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Shafiq continues, “I mean, OM’mas is the musically trained out of the three of us. He grew up in a house with jazz musicians. With that put in, a history of producing and record collecting. You know? We staying true to the music and we couldn’t help but express all of that. That’s what the next thing is, a combination of everything that we heard in the past one hundred years, in Sa-Ra right now.”

“Let’s get together, let’s be really creative and let’s do something that will impress you. That would make you go ‘damn, I wish I made that’”

Sa-Ra is the artist and performance name of the trio, but The Sa-Ra Creative Partners is the recording and business entity aspect, he reflects, “I met Taz in 89 and I met OM’mas in like 94, up in Ice-T’s house. Him and I used to live together in Harlem, New York. The three of us started working together, when OM’mas and I would come out to LA, I took a moment in Taz’ house. Taz had a little studio set up, that would be the spot I’d work at, when I was in LA and this is about 96, 97. We weren’t Sa-Ra then, we were still doing whatever we were doing. 2000, was when we officially got together, you know? We just felt it. We just felt there was a need for change, to get together and do some dope shit.”

“Like I say, we’re students first. All artists have a certain method or process, and how they make their music, you know? That’s what you hear in the music of Sa-Ra — cats actually doing homework.”

“Well, that’s always the goal. First and foremost is to be creative. That was the main thing. Let’s get together, let’s be really creative and let’s do something that will impress you. That would make you go damn, I wish I made that,” says Shafiq Husayn. “Actually it was a collective effort. Taz and I were at an election for one of the African Crios Scholars dealing with Ancient Kemit, of Ancient Egypt. Kemit is the Egyptian name for what they call the land of Kemit. Inside of the election this terminology kept coming up, Sa Ra. It is a very powerful name, it was used to describe the names of Jesus Christ the Sun of God or Buddha or Krishna. All these that walked the planet, were referred to as Sa-Ra, you know? We were like, man that’s what were about. That’s what where trying to manifest, we trying to manifest heaven on earth. Hence that name came about and when OM’mas gave it some thought. He was like yeah, here’s Sa-Ra and we should be like creative, you know? Because OM’mas worked at an advertising firm at the time and that was his thing. His whole thing was to come up with the slogan and what not. The Sa-Ra Creative Partners became our slogan. Creative Partners was for our business, and Sa-Ra the group that’s the name of the three of us when we get together.”

“I would say music as a whole, not even just black music. I think music as a whole, is at an all time low.”

“Incredible,” is how he sums up working on the special song ‘Fly Away’ featuring Erykah Badu and Georgia Anne Muldrow, taken from the trios (Shafiq Husayn, Taz Arnold and Om’Maz Keith) 2007 album ‘The Hollywood Sessions’. “Your talking about sisters that are doing the best at what they do, you know? Erykah Badu, well her name and her work speaks for itself. As I guess you’re a fan and I’m a fan of hers too. Then Georgia is this twenty year old kid, who was just amazing. She could produce, write, arrange, and play all the instruments, sing, it’s amazing. I want to say, in all our sessions we were students, just on the outside in, working with these people, we were actually learning their process. Like I say, we’re students first. All artists have a certain method or process, and how they make their music, you know? That’s what you hear in the music of Sa-Ra (not to go off point) — cats actually doing homework. Instead of just listening to a Stevie Wonder album or Charles Mingus Portraits album, we’re going to figure out what parts they play, and the equipment they are using. I like the arrangements of how The Beatles messed around with the time signatures, we should mess with that. So, that’s what you should be hearing in our homework but back to what we were saying. With all these particular artists we’re learning, studying and exchanging. It was brilliant. It was great.”

Shafiq Husayn’s trio of Sa-Ra as said before is completed with Taz Arnold and Om’Maz Keith: “I myself was born in Cleveland but kind of raised in Los Angeles and New York at different time periods. Taz is from South Central, Los Angeles, and OM’mas is from Hollis Queens, New York.” Tough places? “They could be. I would say LA is probably a little bit more frightening than New York because of the gang culture. LA is wild, ya’nameen? LA is just wild. There’s a lot going on out there, it’s an illusion. In New York, you pretty much know what you’ll get. As soon as you get off the plane and take a whiff of the air, you know what’s happening.”

“And for the record. What is hip hop music? Hip hop music is The Beatles, is Led Zeppelin, it is James Brown. Wack music right now is real wack, because ain’t nobody trying to add or contribute to anything, that’s why it’s wack music.”

The Hollywood Sessions is released through Babygrande Records, a hip hop label in America and the record itself features a host of wonderful and varied talents “The Hollywood Recordings was really just an album that was a crash course for people that were Sa-Ra fans in the beginning and it’s also a one-on-one class for people who had never heard of Sa-Ra.” He goes on to reflect on the album’s success: “Yes, were very pleased with the response because we had four mics in The Source magazine and we reached forty-four in the hip hop and R&B Billboard charts. It’s just the overall response. They are just genuinely supportive of the project. They say ‘this is a breathe of fresh air’, ‘we love your work’ and ‘this is what hip hop and music needed’.”

Black music or music in general is at a low, Shafiq Husayn agrees: “I would say music as a whole, not even just black music. I think music as a whole, is at an all time low.” he continues, “It’s like the artists have allowed the record companies and the music business to say what type of records they make. They forgot their one purpose and that is to be creative. Now, if everybody made music like Stevie Wonder then Stevie Wonder would never have been special. You have to have the opposites but I’m coming in contact with a lot of artists that are not getting it. They’re not pushing the threshold. They’re not even trying. I’ll give you an example. Journalists be perpetuating this. I’m not going to name no particular magazine but I’ll give you an example. This particular magazine, which is a major publication. They wouldn’t review our album because there was too much singing on it. I’m saying to myself, ‘wow’. Pharoache Monch, J Dilla, Capone-N-Noreaga, Kurupt, Lord Nez, Sa-Ra Mcing. How much more do you need to qualify as a hip hop album? What kind of message are you sending out? The journalists are the ones that dictate that. They have the hand in saying what shit is wack because kids will pick up the magazine and they won’t see Sa-Ra’s album review in it and the magazine won’t be exposing these kids to other music outside of what’s being pushed.

“We using everything. From old formats. I use live drums and drum machines. We use grand pianos, we use synthesizers, we use our hands, we use the Ice Cream truck as it’s going down the street, and we use the sound of birds. We use anything that causes sound vibrations. If we hear sound waves and we can find it, Sa-Ra’s using it.”

“And for the record. What is hip hop music? Hip hop music is The Beatles, is Led Zeppelin, it is James Brown. Wack music right now is real wack, because ain’t nobody trying to add or contribute to anything, that’s why it’s wack music but let me finish my point, they’re not trying to take wack music into the next level or to the next thing. Of course, the kids are going to stay in the same vein, they keep hearing the same type of music they think is going to make them big. That’s denying that person’s will because all of us in some shape or form, we all human, we human and we spiritual, at the same time. We’re spiritual beings experiencing the human experience. When you come in contact with people, you’re influenced by other people. This is why people join gangs, because they influenced by other like-minded people. If you go to church, spiritual people influence you. Your comments and what you project onto other people are affecting other people. If you’re not giving the people content for them to be exposed to, then you’re suppressing their will.”

So what’s the secret recipe of Sa-Ra? “We using everything. From old formats. I use live drums and drum machines. We use grand pianos, we use synthesizers, we use our hands, we use the Ice Cream truck as it’s going down the street, and we use the sound of birds. We use anything that causes sound vibrations. If we hear sound waves and we can find it, Sa-Ra’s using it. From the latest technology, pro-tools, HP Systems, 303 Rolling Samples, we try to use the old and the new. If it worked in the past then it’s still use able now” As well as being a tasteful musician, Shafiq Husayn says “I’m a heavy chess player. I love chess, martial arts and painting. OM’mas is a world-class chief, he’s a crafts man and he can build anything. Taz is a visionary and a fashion model. Probably the flyest dude on the planet and I can say that about my brother. Trying to raise his kids and be good to the community.”

Shafiq Husayn ends this intimate phone interview about spreading some light onto the reader, “I would just like to touch on again like I said. Man, be creative. Stay yourself, be free. Don’t let old thinking dictate how you moving in this new world, you know? Were moving into a whole different phase of consciousness on the planet. Your music, the way you step, and your whole way of life should reflect the same thing, the same movement. Like I said, you can only be the best you, nobody can be another you, there can only be the best you.”