Malik Yusef El Shabazz Jones (born April 4, 1971) is an American spoken word artist, poet, rapper, record producer, and director based in Chicago, Illinois.
Jones' surname means "King Joseph" (Malik and Yusuf, respectively) in Arabic He was raised in Chicago's South Side neighborhood, known as the "Wild 100's", where he became affiliated with the Blackstone Rangers street gang; he is no longer involved in gang activity. In his youth, he became friendly with rapper Common. He... plus