our communities. Its an ongoing fight yet we are warriors and who is a better warrior than Allah, He is the best of planners. Many thanks Lakim, peace. LS: Peace Mathematically Yours, Lakim Sha-rik Allah. (47th year, Allahs Nation) (Interview by Rich Unique)