Flowers & Trees - Dedication

"I dedicate this to the robbers who stole my bag when I was in Barcelona"
Yoshi - The Funk

dedication

I've been working on this hip-hop love of love (not a labour of love, but a joy to work on) for just over a year now. My friend Mika from Japan was the original flower-faced inspiration, who I had grass-fights with and important conversations with back in March 2004 and then again in June 2004. So amongst others, this album is dedicated to the person who helped me start it- my friend Mika; never on the internet, but always alive. The album was also inspired by visits I had from flowers of all kinds from across the world from Cali to Spain to Hungary, and the many people I met this last year on my own travels, and in my own town, Brighton as well. You can never meet enough strangers. Flowers are great, but flowers can also come and go, and as transformative as they are in your life, you can only appreciate them when you have a balance of more permanent things, a home, love, faith. So 'the trees' are my family, and the lifelong friends who've been there for me, and who have never changed on me or deserted me despite how much I've changed in the last few years. Family is everything. Be patient with yours when you need to be, and affectionate when you need to be. Don't hide things.

This album, and all the positivity that you'll hear from it, is dedicated to the memory of two of the strongest trees I ever knew; my kind grandmother, Aaliya Rashid, and my beautiful aunt, Saba Rashid Shahnawaz, may God give them peace.

This website was designed with the expertise of one of my bestest buddies in the whole world Gareth Graimes, who I've known since I was 12 years old dammit! Now, (and don't worry, I'm just getting started) a huge shout-out to all the people who worked with me on the LP and were patient with my ... ahem .. vision! Julia, Becky, Zandile & Rahma for their lovely voices. James for so beautifully playing the electric guitar part I wrote for 'Dream', my brother Omar for his wicked acoustic guitar on 'When u see the future' Rob as always for his trumpet genius, Diamondscepter for being my cousin first of all, and blessing me with two wonderful beats secondly, and my buddy David who MC's on the title-track with me, and is one to look out for. Next to my dad, who translated my poem 'Afghan Eagle' into the Pashto language and read it so eloquently. My fellow studio dweller, old school-mate and overall nice-guy Edwin Van Beinum mastered this album at his studio in Brighton, thank you Ed you did great. The good people @ Blowup printers in Brighton printed my album covers, they are really nice people and I like them a lot! Finally, respect to all of the artists I sampled on this record (and there are MANY). Rza once said that he only sampled artists he admired or respected, and undoubtedly, the same applies to me here. Beautiful things make beautiful things make the world go round. Round and round.

Enough cannot be said about hip-hop music. Needless to say it's taken me in, and taken care of me for over 9 years now. At the same time I feel I've expanded it in my own way, and I'm proud of what I've done with this art-form that I love so much. There isn't a better place to start from, for any artist, than hip-hop. It's an art-form that is truly, in every sense, open minded and tolerant.

All praises are for God, Allah, the One, Everlasting Sustainer of all that is, Most-Kind, All-Merciful, Most merciful. Nothing is done without God, God is in everything. Everything that exists in the world, from this album, to the smiles you give me, to the bran flakes I have for my breakfast and midnight snacks, all of it comes from God, and all of it comes to us with a reason. I chop slices of banana into my bran-flakes, and speaking of which, I must say that I thank God for every single meal I eat. I do. We're so lucky, and we have so much, so much which could all be taken away at any second. We need to be grateful for what we have, and that means actually giving thanks, and by actually thinking about all the blessings we have everyday. And letting ourselves feel happy with that, not guilty. Guilt is for people who don't give anything back. But by being grateful and giving thanks, your happiness increases (i know this from experience) and by being happy; you're giving a lot to the world. Watch how a smile infects and travels the world. One smile. Any faults (and there are plenty) on this album and in my character are due to my own laziness and shortcomings. All moments of positivity and inspiration however, came from The Inspirer. I'm an intelligent human being and I believe in God, you must deal with this if you don't like it, because it's a fact. And I'm here.

Peace to all decent, tolerant and forward-thinking people out there, I likes you.
y.