When album release dates are rolled out, fans’ excitement are usually centered around the artists they idolise. Only a handful are curious enough to ‘check the credits’ to familiarise themselves with other creative contributors. This is a reason many great composers, writers,
and producers tend to slip under the radar and barely get their dues.
Malik Yusef is one of those geniuses who lend their expertise to the most successful music projects in the world without fanfare. But beyond being a constant on some of the world’s most famous music stars’ favourite collaborators list, he is a man who is fulfilling his purpose.
A Chicago, Illinois native, Yusef was born Malik Yusef El Shabazz Jones on the fourth day of April, 1971. By the time he reached his teens, he had firmly solidified his feet in street life and had many lessons. He was, however, wary of the dangers of frolicking with gang members and
sought to rewrite his story through smartly crafted wordplays.
Yusef quickly found an easy way to document his street knowledge, gaining an impeccable mastery of poetry and spoken word. It was around this time that he forged friendship with hip-hop artist, Common. “I’ve been a poet since I was about 20 years old”, he says in an interview on The Scott Emo Show in 2012. “But I didn’t understand the musicality of it until I started being around my friends who were doing music, like Common. This was right after Tupac was killed. So I guess I had known that life a bit prior to that, [but] I didn’t do anything prior to being a poet besides street hustling”, he adds.
He also went on to familiarise himself with other budding stars from Chicago, including producer and rapper Kanye West, and they began working on a plethora of music projects together. Yusef’s first album, The Great Chicago Fire; A Cold Day in Hell, was released through Universal Records in 2003. The album, which was critically acclaimed and received moderate mainstream success, spurned the Kanye West and Common assisted single, Wouldn’t You Like to Ride. In 2009, he released his sophomore album, G.O.O.D Morning, G.O.O.D Night, under Kanye West’s G.O.O.D Music.
Apart from his personal projects, Yusef's work sometimes include credited and uncredited contributions to major music productions and compositions for other artists. His notoriety in quality music production has made him a sought-after writer, producer, and composer.
Earlier on, he contributed in various capacities to fellow Chicago natives music projects, including Common’s My City, Carl Thomas’ Trouble Don’t Last Always, Kanye West’s Crack Music, Raheem DeVaughn’s Woman I Desire and many more.
He has made further contributions to Kanye West’s award-winning albums, such as Yeezus and the Life of Pablo, as well as Drake’s 2017 record Glow and Beyonce’s Sandcastles from the highly successful 2016 album Lemonade, and Snoh Aalegra’s Bad Things. Other artists who have tapped Yusef to contribute to their projects include Rihanna, Katy Perry, John Legend, Adam Levine, and Snoop Dogg.
These contributions have not gone unrewarded, Yusef has earned himself six Grammy awards from 12 nominations. And he has also toured alongside Jay-Z, Vic Mensa, Raheem DeVaughn, Kanye West, Mary J. Blige, Keyshia Cole, and many others. Despite his intimidating list of collaborators, Yusef has said in interviews that he would have loved to score a dream collaboration with late pop icon Michael Jackson.
“Are you serious? It’s Michael Jackson” he says to host Scott Emalfarb, when asked of his dream collaborator – dead or alive.
Yusef’s diversity in his craft has also seen him score movie projects. In 2007, he collaborated with director Frey Hoffman for a film adaptation of his poem, Hollywood Jerome, to critical success.
With his undeniable wealth of experience, the poet is now shifting his focus on another worthy challenge, having been announced as a judge on ICT company MTN’s Y’ello Star music project. As a judge alongside Nigeria’s own superstars, Banky W and Omawumi, Yusef will be
assessing and guiding prospective music stars on their journeys to stardom. By virtue of his status, he’ll be exposing the prospective music stars to the international music scene.
He will also be on hand to write a song with the winner of the competition, as well as join the writer at the Power Station in NYC to record and produce the song. Yusef says of his excitement for the competition, “I’ve been doing this for a long time [writing, composing, recording, producing]. I also know that it’s my responsibility to take care of the next generation. To pass this information down to the next generation and bring y’all into the industry like I was brought into the industry by people that were ahead of me. So I’m doing that.”
MTN Y’ello Star promises to reward the winner with 5m Naira cash prize, a brand new car, a fully furnished house with an in-house recording studio and recording contract among other benefits, including a scholarship to attend Berklee 2021 Summer Music Program at the Berklee School of Music for the top five finalists.
Beyond the competition, the show will also create a platform for talented individuals and help with capacity building in the music industry and the overall entertainment industry. Besides all of the unique benefits of the MTN Y’ello Star competition, there’s no bigger reason for contestants to get super excited about their participation than a rare opportunity to learn and work with the man, the myth, and the
legendary Malik Yusef.