QUESTION

If you’re an avid hip-hop fan, surely you’re familar with Jin, the Asian rapper who’s single “Speak Chinese” proudly advertises his heritage. And of course you know about Eminem, who’s skin color has been both his biggest hindrance and help when it comes to breaking into the rap game. Then, there’s a handful of Latino rappers who have made their mark on the hip-hop game, including the late, great Big Pun, Fat Joe, N.O.R.E., and the up-and-coming Pitbull. But, in the wake of 9/11, is the world ready for the first Arabic rapper? Question, an Orlando-based rapper of Arabic descent, aims to be the first.

Who is Question?
Question is a young Arab-American who was born in Egypt and grew up in Jersey City. I grew up North til I was eleven and I moved down in Orlando.

What was your upbringing like?
Unlike the way most Americans think about Arabs and other immigrants, they think we’ve got a little gas station on the corner, but my family never hand that. We didn’t come to America and strike gold like most people think. Coming from where we’re from, we see the Arabs that got stores like they getting paid. But my pop drove buses, blue collar. My mother don’t speak or read or write English, til this day.

How did people react to you as an Arab when you moved down to Florida?
Being of a different nationality, I was totally just ridiculed.

When did you start getting into music?
What made me want to become a DJ was the movie “Juice,” back in the early 90’s when my father had died. In 1995, that’s when I got my first set of turntables.

How did you get your first turntables?
We broke into this guy’s house that lived like three doors down from me. I knew his schedule, and he had this stashbox of cash. We got like $3,500, that was real big for a thirteen, fourteen year old. It was kinda fucked up, cause he was a cool dude. I actually went over there after he got robbed, and I was like, “Man, that’s fucked up.” And then I bought some Technic 1200’s, but he never put two and two together. I hooked up with a DJ crew called Heavy Sounds, which was DJ Heavy, DJ Dewey, and Captain Celsius. I met them at a party in Kissimmee. At the time, there was a couple other local DJ crews. DJ Prostyle and Garfield were with Ill Foundation, and DJ Khaled, DJ Nasty, DJ Caesar and them were the Hitmen. I started rolling with the Heavy Sounds clique, and I actually learned how to DJ while I was rolling with them. I was DJ Question before I knew how to DJ. I’d just go to parties with them and people thought I was a DJ.

Where did you come up with the name Question?
The name Question was given to me by some people that I met in the street. They thought I was Spanish and I was telling them I was Egyptian, so they were like, “You’re like a question.” I go through different phases, different changes, when I had my dreads people thought I was a yellow nigga from Jamaica. I’m like a chameleon how I blend in, I can be everywhere. People are always like, “I don’t know what the hell you are.” This is when I was real young, like fourteen, so the name kinda stuck to me. We were the number one crew back then for a while that was throwing house parties and stuff. Heavy became a Jehovah’s Witness, so the crew broke up. I kept on, I continued by myself. I started to get into producing a little bit, making tracks for rappers around me. I also started throwing parties with Jungle Lion. I put together my own thing, started Staff Entertainment. We were putting out mixtapes, yellow and red mixtapes. People could tell the difference because the red mixtapes were hip-hop and the yellow mixtapes were reggae. I also met Big Wil (R.I.P.) from Max-A-Million Records back then when I was doing stuff with Heavy Sounds. I ended up founding Brimstone Records with Cesar, Red Dread, and Black Profit.

How did you get involved with pirate radio?
I started DJing on the underground station 95Live back in 2000. I was asked to do my own show, and all of a sudden I was the program director. There was beef between the two owners of the station, so I used to be the mediator for everybody.

So are you representing Arabs as a whole?
I’m not a rich Arab, I’m broke. I’m a ghetto-ass Arab nigga. But I’m not just reppin’ Arabs, I’m representing everybody. But people that come from other countries, like Jamaica, they know how hard it is to become an immigrant and get your visa, they know what I go through. Now, the whole project came about after 9/11 because it turned into a whole situation. Before, I was always discriminated against in America. Arabs don’t have our own set of music. I was already being discriminated against in the hip-hop game, but when 9/11 hit it turned into some real crazy shit. People wanted to kill us and hang us from the back of their pick-up trucks. These people need to know what the hell I’m feeling right now. I’m trying to tell my life story. I’m the new nigga.

What do you mean by that?
We are the new slaves of America. Arab people, brown-skinned people from Africa. We are the new slaves in America, and right now I’m telling my life through the “Sand Nigga.” That’s what they labeled me. I don’t know if the FBI is gonna lock me down because I’m Arab and they think I’m spreading the message of terrorism. I’m just basically showing what I go through. Like Eminem, he shows how it is to be a white boy rapping. He teaches you, even through that movie about him back in the day, that just showed you his life through different eyes. With Jin, you’re seeing through the eyes of an Asian kid. With me, you’re experiencing life as an Arab. I love America, it’s the land of opportunity, but it’s also a place that gives you pain. It’s a great place to be, but it’s not always great. My album is full of good times and bad times.

So if you make money, what do you plan to do with it?
I’m telling you, no Maybachs for me, dawg. All that $350k need to go back to those people that are starving. I’d take it back to Tangelo Park, I’d probably start up a fund for kids in school that are less fortunate to get scholarships. I might open up a community center. I might take a certain area and beautify it, like Carver Shores where all the houses are broke down. I want to add more lighting to the streets, rejuvenate it, and all those things take money. You can’t be broke and do it. This industry gives you the opportunity to make money and come back to the streets, but a lot of people get so stuck on the flashy shit they’re too busy to give back. We all like nice things, but I’m never gonna forget having to work all night and sleep all day and not be ablet o eat during the day. I represent the struggle, and I will give back to what made me. I’ll make myself into something. Everybody needs help sometimes. When I get my first deal, I’m gonna come back to Orlando and run around picking up some bums off the street and help them. I’ll get them fed, cleaned up, help them medically, buy some homes so they can have a roof over their heads and get a job. You can’t do all that without dough. I’mma do good with my money. No Bentleys or Maybachs for me. And you could quote that. I’m going back to my homeland – there’s a lot of people there that need help. If anybody wants to donate, they can go to arapmusic.com, we’re gonna have food drives and help their community. All money, all proceeds, nothing goes to my company. IT all goes towards helping those people, and you will see where it’s being used.

What’s your plan for the album release?
The album, “Sand Nigga,” will be coming out in the summer 2004. We’ve got two singles: “Streets is all Mine” featuring David Banner and Mad Preacher and “Da Brimstone Riddim” featuring Joe Grind. Right now we’re just in the streets. I can’t even lie, we ain’t got distribution. Straight out the trunk. Or they can purchase it on the website, www.arapmusic.com .