The story of Shafiq Husayn is a very interesting and winding journey. The legendary producer, artist, Grammy Award Winning performer, songwriter, band member, father, minister and humanitarian has worked with a host of some of the most influential artist in the past 30 years.

Born in Cleveland, Ohio and reared  in Los Angeles and later in New York, he started his professional career as a member of the Nile Kings, a group signed to Ice T’s Rhyme Syndicate/Sony Records, consisting of Prince Sudan, D-Cipher, Justice and SLJ (Shafiq). Their 12′ single “Dropping Bombs”, “Listen To The Light” & “Positive Sounds” was a underground classic and displayed the early talents of Shafiq as a producer and beat-maker that he has become famous for the world over.

He is a part-founder and 1/3 of the Legendary Los Angeles based group SA-RA™ the creative collective which consist of Grammy Award Winning Producers Om’Mas Keith (Frank Ocean -Channel Orange) and Taz Arnold (Dr. Dre – Chronic 2001, Kendrick Lamar – To Pimp A Butterfly)

In 2009, Shafiq released his first solo project, the critically acclaimed album “Shafiq En’ A- Free-Ka”.  

He is the also the founder of the Dove Society,  a Los Angeles based creative collective which  spawned the likes of Anderson Paak and the Free Nationals, Jimetta Rose, Via Leaves.also 1/2 of Kron Don & Shafiq Husayn which released the critically acclaimed “White Boiz, Neighborhood Wonderful” on the Stones Throw Records label.

He has produced for the likes of Erykah Badu, Kanye West, Andre 3000, John Legend, Hiatus Kaiyote, Thundercat, Bilal, Ice T, Lord Finesse, Ty Dollar $ign, and many others.

In 2013 Shafiq was featured on the lead song, “Lift Off” on Robert Glasper’s  Grammy Award Winning R&B Album of the Year “Black Radio“.

Shafiq Husayn carries the music torch by importing and exporting sounds and genres into an otherworldly whole but always rooting back to a beats‐and‐rhymes basis.
From Fela‐Kuti style horns, Brazilian drums, to cod‐operative crooning, Shafiq’s music is a world sampler.

For inquiries: contact@iamshafiqhusayn.com

Explorer. Adventurer. Manipulator of Sound. Master of Ceremonies. Producer of Yasiin Gaye, Fela Soul, Bizarre Tribe, A Common Wonder & more.

BIO:

Forging an evolution of the "mashup" album format, producer Amerigo Gazaway's "conceptual collaboration" projects imagine studio sessions between like artist of different genres and eras. With a process the LA Times' Randall Roberts described as "drawing a different design within a similar framework," the producer/DJ deconstructs and re-orchestrates samples from his respective subjects, bridging overlapping themes of the two musician's classic catalogues. Equally influenced by his Brazilian roots and southern U.S. upbringing, the 28 year old Nashville native's work was featured in Apple's "What Will Your Verse Be" series of iPad commercials, called "brilliant" by music’s premier aficionado, Questlove, and earned praise from national/global outlets such as The Guardian, Huffington Post, The LA Times, Vulture, NPR, BBC, MTV, BET, REVOLTtv, EBONY,VIBE, XXL, THE SOURCE, OKAYPLAYER, Wax Poetic, Gizmazo and HipHopXL to name a few. 
 
The son of renowned Jazz trumpeter, Gary “El Buho” Gazaway, Amerigo’s thematic documentary-like concept albums uses found interview sound-bites, live performances, and original multi-track stems to help narrate and craft his combined artists' stories. Finding his first success with 2011's Fela Kuti/De La Soul pairing "Fela Soul," the project went on to land on several year-end "best of" lists including NPR, Soul Train, and OKAYPLAYER. Following the release in 2012 with "Bizarre Tribe: A Quest to the Pharcyde", a concept that layered vocals of The Pharcyde over re-imagined productions sourced from the original Soul, Jazz, and Funk records ATCQ utilized to create their productions, Gazaway would later collaborate with The Pharcyde on their single "Still Got Love" and perform with the legendary group at SXSW.
 
Continuing the theme of his previous work in 2014, the producer united Brooklyn rapper Yasiin Bey (FKA Mos Def) and soul legend Marvin Gaye for a dream collaboration aptly titled "Yasiin Gaye" (side one and side two.) Building the album’s foundation from deconstructed samples of Gaye’s Motown classics, Amerigo re-purposes the instrumentation into new productions with the familiar fervor of the original work. Carefully weaving Bey’s tangled raps and Gaye’s soulful vocals over his new arrangements, Gazaway delivers a quality much closer to an authentic collaboration than a lukewarm “mashup” album. Drawing nearly 20,000 downloads in its first two days of release, the “Master Modern Soul Match Maker” (Juan Vidal- Vibe Magazine) earned a perfect “5 Star” review from BET, collaborated with New York Magazine cartoonist, Drew Dernavich, for the project's side two cover art, and landed on Billboard's Best Selling Singles Chart with the album's third single, "You Are Undeniable."
 
Honing his DJ skills through tours of Europe, Brazil, and the U.S., Gazaway’s dancefloor driving live set features classic breakbeats, original blends, remixes, edits, and mashups of multiple genres including Funk, Soul, Disco, Hip-Hop, Afrobeat, and everything in-between. With presentations and lectures logged at USC, MTSU and upcoming dates at Google HQ (NYC) and SXSW 2015, the DJ/Producer continues to highlight the possibilities of sample based art and shows no signs of slowing down.

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