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Trailer of Napoleon of the Outlawz’s Story – Coming To DVD

Pretty sweet trailer made by the folks at the Canadian Dawah Association for a DVD they produced of an even with Mutah Beale, also once known as Napoleon of the Outlawz, a group founded by rap phenom Tupac Shakur.

What I love about this trailer is two things. Firstly, they level of professionalism. It looks legit. And it looks like something that cries out “quality.” I feel this way about it, not just because of the excellent composition and editing, but also it’s not the same old sunsets, mosques, flowers, mountains, etc. that we find in many Islamic videos. Sure those types of images don’t exactly fit in this type of story, but still, it’s nice to a see a change.

Also whoever made this got some acapella tracks of 2Pac and used them in the background. That took this thing from an A to an A+. When I used to listen to music, I remember some of the more famous artists would release singles with acapella tracks on them. The maker of this trailer uses them in the background, and adds some solid “thug life” feeling to the video while not having to use musical instruments, something which is under scrutiny in Islamic law.

In any case, I am sold by this trailer, and hope more Islamic video productions can pump out stuff of this quality. I’m also down to purchase the DVD when it comes out (looks like the trailer worked!)

For those of you unfamiliar with Napoleon, he’s someone who used to straight roll with Pac back in the day, and witnessed all of the events that went down during his huge rise up until his death. He was born to Nation of Islam parents, and had a crazy life since young childhood when his parents were murdered in front of him by his godfather. He eventually made his way into the rap scene where in 1995 appeared on the song “Outlaw” on Tupac’s LP “Me Against The World.”

After Tupac was murdered in 1996, Napoleon continued his rap career. I believe for about 10 years, he struggled to give up his “thug life” and make way to orthodox Islam. I remember at ISNA in 2004, he was one of the performers for an MSA National entertainment session. It was nice to see him at a Muslim event, trying to come close to Islam and stray away from his old life, and in his interviews he has mentioned that even the Islamic music scene didn’t feel right for him.

Then, by 2006, he appeared in a YouTube video that shocked the world. It’s a recording of Br. Mutah Beale, former member Napoleon of Tupac’s Outlawz, telling a masjid full of youth the story of his life and why they need to get focused on Islam and getting closer to Allah, following the Sunnah, and getting over the fallacy of the “ghetto fabulous” lifestyle. Here’s a 5-minute preview of his 2nd video:

I hope more people like Br. Mutah can find their way to Islam, and with every person of influence coming to the Deen, thousands more come with them.