Known outside music circles as Will Youmans, the 28-year-old is considered by some a vanguard for Arab hip-hop, the Detroit Free Press said Thursday. "It gave me a sense that things going on in the world should matter," Youmans said of his upbringing. "My music fundamentally is educational and focuses on issues that need to be discussed more in this country.
" Marc Lamont Hill, an Urban Education and American Studies assistant professor at Temple University, said Youmans is among the most visible figures in Arab hip-hop. "He has a very profound understanding of his own cultural context and he allows that to inform his music performance," Hill said. "He's a real throwback to the late '80s where political consciousness was the format.
" Omar Chakaki, a Syrian-American rapper in Los Angeles, said, "By Will taking those first steps, it encouraged all of us to do what we do." Youmans now lives in Washington where he works at an immigration rights organization.
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