Author Topic: DJ Suspended Over Busta's 'Arab Money'; Busta Replies To Critics  (Read 502 times)

Elano

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Busta Rhymes continues to face adversity in the United Kingdom, as the airing of the rapper’s latest single “Arab Money” has resulted in a popular DJ’s suspension.

Global Radio owns and operates Galaxy Radio, which broadcasts Steve “Smooth” Sutherland’s show in Manchester, Yorkshire, Birmingham, York Shire, the South Coast, the North East and Scotland.

Sutherland - a veteran DJ who has earned two MOBO Awards for Best DJ - aired “Arab Money” on Saturday (November 29) during his “Steve Sutherland Show.”

A representative for Galaxy said the station received a number of complaints about the track, which resulted in Sutherland's and a producer of the show’s suspension.

“Galaxy would like to apologize to all our listeners for the airing of this song. It was never Galaxy’s intent to offend its listeners and never will be,” the company said in a statement. “A full internal investigation has now commenced. Galaxy would like to apologize for any offense however unintentionally caused.”

Busta Rhymes addressed the song title with AllHipHop.com in an interview Monday (December 1), prior to Sutherland’s suspension.

“The most irrelevant thing can be justified as a reason to fire somebody nowadays,” Busta told AllHipHop.com. “Ain’t nobody safe. This recession has f***ed the whole game up and everybody is on they eggshells when they walk around. So I just feel like, that’s really more so what it’s about than anything else and until I start to get some direct awareness of the Arab culture having an issue, ya know, we’re going to continue to move forward with our campaign.”

The song has also drawn criticism from some Muslim Hip-Hop fans, who wrote to AllHipHop.com and explained the reason that the song may be offensive to some listeners.

“In ‘Arab Money Remix Part 1,’ in the chorus you used (‘Bismillah Ulrahman Ulrahim Alhamdullillah rab Ulalamen) which is a Quranic verse from the first Surah (chapter) in the Holy Quran,” a Muslim reader named Khalid wrote to AllHipHop.com.

“As an Arab and a Muslim it's prohibited to sing or cite a Quranic verse in combination with music and most Muslims will find this disrespectful," Khalid explained. "I'm afraid this misunderstanding will be interpreted as an offensive and disrespectful way by some people and I trust that you wouldn't upset and disrespect your Muslim and Arab fans.”

Busta, who frequently uses terminology familiar with those who follow the Five Percent Nation, which is an offshoot of The Nation of Islam, agreed he was not out to offend anyone with his latest single.

“I really only respect the Arab culture,” Busta Rhymes stated. “I ain’t really trying to pay no attention to, ya know, these little people in political positions and executive positions that ain’t Arab culture oriented people because a lot of the times, what are you really showing all of this concern for? Is it really concern for the people or concern for your job?”

Despite Rhymes’ sampled transgression, Khalid was sure that the rapper’s Muslim fans would forgive him.

“If someone did a sin without knowing it is a sin, he/she will be forgiven by Allah,” Khalid said. “Mr. Busta, if you are looking for a hot Arabic verse you want to use in the ‘Arab Money Remix Part 2,’ please contact me.”

Rhymes recently recorded a remix for the controversial song that features high profile artists Akon, Sean "Diddy" Combs, T-Pain, Ron Browz, Swizz Beatz and Lil Wayne.

 

KyleEshna

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Re: DJ Suspended Over Busta's 'Arab Money'; Busta Replies To Critics
« Reply #1 on: December 03, 2008, 10:49:48 AM »
Quote
“If someone did a sin without knowing it is a sin, he/she will be forgiven by Allah,” Khalid said. “Mr. Busta, if you are looking for a hot Arabic verse you want to use in the ‘Arab Money Remix Part 2,’ please contact me.”

Please...no  :'(
 

Booz

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Re: DJ Suspended Over Busta's 'Arab Money'; Busta Replies To Critics
« Reply #2 on: December 03, 2008, 10:53:12 AM »
Fuck this industry shit.
 

corner_boy

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Re: DJ Suspended Over Busta's 'Arab Money'; Busta Replies To Critics
« Reply #3 on: December 03, 2008, 11:45:08 PM »
Quote
“A full internal investigation has now commenced. Galaxy would like to apologize for any offense however unintentionally caused.”

hahahahahaha, that's some shit
 

wardy

Re: DJ Suspended Over Busta's 'Arab Money'; Busta Replies To Critics
« Reply #4 on: December 04, 2008, 08:59:18 AM »
Tbh anything that "Supposedly" offends muslims in our damn country is getting over hyped, was reading in the paper today that a school in Nottingham is delaying its christmas play till january so it wont offend muslim students, stupid as fuck imo but thats a whole other story 
 

kuruptDPG

Re: DJ Suspended Over Busta's 'Arab Money'; Busta Replies To Critics
« Reply #5 on: December 04, 2008, 10:42:23 AM »
Tbh anything that "Supposedly" offends muslims in our damn country is getting over hyped, was reading in the paper today that a school in Nottingham is delaying its christmas play till january so it wont offend muslim students, stupid as fuck imo but thats a whole other story 

homie its not over hyped, ther are muslims out there that respect the religion so much, if they see or hear something wrong then yes they have the right to address it, have an opinion on it. reasons he wouldve done it would be whether nation of islam say its ok to do it or he done it without thinking about islams opinion.

but jus wondering why is it delaying this christmas play? how will offend muslim students?
 

'EclipZe

Re: DJ Suspended Over Busta's 'Arab Money'; Busta Replies To Critics
« Reply #6 on: December 04, 2008, 11:06:48 AM »
sensitive bitches in the world nowadays.

sniperuk

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Re: DJ Suspended Over Busta's 'Arab Money'; Busta Replies To Critics
« Reply #7 on: December 04, 2008, 01:09:33 PM »
Tbh anything that "Supposedly" offends muslims in our damn country is getting over hyped, was reading in the paper today that a school in Nottingham is delaying its christmas play till january so it wont offend muslim students, stupid as fuck imo but thats a whole other story 
off topic, u gotta admit most of the time its not the muslim people complaining its the pc mofos who hold something up because of what it 'might' do.

seriously, if you look at these news articles, most of the time its because of someone on a committee or a board going against because it MIGHT offend Muslims.
 

Hey Ma

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Re: DJ Suspended Over Busta's 'Arab Money'; Busta Replies To Critics
« Reply #8 on: December 04, 2008, 02:36:48 PM »
Tight assed brit conglomerates. fuck em/ arab money is my joint.
 

wardy

Re: DJ Suspended Over Busta's 'Arab Money'; Busta Replies To Critics
« Reply #9 on: December 04, 2008, 02:40:23 PM »
Yeah i agree with your points as most of the time its either blown up by the media or some person who feels that it could cause problems, and i was happy to read that when Oxford banned christmas lights in there centre this year that Muslims, Jews and other religions stood up for the british tradition, we need to hear more about these things in the media instead of only hearing stories of other religions being offended by the way we do things, But at the end of the day the british media and especially newspapers thrive of stories like these as they help sell the papers
 

Elano

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Re: DJ Suspended Over Busta's 'Arab Money'; Busta Replies To Critics
« Reply #10 on: December 09, 2008, 08:41:50 AM »
IRAQI MC The Narcicyst has jumped into the storm surrounding Busta Rhymes' controversial new single “Arab Money.” The rapper has released a stinging response to the song, hitting back at what he calls straight out racism.

The Narcicyst says he was stunned when he first heard the track—and has been flooded with calls from the Arab Hip-Hop community who are furious that Busta has made what they deem a high profile error and poked fun at their culture.

"Immediately I got that screeching sound in my head like, ‘Whooaa.’,” says the Narcicyst. “Once again, Arabs are represented as these arm flailing, oil rich, loft having, private jet taking, camel toe lady bangin', desert camel riding, bearded sand men.”

He continues, "And to come from Hip-Hop was just disappointing. All that and the title. I started reading up on the lyrics, watching the YouTube videos and that just took my feelings to a whole other level."

So perturbed was the Narcicyst the he took a break from shooting a feature film in Dubai, UAE, and immediately hit the studio to record "The Real Arab Money," a stinging response to Busta Rhymes' single.

Explaining why he had to hit back on the mic, The Narcicyst says: “The remix they all did took it to a whole other level. People are getting suspended for playing the song in the UK, when that song came out you should have seen the reaction.”

"How you gonna have Qu'ran in a song about Money? The new chorus is the opening to every time you read a su'ra from the Qu'ran. Arabs do not take that lightly at all. Then you got cats talking about women, cars, houses? What does "In the name of God the most beneficent the most merciful" have to do with you being able to buy whatever you want? That right there really really really really really pissed me and a lot of fellow Arab MCs Off. "

The Narcicyst, who immigrated to Montreal with his family after Saddam Hussein's regime destroyed Iraq, adds: "We need to rise up together as society against the evils that bring us down. We need to speak our minds freely and expand on the knowledge we were gifted to have. I hope that's how it came off. And to explain myself fully, my song is about everybody to relate to what it feels like when someone called me a 'sand n****r' or a 'dirty desert rat' or someone who told me to go back home when I immigrated to Canada. Enough is enough man."

And the Narcicyst, who is set to release his new album PHATWA in early 2009, also explains how it was even harder to hear Busta's track when his own homeland Iraq is war-torn and in total poverty despite having huge oil reserves.

"If the hook was in Arabic… If they got an Arab to do the hook and didn't call us ‘Ay-rabs’… Trust me, I would have probably been fine with it. S**t, I would have been proud! Besides the whole beards looking weird and that it’s possible to fly a Lear jet to go lounge in Baghdad. Baghdad ain't no joke right now. My country is f**king dead. It's not somewhere to be glorifying as ‘Arab Money.’ That's the last thing people need. They need security."

Moreso than anything, the Narcicsyt was stunned to hear one of his Hip-Hop idols insulting his culture.

"I just didn't understand,” he says. “I know Busta is not ignorant, I know he's not a racist. Then where does it come from?”

He continues, "It's my duty to speak on this, to give my opinion on ‘Arab Money.’ Don't even get me started on Ron Browz, that dude should put away his auto-tune cuz T-Pain and Kanye did it better than anyone else. To have a young man my age, putting random syllables together and calling it Arabic is completely and utterly racist. It wouldn't go down any way if a non-African American did a song about African culture and made up some random gibberish about the language. It's not funny anymore.

"You would think, at a sensitive time like this, that if anyone knew what it felt like to be boxed in it would be the African-American community in America. We are of the same strife. Public enemy number one is now Arab/Muslim males. What did they try to do to Obama during his campaign to destroy him? They made him out to be a closet Muslim. Like that is a bad thing, to be a Muslim. Its' all one big f**k-up, as you can see, its deeper than the song itself, its the principle."

Though upset at the situation, the Narcicsyt does now want to cast Busta aside. He goes as far as to he will still support his fellow MCs career.

"I want to say this to make it clear, Busta Rhymes is a lyrical idol of mine. I have always had mad love for his lyrical ability, his style and his grace as an artist. His albums are opuses and his delivery is absolute bananas. He was actually one of the first MCs I saw on stage and I was blown away. I will most probably buy B.O.M.B. I'm not making this make me not listen Busta anymore. Busta is dope dude. Busta had Stevie on his last album. Busta did "Woo-hah,” he was on "Scenario,” Leaders of the New School.

"My track is not a diss song, this was a response. I ask you this, How would Busta feel if I came out doing a song about Black People with some stereotypical s**t on the hook?

"As a person of his stature, I would have expected more and would have loved to see our people celebrated for our culture and not our money. I just think the song wasn't calculated right. Get an Arab dude on the hook, talk about the reality. I respect that it was an attempt at bridging the gap, but unfortunately it did the total opposite."

The Narcicsyt has also contributed to a full remix featuring a host of Arab rappers including Omar Offendum, Cilvaringz, Salah Edin, Palestine - which is set to be leaked within a few days.

 :D  :D  :D  :D  :D
 

R1ZE

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Re: DJ Suspended Over Busta's 'Arab Money'; Busta Replies To Critics
« Reply #11 on: December 09, 2008, 11:04:39 AM »
Quote
“I really only respect the Arab culture,” Busta Rhymes stated. “I ain’t really trying to pay no attention to, ya know, these little people in political positions and executive positions that ain’t Arab culture oriented people because a lot of the times, what are you really showing all of this concern for? Is it really concern for the people or concern for your job?”

Is it me, or is this completely ignorant?

I'm not muslim/arabic, but this wasnt some guy in a "political position" with an agenda.. he was just tellin bus the truth - you're not supposed to sing/put the quran to music, and he did. I'm no expert, but I guess that'd be like calling Jesus a faggot or the virgin Mary a whore. something you dont do

he didnt know, so its not a big deal... but the fact that the song is so terrible means it should be rectified... dead this track, throw every physical copy in a fire and erase every digital one. lets pretend this shit didnt happen.

(not to mention, what if bin ladens heard it?  :P)
« Last Edit: December 09, 2008, 11:25:53 AM by R1ZE »
 

Blood$

Re: DJ Suspended Over Busta's 'Arab Money'; Busta Replies To Critics
« Reply #12 on: December 09, 2008, 11:19:13 AM »
that song is garbage anyways
 

Jaydc555

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Re: DJ Suspended Over Busta's 'Arab Money'; Busta Replies To Critics
« Reply #13 on: December 09, 2008, 11:43:34 AM »
I'd suspend a DJ for playing to song too.that garbage is offensive to good musical taste.straight garbage
 

Matty

Re: DJ Suspended Over Busta's 'Arab Money'; Busta Replies To Critics
« Reply #14 on: December 09, 2008, 11:50:29 AM »
who would have thought a record could be so blasphemous on both a religious and musical level! i like busta but he messed up big time with this one. auto-tune sucks :I
« Last Edit: December 09, 2008, 04:16:46 PM by Sir Hanks »