Interfaith-ish

This week we’re talking to stic.man, titan of the y2k underground hip-hop scene and one half of the legendary duo dead prez. You might know stic for his raw lyricism, tacking what he calls the “isms.”

More recently, though, he’s remixed his music into another genre - “fit-hop” - inspired not by the systems that tear people apart, but the mechanisms that keep people together. For stic, staying active and eating well are keys to community-building and spiritual enlightenment. Take what he says about martial arts, for example: “a black belt is just a dirty white belt.” In other words, we are here to learn from one another, not to arrive.

Climb with us on this week's Soul Ladder Music!

Learn more:

https://www.instagram.com/stic

Songs:

dead prez "Hip Hop"

dead prez "Learning, Growing, Changing"

KRS-1 "Why is That?"

dead prez "50 in the Clip"

stic "Yoga Mat"

stic "White Belt"

stic "Runner's High"

Earth, Wind & Fire "Pure Gold"

dead prez "Discipline"

William DeVaughn "Be Thankful for What You Got"

Soul Ladder Music Playlist:

spoti.fi/3VASImF

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Can't get enough of Y-Love? You're in luck! We've got one more track to discuss, May May Ali's "Life's a Test."

Join us as Y-Love explains that this is not just any one-hit wonder, but a testament to God's omniscience and inter-faith connections.

Learn more:

yitz.io/about

Songs:

May May Ali "Life's a Test"

Soul Ladder Music Playlist:

spoti.fi/3VASImF

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Judaism guided Yitz Jordan to Hip-Hop. A convert originally from Baltimore, he discovered rapping was a useful - if unorthodox - studying technique while at a yeshiva in Jerusalem. Not one to fit easily into any box, Y-Love (as he is now known) also came out as gay.

25 years into his career, Y-Love looks forward to ushering in a new generation of Jewish rap that reflects on, challenges, and lovingly confronts assumptions of who belongs.

Climb with us on this week's Soul Ladder Music!

Learn more:

https://yitz.io/about

Songs:

Y-Love "This is Unity"

Conflict "This is the A.L.F."

DJ K-Swift "Baltimore Club Radio Mix"

Y-Love "Menadrin Rhymin'"

Rak Po "Only Here"

Immortal Technique "The 3rd World"

Y-Love "Focus on the Flair"

Y-Love & DeScribe "Change"

Y-Love "Move On"

Soul Ladder Music Playlist:

spoti.fi/3VASImF

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When metalhead Eric Harper was 15-years-old, his parents announced that the family would be moving to Portugal. Accustomed to his life in the U.S., Eric took the news harshly. But Eric's new experience abroad introduced him to a lifelong passion: classical guitar. “[There’s] a pattern of God always having my back and moving me to places I don’t want to go to,” he says.

In this episode, Jack and Eric talk about the peculiar guidance of the divine throughout life’s moments, and the communities we make along the way.

Climb with us on this week's Soul Ladder Music!

Learn more:

https://ericharpermusic.com/

Songs:

Eric Harper "Fechar De Olhos"

Eric Harper "O Amigo"

Vicente Amigo "Ciudad de las Ideas"

Eric Harper "The Harvest of Reason"

Stromae "Papaoutai"

Eric Harper "Always There for Me"

Michael W Smith "Awesome God"

Eric Harper "Cura"

Soul Ladder Music Playlist:

spoti.fi/3VASImF

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When is making music about community survival? For Ladino singer Sarah Aroeste, her role is as much as a cultural preservationist. Although she was raised in suburban New Jersey, Sarah's family heritage goes back to the town of Monastir in Macedonia, where 98% of the Jewish population were killed during the Holocaust, and beyond that to the Iberian peninsula, where Jews were expelled during the Spanish Inquisition. Since establishing herself as a professional musician, Sarah has made it her mission to contribute to a thriving modern library of songs in Ladino, the unique language of the Jews in this region.

During our conversation, Jack and Sarah discuss how she is creating opportunities for young people to connect to their Sephardic heritage through not just music, but also literacy and food; and Sarah explains why her work pushing back against cultural assimilation is particularly poignant during the festival of Hanukkah.

Climb with us on this week's Soul Ladder Music!

Learn more:

https://saraharoeste.com/

Songs:

Sarah Aroeste "Od Bitola Pojdov"

Sarah Aroeste "Oy Qui Muevi Mezis"

Sarah Aroeste "Chika Morena"

Sarah Aroeste "Buena Semana"

Yo Yo Ma "Bach Cello Suite 1 in G Major"

Flory Jagoda "L'Amor"

Tuck and Patty "Takes My Breath Away"

Sarah Aroeste "Hanuka"

Soul Ladder Music Playlist:

spoti.fi/3VASImF

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Spirit called Nailah Porter to leave her life as a DC lawyer to follow her passion as a singer in Los Angeles. But pursuing her dream wasn't an easy road. Nailah channels these hard-won life lessons, as well as family stories from back home in North Carolina, into songs that are healing medicine.

In this episode, Jack and Nailah discuss how her music presents both the beauty and challenges of being a Black woman in America, and explore her spiritual and musical connections with Nina Simone, Abbey Lincoln, and Gil Scott Heron.

Climb with us on this week's Soul Ladder Music!

Learn more:

https://nailahporter.com/

Songs:

Nailah Porter "Hands"

Nailah Porter "Breathe"

Abbey Lincoln "Throw it Away"

Nina Simone "Images"

Nailah Porter "Beautiful Anyway"

Nailah Porter "Uncle Coo' Jack"

Gil Scott Heron "Winter in America"

Soul Ladder Music Playlist:

https://spoti.fi/3VASImF

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Like any skilled hip hop artist, Ofosu Jones-Quartey (who performs as Born I) knows the power of remixing multiple seemingly disparate influences and ideas into something cohesive and exciting. Perhaps this sense of balance comes from his lifelong training in Buddhist meditation. A practitioner from an early age, Ofosu learned from watching his mother, an immigrant from Ghana who was thirsting for spiritual connection beyond the Christian tradition.

In this episode, Jack and Ofosu talk about the example he's setting for his own children as a mindfulness instructor, as well as the many other ways Ofosu is keeping busy, not only as a musician, but a fashion designer, an app creator, and a children's book author.

Climb with us on this week's Soul Ladder Music!

Learn more:

https://bornimusic.com/

Songs:

Born I "In This Moment"

Born I "Om Mani Padme Hum"

Alice Coltrane "Radhe-Shyam"

Killah Priest "Heavy Mental"

Stevie Wonder "As"

Born I "New Avatars"

Soul Ladder Music Playlist:

https://spoti.fi/3VASImF

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Because there are too many good stories and music to share in our main episode, let's take it to the next level with this podcast extra!

For a teenage Omar, Icelandic experimental music icon Bjork was a revelation on how to be fearless as an artist.

Learn more:

https://www.omarsmusic.com/

Songs:

Bjork "Army of Me"

Soul Ladder Music Playlist:

https://spoti.fi/3VASImF

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Omar Pitras Waqar draws as much from DC-area punks like Minor Threat as he does iconic qawwali singers like Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Crossing geographies of space and time, Omar’s music is eclectic and divine, and has evolved through various forms and projects. Reflecting on the power to create on his own terms, he says “I can be as magical as I wanna be!”

In this episode, we get to experience a live performance of Gardens for the Lush, Omar’s unique blend of anarchist politics and Sufi poetry channeled through sitar instrumentation. We also talk about what it means to grow up punk in Islam and grapple with blended musical and cultural identities.

Climb with us on this week's Soul Ladder Music!

Learn more:

https://www.omarsmusic.com/

Songs:

Sarmust "Unconditional"

Amitabah Bachchan "Rang Barse"

Gaudi and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan "Bethe Bethe Kese Kese"

Kominas "Eid Mubarak"

Q and Not U "Hooray for Humans"

Diacritical "Disenchanted"

Evilartform "Veeena"

Gardens for the Lush "In Dreams"

Soul Ladder Music Playlist:

https://spoti.fi/3VASImF

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Departing from some of the themes of violence and materialism that dominate pop music, the rap group Native Deen focuses on the spiritual teachings of Islam. Native Deen’s influence casts a wide net, inspiring audiences in the US, Europe, the Middle East, and beyond.

In this episode, one of Native Deen's co-founders, Joshua Salaam, shares his love for old school rap and R&B, how Muslim youth camps gave him his first taste of being an MC, and how his songwriting is influenced by what he learns from working with youth and young adults.

Climb with us on this week's Soul Ladder Music!

Learn more:

https://nativedeen.com/

Songs:

Joshua Salaam "One True"

Bill Withers "Ain't No Sunshine"

Sam Cooke "A Change is Gonna Come"

Native Deen "Subhanallah"

Fat Boys "Can You Feel It"

Native Deen "Be at the Top"

Native Deen "Zamilooni"

Native Deen "Paradise"

Soul Ladder Music Playlist:

https://spoti.fi/3VASImF

+++

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