Jalal Mansur Nuriddin
Encyclopedia
Jalaluddin Mansur Nuriddin, born in Brooklyn, New York, 1944, is one of the founding members of The Last Poets
, a group of poet
s and musician
s that evolved in the 1960s out of the Harlem Writers Workshop in New York City
.
and was given early release on condition that he join the US Army
, where he trained as a paratrooper
but was imprisoned again for refusing to salute the Flag
. He received an honourable discharge and went to work for a bank
on Wall Street
. He converted to Islam
and learned to spiel, an early form of rap
, which he called "spoagraphics" or "spoken pictures". His talent and genius with words and rhythm are renowned. He joined The Last Poets shortly after their first album Right On, which was the soundtrack to a movie of the same name. His name at the time was Alafia Pudim, but he changed it to the Islamic name (Jalaluddin - The Glory Of The Faith , Mansur - Victorious, Nuriddin - The Light Of The Faith) by which he is known today. Jalal soon became the band leader, and as members came and went the style developed from prose into rhyme, with the main catalogue consisting of works by himself and fellow poet and friend Sulieman El-Hadi.
Lightnin' Rod was the pseudonym of Alafia Pudim when he released his seminal Hustlers Convention LP featuring tracks like Sport and Spoon and Coppin' Some Fronts For The Set in 1973. The album release on United Artists featured Tina Turner and the Ikettes, Bernard Purdie, Billy Preston, Colonel Dupree, and Kool and the Gang. Most of the lyrics deal with the way of living in ghettos, i.e. hustling, drugs, gambling and money with the outcome being a shoot out with the cops followed by jail where the hustlers learn "The whole truth". A sequel, The Hustlers Detention is purportedly in the pipeline.
The "Mankind" single, "Mankind,Pt.2", produced by Skip McDonald and release on Adrian Sherwood
's label On-U-Sound, can be heard over the closing credits of the film "187", featuring Samuel L. Jackson
.
The use of " Wake Up, Niggers " (from the debut Last Poets LP) can be heard in Donald Cammell
's late 60's seminal film " Performance ".
Jalal and the Last Poets also had a cameo appearance in John Singleton's film "Poetic Justice" starring Janet Jackon and Tupac Shakur
.
Jalal recently wrote the foreword to Malik Al Nasir
's poetry anthology
"Ordinary Guy", published in the UK by Fore-Word Press
. He also featured in the documentary "Word up - From Ghetto to Mecca", along with poets Gil Scott Heron, Mark T. Watson a.k.a Malik Al Nasir and dub poet Benjamin Zephaniah, where he discussed the significance of the spoken word as an extension of the African oral tradition, as well as the origins of rap and the work of his student and friend Malik Al Nasir.
Jalal now spends his time mainly in Aix-En-Provence, in the south of France. He is currently working on his autobiography. In April 2008 He reunited and reconciled with fellow Last Poets Umar Bin Hassan and Abiodun Oyewole, along with David Nelson and Felipe Luciano, all of whom appear in "Made In Amerikkka", a documentary by French film maker Claude Santiago. There have been suggestions of future live appearances in 2009.
On September 11, 2009 Jalal appeared live in New York, a return to the United States after more than twenty years.
The Last Poets
The Last Poets is a group of poets and musicians who arose from the late 1960s African American civil rights movement's black nationalist thread...
, a group of poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
s and musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
s that evolved in the 1960s out of the Harlem Writers Workshop in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
Biography
A devout Muslim, poet, acupuncturist, and martial art exponent, he was incarceratedIncarceration
Incarceration is the detention of a person in prison, typically as punishment for a crime .People are most commonly incarcerated upon suspicion or conviction of committing a crime, and different jurisdictions have differing laws governing the function of incarceration within a larger system of...
and was given early release on condition that he join the US Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
, where he trained as a paratrooper
Paratrooper
Paratroopers are soldiers trained in parachuting and generally operate as part of an airborne force.Paratroopers are used for tactical advantage as they can be inserted into the battlefield from the air, thereby allowing them to be positioned in areas not accessible by land...
but was imprisoned again for refusing to salute the Flag
Flag of the United States
The national flag of the United States of America consists of thirteen equal horizontal stripes of red alternating with white, with a blue rectangle in the canton bearing fifty small, white, five-pointed stars arranged in nine offset horizontal rows of six stars alternating with rows...
. He received an honourable discharge and went to work for a bank
Bank
A bank is a financial institution that serves as a financial intermediary. The term "bank" may refer to one of several related types of entities:...
on Wall Street
Wall Street
Wall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or...
. He converted to Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
and learned to spiel, an early form of rap
Rapping
Rapping refers to "spoken or chanted rhyming lyrics". The art form can be broken down into different components, as in the book How to Rap where it is separated into “content”, “flow” , and “delivery”...
, which he called "spoagraphics" or "spoken pictures". His talent and genius with words and rhythm are renowned. He joined The Last Poets shortly after their first album Right On, which was the soundtrack to a movie of the same name. His name at the time was Alafia Pudim, but he changed it to the Islamic name (Jalaluddin - The Glory Of The Faith , Mansur - Victorious, Nuriddin - The Light Of The Faith) by which he is known today. Jalal soon became the band leader, and as members came and went the style developed from prose into rhyme, with the main catalogue consisting of works by himself and fellow poet and friend Sulieman El-Hadi.
Lightnin' Rod was the pseudonym of Alafia Pudim when he released his seminal Hustlers Convention LP featuring tracks like Sport and Spoon and Coppin' Some Fronts For The Set in 1973. The album release on United Artists featured Tina Turner and the Ikettes, Bernard Purdie, Billy Preston, Colonel Dupree, and Kool and the Gang. Most of the lyrics deal with the way of living in ghettos, i.e. hustling, drugs, gambling and money with the outcome being a shoot out with the cops followed by jail where the hustlers learn "The whole truth". A sequel, The Hustlers Detention is purportedly in the pipeline.
The "Mankind" single, "Mankind,Pt.2", produced by Skip McDonald and release on Adrian Sherwood
Adrian Sherwood
Adrian Sherwood is an English record producer best known for his work with dub music as well as for remixing a number of popular acts such as Coldcut, Depeche Mode, The Woodentops, Primal Scream, Pop Will Eat Itself, Sinéad O'Connor, and Skinny Puppy...
's label On-U-Sound, can be heard over the closing credits of the film "187", featuring Samuel L. Jackson
Samuel L. Jackson
Samuel Leroy Jackson is an American film and television actor and film producer. After becoming involved with the Civil Rights Movement, he moved on to acting in theater at Morehouse College, and then films. He had several small roles such as in the film Goodfellas before meeting his mentor,...
.
The use of " Wake Up, Niggers " (from the debut Last Poets LP) can be heard in Donald Cammell
Donald Cammell
Donald Seaton Cammell was a Scottish film director who enjoys a cult reputation thanks to his debut film Performance, which he co-directed with Nicolas Roeg.-Biography:...
's late 60's seminal film " Performance ".
Jalal and the Last Poets also had a cameo appearance in John Singleton's film "Poetic Justice" starring Janet Jackon and Tupac Shakur
Tupac Shakur
Tupac Amaru Shakur , known by his stage names 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper and actor. Shakur has sold over 75 million albums worldwide as of 2007, making him one of the best-selling music artists in the world...
.
Jalal recently wrote the foreword to Malik Al Nasir
Malik Al Nasir
Malik Al Nasir is a British author and poet, born in Liverpool, England in 1966 to a Welsh mother and a Guyanese father. He grew up partly with his family in Liverpool and after the paralysis of his father, he was taken into local authority care...
's poetry anthology
Anthology
An anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler. It may be a collection of poems, short stories, plays, songs, or excerpts...
"Ordinary Guy", published in the UK by Fore-Word Press
Fore-Word Press
Fore-Word Press Ltd. is an independent publishing house based in Liverpool UK. It was founded in 2004 by CEO Malik Al Nasir with the intention of giving voice to minority ethnic authors, who for one reason or another - could not get their manuscripts published in the mainstream. Fore-Word Press has...
. He also featured in the documentary "Word up - From Ghetto to Mecca", along with poets Gil Scott Heron, Mark T. Watson a.k.a Malik Al Nasir and dub poet Benjamin Zephaniah, where he discussed the significance of the spoken word as an extension of the African oral tradition, as well as the origins of rap and the work of his student and friend Malik Al Nasir.
Jalal now spends his time mainly in Aix-En-Provence, in the south of France. He is currently working on his autobiography. In April 2008 He reunited and reconciled with fellow Last Poets Umar Bin Hassan and Abiodun Oyewole, along with David Nelson and Felipe Luciano, all of whom appear in "Made In Amerikkka", a documentary by French film maker Claude Santiago. There have been suggestions of future live appearances in 2009.
On September 11, 2009 Jalal appeared live in New York, a return to the United States after more than twenty years.
Selected discography
- On The One
- The Fruits Of Rap
- Science Friction
- Long Enough 12" (The Last Poets)
- Mean Machine (1984) 12"
Lightnin' Rod
- Hustlers Convention (1973, United Artists RecordsUnited Artists RecordsUnited Artists Records was a record label founded by Max E. Youngstein of United Artists in 1957 initially to distribute records of its movie soundtracks, though it soon branched out into recording music of a number of different genres.-History:...
)
- Doriella Du Fontaine (Session Recorded By Alan Douglas in late 1969, with Jimi Hendrix and Buddy Miles)
Guest appearances
- MaterialMaterialMaterial is anything made of matter, constituted of one or more substances. Wood, cement, hydrogen, air and water are all examples of materials. Sometimes the term "material" is used more narrowly to refer to substances or components with certain physical properties that are used as inputs to...
: The Third Power; E Pluribus Unum and Power Of Soul (Black Chant). - Working WeekWorking weekWorking week may refer to*Working Week , a British jazz-dance band of the 1980s and 1990s.*Working time, the period of time that people spend in paid labour*Workweek, referred to as the Working Week in the UK....
: Working Nights / 12" ; Stella Marina. - Apollo 440Apollo 440Apollo 440 are an English band formed in Liverpool in 1990. Apollo 440 have written, recorded and produced four albums, collaborated with and produced other artists, remixed as Apollo 440 and as ambient cinematic alter-ego Stealth Sonic Orchestra, and created music for film, television,...
: Dude Descending A Staircase; Hustler Groove and The Children Of The Future. - Cosmo Vitelli: Video ; Science Affliction.
- Silent PoetsSilent PoetsThe Silent Poets is a Japanese electronic duo . They have released six original albums and over than seven remix albums/EPs until now...
: Words and Silence; Inquizative, Derivative, and The Children Of The Future. - Faya Dub: Sings and Plays; Reggae Monk.
- Seven Dub: Rock It Tonight; Land Of The Lost and Naturally.
- Michel BenitaMichel Benitaright|thumb|Michel Benita at a jazz festival in 2008Michel Benita is a double bass player, prominent in jazz music since 1980's. He moved to Paris in 1981 and became one of the major discoveries in European jazz scene. Among others, he played with Aldo Romano, Marc Ducret, Martial Solal, Lee...
: Drastic; Sky Screen. - Aktivist : Stereotape; Nouvelle Experience.
- Various Artists: Acid Jazz And Other Illicit Grooves (Spoken Word - Introduction Only)
- Various Artists: 12" / 30 Ans Apres Martin Luther King.
- Various Artists: Tempo Jazz Edition Volume 1 - Talking Loud; Mean Machine '90 .
- Malik & The OG's: "Rhythms of the Diaspora Vol II" (Spoken Word - Jazzoetry) CPR Recordings 2009 ; Malik's Mode.
- "Poetic Justice" - directed by John Singleton. With Janet Jackson & Tupac Shakur.
- "Word Up - From Ghetto To Mecca" produced by Shirani Sabaratnam - Documentary for Fore-Word Press with Mark T. Watson, Gil Scott Heron & Benjamin Zephaniah.
- "Art BlakeyArt BlakeyArthur "Art" Blakey , known later as Abdullah Ibn Buhaina, was an American Grammy Award-winning jazz drummer and bandleader. He was a member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community....
" directed by Dick Fontaine. Featuring Art BlakeyArt BlakeyArthur "Art" Blakey , known later as Abdullah Ibn Buhaina, was an American Grammy Award-winning jazz drummer and bandleader. He was a member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community....
, Wayne Shorter, Branford Marsalis, Courtney PineCourtney PineCourtney Pine CBE is an English jazz musician. At school he studied the clarinet, although he is known primarily for his saxophone playing. Pine is a multi-instrumentalist, also playing the flute, clarinet, bass Clarinet and keyboards...
and Steve Willamson.