BCE Director Wes Jackson on Islamic Influences in Hip-Hop to WNYC

Director of the Business of Creative Enterprises program and founder of the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival Wes Jackson shared his thoughts with Andy Mai from public radio station WNYC regarding Islamic influences in hip-hop. Jackson says that many non-Muslim rappers don’t even know the word they commonly end raps with has roots in Islam.

At the end of every rap song, everybody says, alright, peace, you know, as a salutation. That was from as-salamu alaykum, alaykum as-salam. There was so much language that we took that you didn’t realize it, because again it was just in the air.”

Jackson has over 20 years experience as an entrepreneur and innovator in the music business.

Listen to the WNYC audio clip.