Ansar El Muhammad (born Ricky Murdock), better known by his stage name Askari X, is a hip-hop artist from

Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

. He has released 3 albums, is on numerous compilation albums, and has been a guest on several albums.

Stic.man Khnum Muata Ibomu (born Clayton Gavin, March 6, 1974), better known by his stage name stic.man and more recently as stic, is an American rapper, music producer, activist and author known for his work as one half of the political hip hop duo dead ...

and M-1 of

Dead Prez Dead Prez (stylized in lowercase) is an American hip hop duo composed of M-1 and stic.man, formed in 1996 in New York City. They are known for their confrontational style, combined with lyrics focused on both militant social justice, self-de ...

refer to Askari X in their music and credit him as one of their main musical influences. Askari X advocates

Black Power Black power is a list of political slogans, political slogan and a name which is given to various associated ideologies which aim to achieve self-determination for black people. It is primarily, but not exclusively, used in the United States b ...

, Black Liberation, and Islam in his lyrics. His sound is characterized by slow drum beats and a verbal flow similar to

Tupac Shakur Tupac Amaru Shakur (; born Lesane Parish Crooks; June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), also known by his stage names 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper and actor, regarded as one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all tim ...

. Askari X is philosophically aligned with the

African People's Socialist Party The African People's Socialist Party (APSP) is a pan-Africanist political party in the United States. APSP leads its sister organization, the Uhuru Movement (pronounced , Swahili for "freedom"). Both APSP and Uhuru formed in 1972 from the merg ...

and the Uhuru Movement. His style may be considered as

conscious rap Political hip hop (also known as political rap and conscious hip-hop) is a subgenre of Hip-hop, hip hop music that emerged in the 1980s as a form of political expression and activism. It typically addresses Political sociology, sociopolitical i ...

Early life

In an autobiographical song titled "Moma" Askari X refers to experiencing domestic abuse against himself and his mother when he was 7 years old. He talks about being unsatisfied with school, experiencing persecution and systematic racism from the school system and the government. When he rebelled against the oppression he experienced in school, the school labeled Askari X as crazy and tried to place him in foster care. Askari X joined the

Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose. The Association of Bay Area Governments ...

West Coast hip hop West Coast hip-hop is a regional genre of Hip-hop, hip-hop music that encompasses any artists or music that originated in the West Coast of the United States. West Coast hip-hop began to dominate from a radio play and sales standpoint during th ...

scene when he was 16 years old. His career started with the rap group the Righteous Black Guerillas (RBG). The neighborhood of 72nd and Lacey Street in Eastmont, Oakland, where some of the RBG crew grew up, was referenced in later Askari X songs. Askari X encountered the Uhuru Movement, then Islam as taught by the

Nation of Islam The Nation of Islam (NOI) is a religious organization founded in the United States by Wallace Fard Muhammad in 1930. A centralized and hierarchical organization, the NOI is committed to black nationalism and focuses its attention on the Afr ...

, which began as a prison study group. Both are major influences in his music.

Music career

Askari X co-founded the group Righteous Black Guerillas who released the record ''Ansars'' in 1991. Askari X's first album, "Ward of the State", was released in 1992 while he was incarcerated. He has performed and recorded with

Seagram The Seagram Company Ltd. (which trade name, traded as Seagram's) was a Canadian multinational beverage and during the last few years of its existence, entertainment Conglomerate (company), conglomerate formerly headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. ...

, Rappin Ron & Ant Diddley Dog,

3X Krazy 3X Krazy (pronounced 3-Times Crazy) was an American hip hop group formed in Oakland, California in 1994. The group consisted of members Keak da Sneak, B.A. and Agerman. They were signed to Noo Trybe Records. History Founding 3X Krazy was forme ...

Tajai Tajai Massey, known mononymously as Tajai ( ; born April 21, 1975), is an American rapper and producer. He is one of the four founding members of the Oakland, California-based underground hip hop group Souls of Mischief and, with Souls of Mis ...

from the

Hieroglyphics Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs ( ) were the formal writing system used in Ancient Egypt for writing the Egyptian language. Hieroglyphs combined ideographic, logographic, syllabic and alphabetic elements, with more than 1,000 distinct characters.I ...

, Mr. Ill, The Delinquents, & The Whoridas,

Stic.Man Khnum Muata Ibomu (born Clayton Gavin, March 6, 1974), better known by his stage name stic.man and more recently as stic, is an American rapper, music producer, activist and author known for his work as one half of the political hip hop duo dead ...

. He has released three solo albums: ''Ward of the State'' with Righteous Records, ''Message to the Black Man'' with Slow Motion Records, and ''Return of Askari X (a.k.a. Ricky Murdock)'' with Success Entertainment. His career started with the Righteous Black Guerillas album Ansars. He co-produced the album by Dead Prez (M1 + stic.man) Presents – ''Get Free Or Die Tryin (Turn Off The Radio: The Mixtape Vol. 2)'' Askari X has also appeared in several compilation projects, including the track "Fucked in the Game" on the album "Cell Block Compilation" produced by Cell Block and Priority Records, on the track "Rumble in the Jungle" on the album "Pusha' Man's Compilation" produced by The Road Productions, on the track "Peckerwood, Peckerwood" on the "International Blunt Funk Compilation" produced by In-A-Minute Records and Blunt Funk Records, on the tracks "Street Soldier" and "Rap" on the "Herm - Solo Album" produced by Black Power Productions, and the track "Fuck that P.D." on the album "The Monopolation" produced by Legal Dope Records.

Personal life

In one interview between prison stints, Askari X referred to jail as “the hidden university,” saying that he wrote much of his rap material there. “The solitude gave me time and inspiration to come up with new raps," he said. As for the initial crime he was convicted of, he has always maintained his innocence. "I’m sure it was a set up...The police said that I robbed a bank and was armed, even though I had seven witnesses to prove otherwise," he said to an interviewer in a 1990s interview reiterating the lyrics of "Ward Of The State Pt II." In 2010 and 2011, he was incarcerated at

Folsom State Prison Folsom California State Prison is a California State Prison in Folsom, California, United States, approximately northeast of the state capital of Sacramento. It is one of 34 adult institutions operated by the California Department of Correcti ...

RBG

Askari X has been credited by some sources as having created the term RBG as an acronym for "Righteous Black Guerillas" before

. Askari X first used this meaning for RBG when he co-founded the rap group "Righteous Black Guerillas". Askari X was featured on a number of Dead Prez songs, including "Scared to Die" and the news report "Hood News" which was released on the DP album Get Free Or Die Tryin (Turn Off the Radio (The mixtape vol. 2 )). Dead Prez have credited Askari X in their use of the term RBG and have credited him in numerous tracks, including the track "Hood News" off their album "Get Free Or Die Tryin (Turn Off the Radio (The mixtape vol. 2 ))", saying "And today in the hood news: Where it might not be good news, but it sure is hood news, we ask what's really hood with the lock-down of Oakland RBG emcee Askari X."RBG is also known in this context as "Red, Black, Green", the colors of the flag of the Pan-African Movement, and has many other associated meanings.RBG Communiversity https://www.scribd.com/doc/100733787/RBG-Communiversity-Courses-of-Study-Collections-2012-Summer-Semester Community Courses of Study Collections 2012 Summer Semester viewed July 26, 2012

Discography

Studio albums

EP's

* Title: ''Recorded Live From The State Pen'' ** Year: 1992 ** Format:

Cassette tape The Compact Cassette, also commonly called a cassette tape, audio cassette, or simply tape or cassette, is an analog audio, analog magnetic tape recording format for Sound recording and reproduction, audio recording and playback. Invented by L ...

References

{{reflist

External links

Askari X at iHeart Radio website
Rappers from Oakland, California African-American Muslims Muslims from California