M-Team

Nuyorican hip hop duo M-Team are engaged in a jihad, but they're not on a holy war. According to siblings Hamza and Suliman Perez, who founded M-Team in 2001 (the "M" stands for mujahideen), they're on a mission to rap about "the struggle of poor and oppressed people."

Born in Brooklyn to a family from Loíza, Puerto Rico, Hamza and Suliman converted to Islam after spending the tail end of the '90s as drug dealers. Hamza was recently the subject of a documentary, New Muslim Cool, which shows his transition from living single in New York City to raising a family in Pittsburgh.

Rapping under the names En Sabah Nur (Hamza) and Doctor Zhivago (Suliman), the duo has since released two independent albums, Clash of Civilizations and their latest, My Enemy's Enemy. The disc contains plenty of gritty New York hip hop that shouts out political activists, calls for solidarity between Latinos and asks questions about the American political system. M-Team say they want not only to spread the word of Islam, but they also want to entertain: "A side of hip hop that is dying out is diversity. Stuff that is fun… stuff with powerful messages."

See: myspace.com/mteam