Chauncey Lamont Hawkins, internationally known as Loon of the former Bad Boy dynasty Loon, captured the hearts and minds of audiences with a smooth flow accentuated by an easy going demeanor that left fans clamoring for more. Often the butt of much criticism for having a style and sound that mimicked platinum selling artist and fellow Harlem MC, Ma$e, the New York artist left Bad Boy to create a bigger name for himself and to silence all critics and naysayers once and for all.
Sorry to say that never happened. Now, the man that once feuded with the likes of Jim Jones, P. Diddy, and 50 Cent is now waging a war against the art form that gave him the spotlight.
Now going by the name of Amir Junaid Muhadith, Loon seeks to air much of the proverbial dirty laundry, using his new found religion of Islam to deconstruct and destroy many of Hip-hop’s traditions and unspoken taboos. Speaking from Saudi Arabia, Junaid Muhadith confessed that he was happy to be accepting Islam and credits it for finding internal peace. The former rapper has relinquished the microphone in an attempt to become more knowledgeable in Islam, acknowledging that the line between Hip-Hop and religion is an extremely difficult one to traverse.
Even so, the desire to make music has not left the former Bad Boy, and there is hope that a comeback could take place. The desire to clean up Hip-Hop is paramount to the artist and is close to the top on his agenda as a Muslim man.
Records show that a growing number of Hip-Hop artists are leaving their Hip-Hop lifestyles to pursue more spiritual endeavors. The Canadian Dawah Association has reported that an ever increasing number of rap artists and entertainers have embraced Islam or acknowledged they had in the past. Names such as Busta Rhymes, Napoleon, Castro, Beanie Siegel, Freeway and Raekwon the Chef are all part of that statistic. Napoleon, who now goes by the name of Muta’a, is now the head of celebrity relations at the Canadian Dawah Association. William “Abdullah” Chappelle serves as the Secretary of Celebrity Relations for the CDA and is the brother of famous funny man Dave Chapelle.
The artist formerly known as Loon speaking on Muslim conversion:
