A life plan performance and. Tell us about the challenges hes faced as a Muslim Artist and what inspires his music so mere thought through twitter and our live youtube chat. Can have. Us hit with the sounds of middle east and north africa they live in america musician relates tales of struggle while expressing the power of Political Engagement and this instance the son of a libyan prodemocracy activists he was an opponent of then leader Moammar Gadhafi go bass rapper has campaigned for a host of activists causes he was a headline name among several arab american artists who joined the employer 5 peace saving syrian lives tour in 2017 now k m is preparing to release his most personal and focused work yet. Have its good to have you in the stream hello. Its a pleasure thank you for having me were almost 8 spy at parents our family but you all story about how you came what inspires you comes directly from your dad even mentioning right at the top of the show you sent us some pictures this is your dad tell us about him and how that influenced where you ended up going up so. My father you know obviously was a political prisoner in libya. Our form of Position Movement and we grew up in lexington kentucky a Muslim Community a political dissidents and i just remember my father being very jovial very kind very loving even with my mother they were never too shy would be affectionate towards one another you know different or maybe a stereo typical north africa and a middle east of father he was a poet he was a wordsmith he used to make up songs and freestyle around the house about anything about a food i dont like about being in parts and. A little rhyme or a little a little fire that he told you as a kid to still in your head i mean i know and like libyan dialogue go ahead ok make a show i used to not eat food like food and. So i used to be like kind of. A little whore looking. Forward was just saying basically like. All of the bread and leave in the fall of me just like anything that looked at that job by their job their job. And full of course being father beans which i dont like him either so i can relate there so i want to share this with you were talking about family this is new to who says his music has a special place in my heart i often listen to it when i need that dose to ease my soul and uplift us especially when thinking of the evils in society 8 years ago i was listening to his song at home and my now late father began dancing with his music delighted by my fathers humor i big began recording the dancing its a memory and a video recording i am glad to have my father in other words even such a powerful song can have light effects which is a powerful quality an artist so thank you to noodle for sharing that but. Take us us into the realm of what this means to have it connected to family because as you mentioned your father was a poet but he was also a leading opposition activist and you spent the 1st few years of your life on the run. As beautiful to me but i would thank you for sharing that. I mean for us family was everything and ironically we were separated from our family we were exiled we had no communication but i grew up with the closest bonds that i think human beings can form with one another because this collective group for a while my family was bouncing around and they were. Iraq. London and in those days assassinations and so for prevalent and they decided collectively to move to United States sic asylum and continue their organization over there so i grew up in a community of people who only have each other and you know we struggle together we overcame poverty and deaths and consoled one another so for someone who didnt grow up with a lot of blood family around i know that i have way more human connections and the average person. You know to have been there is officially just shy which is your mom and dad and you at the front and. Your Little Brothers b i n g yes we can actually see the love of the bonds there for somebody who is living in america and there was a moment for you where you actually had a chance to go back home to libya for the very 1st time and meet your family you can see that in a document you havent been released yet but its called singing freedom i want to share just a moment of you eating with your family have a look. Oh well but it has to. Go to. I dont know about it but im sure that. Right. Thats a beautiful moment i dont feel at home. How does that influence how. Do you know what your music. You know i learned a lot about myself during that trip and this actually that feeling has inspired my current Concert Series its a storytelling series called the long way home and i realized growing up you know 1st libya was always home lexington always has a home a place in my heart but when i go back to visit the people that i grew up with arent there in the moment it feels like a place i spent a lot of time in but if theyre there it feels like home libya when i got there for the 1st time. It moved me and i had emotions that i couldnt articulate it really felt like home but at the same time from being very transparent with myself and honest but you know as soon as i step off the plane and im not from that you still stand i think you wont know what is it does a close this is on all of us anybody in the studio if you go overseas so i started thinking maybe home is only a physical place maybe its a mental place for me my home is my people and thats when im surrounded by people that im vulnerable with that i can be at peace with their understand my struggle and understand my journey so of course libya is a huge slice of that but i feel like i can step in a few different circles and really relate to that home feeling so ok in your home is your people which is a great segue for your next song never been heard before publicly him and his band will now play a new song medlock wrote as he gets settled heres a video comment from amir i think and a fellow a rapper. A guy so the thing about crime hes so deep down to earth i met him one time this event fan and i shook up with him another time at i heart hes such a personable guy and the thing about him is that you dont really feel like youre meeting an artist you feel like youre meeting a person and growing up in a Muslim Community as a brother and also raps amish just assume hes a great source of inspiration and hearing the story about his father in libya just really keeps you perseverance and always having the thought in your head about why youre going to become better which. Was. He. Was a lovely. Sweet woman taxes. But we praise the boss a strong love love for you and me. This community that what. We all enjoyed in this little one state sector to take. Sick at all so to flex to likes to live their lives to a new place. That we didnt have much money not ever had a lack of love lol im bringing such lovely. Things called. White america wasnt for the libyan livin in time where was it inside like in the baby in my little habitat link up on the Cabbage Patch my father had to skate to the fabric jackson. Got the battleaxe painted the country cadillac. The rate of family on the highway everything i would rather at some point blood but we lived together there were a lot of things that was to get through to bridge the gap a little bit it. Just. Was. Just going to make that. Next to. Be a journalist was to tell us that if she saw what happened. To write a speech. 3 years later. I mean thank you so much you always talk about school k n can you give us some props them to us welcome to the streams what yeah some blessed always say when we get together avengers assemble is a superstar weve got dan alexis on the vocals weve got ice on the keys welcome amir too bad grace with the phone and trumpet weve got greg the guard on the bass of colossal coleman on the Drums International superstar Ronnie Malley switching between the guitar and the road today thank you so much scott we have more for you in just a fake have come back to the task in our community i really love that people commenting live on you tube this is rahman he says. Im so proud theyre saying 5 year but i want to switch over to tweet because theyre getting those into just some praise here mohamed says. Meaningful work goes beyond his artistic lyrics cant take my freedom which is a song that you will hear coming up with a key advocate presentation that spread through the world i remember my friends who arent libyan told me that song made them more aware about the situation in libya so also being a person who spreading awareness there but this last comment i want to bring to you is via instagram because we got so many questions and comments when our community heard that was coming on the show so ill start with this one here from someone who says what does freedom mean to you and im going to take that a little bit further because freedom in the sense of knowing that you werent free to travel for a very long period of time talk to us about that. Yeah i mean freedom of movement is one of the most basic human rights to you know. Anybody and for me people wonder why i disappeared i saw comment on twitter like oh you know he was making music about libya and he kind of went back to his old life in the states and really i faced a situation where i was on a no fly over the i was facing perpetual harassment detainment and surveillance during that time period i couldnt release any music i couldnt really be social and social media couldnt do anything and you know were part of a Class Action Lawsuit to clear my name and it took about 3 and a half years for that to happen so during that time had to cancel tours i couldnt go overseas a kind of work i could. Make a living and. Of grown very appreciative of being able to do that now clearly can you describe because you are used to telling that story about not being on being on the no fly list but can you tell us one of those moments where you were taken off the plane and you interrogated because any of those stories are remarkable and also terrifying sure i mean you know when you say people just like honest you couldnt travel when i fly yeah but we dont think of how dehumanizing and degrading some of it is i mean i think the moment youre talking about was i had quite s. At that time which is secondary security selecting status this designation was for was there for anybody deemed a potential threat to National Security youve got to show up early to the airport maybe to print your boarding pass maybe when you get to security you have to see a supervisor they go through your phone if you have a notebook they take pictures at every page you know book. Strenuous security interrogation and then after that when you get to the gate same thing so i passed all of the security measures i was flying from chicago to listen to a connection in detroit. I made it through all the security got on the plane to detroit a woman came and asked me for my id i gave it to her and then she said im sorry but were going have to ask you to get off the flight mind you to suppose that my destination i was in the middle of nowhere and i said whats going on they couldnt give me a reason to refund anything and just the feeling of getting off the plane while sitting in the front and all of the faces behind me giving me a sheep as a grin like you know we got you sucker you know it was really humiliating and then just to be left stranded and thankfully i know people in michigan but what if i did it you know it just felt really dehumanizing. Even with all of the struggles that youve gone through to put out music and just to live your life as a human being there are people online who are saying along the way youve been helping other people and so i wanted to share some of those tweets this is malik who says k. M. Was the 1st person to put on for me as an artist he took me on tour with him spread my post and i had no buzz and a 1000 percent is a driving factor into why i started and continue to make music today he goes on to say muslim hip hop is interesting nowadays what i appreciate pushy about him some music is that it wasnt hiller towards islam but it had clever specific references towards the faith and culture around it without separating out those who werent in the community is that how you would describe your music you make of this thing so i think a different dont make Islamic Community im not the equivalent of a gospel artist im a muslim who happens to also be an artist and for me its important not to try to speak on behalf of any group of people whether muslims libyan or anything i just exist on a spectrum of a part of the story im not the story and i just try to contribute in that fashion there are so many examples on your Instagram Account of you doing charity your parents is you doing concerts which is to help other people so your activism is a big deal let me just show our audience speaking here and this is the 5 peace tour youre obviously feeling its this this drive that you have to help of the people where does that come from i think each of us have a role to play in society were blessed with certain talents. A rude awakening when the revolution 1st happened in libya for example had a lot of friends who were going back home people who had never been there in their life but we were always raised. With the understanding that were returning my father to say. When we return we always thought like its going to be a year 2 years 3 years so for me it was really beautiful to see so many people who have never stepped foot in libya my age moved there and you have people helping with logistics helping with aid helping with communication towers and so here i am like oh i need to get over there to win them you know and i remember my family even say my family over there like you know dont bring your butt on here what are you going to do you can be useless you know how to do this stuff stay over there raise awareness organize stuff organize media get people to tell our story share a story with the world and this was really early on before c. N. N. Before anybody had made it in there. So that was kind of a humbling moment for me when i realized you know let me play my position and do the part that i can. Without this scene from someone who says do you think libya was better off under. You didnt lead in libya under gadhafi but if other day because we couldnt have been killed if we lived there you know i dont live there because my you know my uncles who were assassinated in 1804 did i was named after d whose bodies were found in a freezer in 2001 and couldnt live there for. Us a very important question a lot of people ask it but i always say its the wrong question ask because it creates a revisionist history so if we say for example you have a tyrant a slave master lets say lets say you had a slave master in america who oppress the People Living with. Tortured would they be correct in revolting whatever happens if they make their decision whatever happens next does that negate the initial reason so maybe they overthrow the slave master and they can feed themselves and they prosper maybe they turn on each other if i whatever happens next theres a negate the initial thing so anytime we have that. Leader whos a brutal leader if you take. North korea if you take lets say even hitler probably the worst leader i can think of in history in germany if germany had fallen apart after if there was a lot of proxy wars from Different Countries if there were no existing institutions if italy was paying gains in germany to keep migrants from going and the country fell apart would be look back then and say oh well electricity is on and off and there was good you cant really use that kind of revisionist history at the end of the day a lot of people were nothing really with gadhafi at all before the revolution and some people are mistaken in thinking that he wanted to unite africa the difference he wanted to rule africa which is ego said it is not based on the people who perpetuated a lot of wars in africa and sudan. At the end of the day oppression was just rampant so when you say at least they had safety under gadhafi it was safe in the sense that the hostage situation is safe which is if i take my legal hostage right now shes safe as long as she dont say about the movie she does what i do and i want to know there is a very i want to go to a slightly lighter moment but i can be inspired by what you post and im wondering if youll superpower might be nice because if you look you know Instagram Account you talk about how you love the x. Men how bad of marvel im guessing youve probably got a couple of these figures at home and you love them what is it about the x. Men you cannot get to because i think thats such a great take away message for such a dark question. I literally learned how to exist as a muslim in america through watching x. Men as a kid and i feel like the x. Men represent a lot of marginalized communities within the x. Men you have a group of people who are new its through no fault of their own and because people dont understand that the general public they fear them and because they fear them they hate them and oppressive policies are put into power by the government. And as a reaction there are some. Who fight against those oppressive policies also with violence and theyre covered on t. V. And it gives the existing news a bad name but you have you have these characters who are struggling with who they are why theyre not accepted and youve got you know the struggle of the 2 main character is a professor who thinks we should always be peaceful and we should always fight with love and understand weve got negredo who is going to oppression in his. Reading of the acts and i will always think of them differently and thank you for bringing us superpower us here own the stream so. I will keep calling you call it of course because that is your former stage name called moses on you tube says im so proud of the mix of people on this stage thats what makes America Great love you al jazeera so were going to talk about that mix of people in with another performance by k. M. And his band this is cant take our freedom just before that heres a video comment from even that bit a fellow activists and artiste. I used to rap but i dont anymore and i just have 3 things to say oh boy i am number one as a rapper scat but the art and hip hop artist number 2 hes a class act a man this dude really humble guy very prochoice. Very respectable i mean its hard not to love him as character number 3 theres a fellow with lucia marry soon causes i mean if you dont have his back on a cause he doesnt care he goes hard because guys were trying to be on the right side of history you know which kind of goes back to number 2 thanks guys for us i am love humanity so. A lot of. Prison for 5 years but the support. At one point instead of just what his father. Just gave most are just name a day on the side of the mouths of those on the syllabus that hes from the. Place he was never the same. How about looking at his back as a kid. The scars there ran up and down his back remembered begin to look like a road map. Thinking about the torture that he faces. And realizing. That this is a common story my friends parents all have some of the stories sung. The song is dedicated to all of Fallen Soldiers the stuff and maybe you. Saw that so i had to i said look at us in the city how many. There were united. In the darkest hour when the world has turned away and no ones black jim when its guy has turned to great and you have no options with the boys as the legal the choice but a people is to stand up proudly in the face of the devil but in a way as the president we speak up loudly ill be happy the kids in the street with no place to piss. Given the new yorker the business is a little bit like this a bit excited about the position im having visions the teams i should stick with be it is post not to be but if the people of egypt to tunis get to decide the fate why wouldnt we want to put it a problem. To get the point pick one up a bit of the river but you cant take the tough stuff read a. Lot. Look at the live. Album. As of today. Just switch to taste of bread i have tasted blood enough tastes way to. The mcgraw many never see my home came closer to the magic ball played dead escaped jail when he dedicated his life to the cause but he never made the claim about taking the picture to look at what youre going to. Get on the consequences of the coming up with the. Dont know why you guys keep pushing this time for you politically i would think it is because i would rather keep the top of the regime just seems. Like a possible surprise that of a come up like going to. Sleep. One. January on l g c. President donald trump is that the president in history to be impeached what does this mean for the future of the u. S. Leader on the brink of an election before much chilian president ial candidate explores the defeat of left wing Political Parties across russia in america and look at how this years World Economic forum will focus on ways to tackle the impact of Climate Change the next probation of family links to the sudanese regime examines it its early may now be embracing fresh start the older g. s most believed gone forever with the general election out of the way breaks it is now certain how will the u. K. Proceed with the transition in the months january on aljazeera. To. Turn. My name is on some people saying that my feelings are any programs that theyre not real but if i think theyre real then they are real dont you think sound arrogant was designed to be the worlds most advanced autonomous android is one of the more advanced robots in the world can a robot feel thats a philosophical question its not a lot of but you do socially connect on a subconscious level we are creating this new kind of entity techno knowledge is earring. This is al jazeera. Hello and welcome to this news hour im stan grant and coming up nearly a quarter of a 1000000 people flee syrias province in just 2 weeks with intensifying bombardments by the government and russia. Libyans protest against wallboard relief after as these forces launch airstrikes at targets the the tunisian border. A plane crashes after takeoff killing 12 people but many on board have walked away without serious injury. Also the extreme weather. Of 1000000000. 00 disasters. And im peter stone of the oldest