Background and career
Ali Shaheed Muhammad (born August 11, 1970) is an American hip hop DJ, record producer, rapper and bass guitarist, best known as a member of A Tribe Called Quest. With Q-Tip and Phife Dawg (and sometimes Jarobi White), the group released five studio albums from 1990 to 1998 before disbanding; their final album was released in 2016. He was also a member of the R&B group Lucy Pearl, and is known in recent years for his jazz collaborations with producer Adrian Younge.
Muhammad was born in Brooklyn, New York City, and was raised in the Bedford–Stuyvesant neighborhood. He began to DJ at age eight, and began programming music at age 13. He befriended Q-Tip as a freshman at Murry Bergtraum High School in Manhattan, and in 1985, they began making demos together, using recording equipment provided by Muhammad's uncle. Shortly thereafter, Phife Dawg and Jarobi White joined the duo, forming the hip hop group A Tribe Called Quest. Muhammad is a Muslim.
Together with Jay Dee and Q-Tip, Muhammad formed the music-production collective the Ummah. After A Tribe Called Quest disbanded, Muhammad formed the R&B supergroup Lucy Pearl with Dawn Robinson, formerly of En Vogue and Raphael Saadiq, formerly of Tony! Toni! Toné!, releasing one album in 2000. On October 12, 2004, he released his debut solo album, Shaheedullah and Stereotypes. In 2013, Muhammad moved to Los Angeles to work with producer Adrian Younge on the Souls of Mischief album There Is Only Now, as the album's narrator. Since then Muhammad and Younge have collaborated to co-produce the soundtrack for both seasons of the Luke Cage TV series, and they have toured together since 2018 as the Midnight Hour, releasing an album by the same name. In 2019, Muhammad contributed to Saadiq's fifth album, Jimmy Lee. In 2020, Muhammad and Younge launched the Jazz Is Dead album series, in which the two of them collaborate with jazz musicians. Album partners in this series have included Roy Ayers, Marcos Valle, Doug Carn, Gary Bartz, João Donato, and the trio Azymuth. Muhammad is the main bass guitarist for the project. In 2024, Muhammad was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as a member of A Tribe Called Quest.
In 2013, Muhammad began co-hosting the Microphone Check radio show, which ran on NPR until 2016, and on Spotify until 2019.
Luke Cage (Original Soundtrack Album) (2016) Luke Cage: Season 2 (Original Soundtrack Album) (2018) The Midnight Hour (as The Midnight Hour) (2018) Jazz Is Dead 001 (2020) Roy Ayers JID002 (2020) Marcos Valle JID003 (2020) Azymuth JID004 (2020) Doug Carn JID005 (2020) Gary Bartz JID006 (2021) João Donato JID007 (2021) Brian Jackson JID008 (2021) Instrumentals JID009 (2021) Remixes JID010 (2021) Jazz is Dead 011 (2022) Jean Carne JID012 (2022) Katalyst JID013 (2022) Henry Franklin JID014 (2022) Garret Saracho JID015 (2022) Phil Ranelin and Wendell Harrison JID016 (2023) Lonnie Liston Smith JID017 (2023) Tony Allen JID018 (2023) Instrumentals JID019 (2023) Remixes JID020 (2023)
"Check the Rhime (Mr. Muhammad's Mix)" 1992
