Abd Al Malik

Abd al Malik born Régis FayetteMikano is a French rapper and spoken word artist of Congolese origin He has also authored books in French and directed a film adaptation of one of his books Talented in words and music he formed with his brother Bilal and his cousin Aissa a rap group they called New African Poets also known by the abbreviation NAP Other members included Mustapha Mohammed and Karim all from the neighborhood where he lived Most of the group come from the Neuhof quartier of Strasbourg Having converted from Christianity to Islam he took on the stage name Abd al Malik This was an adaptation of his birth name Régis being derived from rex meaning king in Latin whereas Malik means king in Arabic NAP released their first maxi Trop beau pour être vrai produced by Sulee B on High Skills a label founded by Deez Nutz to promote local Neuhof hip hop talents In 1996 they released the album La Racaille sort 1 also on High Skills selling over 25000 copies Based on this NAP were signed to BMG and their 1998 album La Fin du monde with participations from Wallen Rockin Squat from Assassin Radical Kicker Shurikn Freeman from IAM Rocca and Faf Larage A third album followed in 1999 called À lintérieur de nous also with BMG Abd al Malik has been very active in writing as well In 2004 he published his autobiographical book QuAllah bénisse la France meaning May Allah bless France about his childhood in Neuhof in a monoparental family of seven kids about his schooling tough life and musical beginning The book won Belgian Laurence Trân Prize in 2005 In 2009 and following trouble in the French suburbs he authored La guerre des banlieues naura pas lieu about life in the impoverished French banlieues inhabited largely by Frances immigrant populations The book won the Prix de littérature politique EdgarFaure a prize for political literature in 2010 In 2013 he published a book LIslam au secours de la République He also announced that a film was in preparation titled May Allah Bless France QuAllah bénisse la France based on his autobiographical book of same title The film premiered at the Festival du Film Francophone dAngoulême in August 2014 and won the FIPRESCI Discovery Prize at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival In 2013 he engaged in a tour entitled Lart et la révolte a tribute to the famous French writer and philosopher Albert Camus It is a musical arrangement in which Abd al Malik sings raps and recites texts from Camus or largely inspired by Camus accompanied by classical orchestra mostly based on Camus LEnvers et lEndroit English title Betwixt and Between In 1998 Régis FayetteMikano married French Moroccan singer Wallen with whom he had a child in 2001 The following year he converted to Islam taking the name Abd al Malik He is greatly influenced by teachings of Hamza al Qâdiri al Boutchichi a Moroccan spiritual leader and philosopher of Qadiriyya Sufism Source Article Abd al Malik rapper from Wikipedia in English licensed under CCBYSA 30