He might as well have proposed to me |

This is the epitome of COOL STORY BRO !
MashaAllah.

ryanbhilliard:

Bismiʾllah.

Wasalu Muḥammad Jaco, popularly known as Lupe Fiasco, gave me his ring. Seriously.

The year was 2006, the month was November. I had returned to the United States briefly from my study abroad tenure in Spain. My maternal grandmother had succumbed to her bout with lung cancer, having already beaten breast cancer several years before, and I came home to attend the funeral.

Given the somber air of the weekend, my brother Roderick decided to cheer me up with tickets to the G.O.O.D. Music Review/Lupe Fiasco concert at the Park West in Chicago’s Lincoln Park. “Food & Liquor” had just dropped and it was looking to be quite a promising show. My friend Steven would join us as well as some other chick who turned out to be a groupie of the highest and most embarrassing order (she will not be named).

While we waited in line, a local radio personality was giving away free backstage passes to anyone who could spit an entire Lupe Fiasco song without messing up. Roderick, being the aficionado and stud that he is, went up there and rhymed “I Gotcha” flawlessly. He was so good, he won two tickets.

The concert rocked the house more than the Taj Mahal in “Jungle Fever”, and the sting of death was eased by the harmony of hip-hop’s resuscitation.

After the show, we got in line with the few other lucky winners to head backstage for the meet ‘n greet. Wasalu was extra chill as he sat on the couch, recovering from a great stage presence. Sarah Green, Bishop, and the classic FNF crew were with him. Of course, the groupie with us decides to jump in other people’s photos and beg Lupe for the shirt off of his back. *smh*

I, being the new Muslim, decided to go the humble route and present him with a spur-of-the-moment gift. So when it came to me to greet him, I said “As-salāmu ʿalaykum wa raḥmatuʾllah”, so he’d know I was a real Muslim and not someone who just learned he was Muslim from Wikipedia and memorised how to pronounce as-salāmu ʿalaykum to get brownie points. That “wa raḥmatuʾllah” makes a difference, people.

Taken aback by the greeting, he emphatically returned the salāmāt and hugged me. I thanked him for the show, told him about the passing of my grandmother and how his performance helped with the grief. Then I gave him the dhikr beads that were hanging around my neck as a token of my appreciation. He then said, “Nobody gives me anything like this. I can’t just give you nothing in return.” Wasalu then reaches for his third finger (thumbs don’t count) on his right hand and pulled off a silver ring with black highlights, and the words “There is no god but Allah; Muḥammad is the Messenger of Allah” engraved therein. “Jazakaʾllah khayr, bro,” he smiled and thanked me for the beads again.

Best. Concert. Ever. Thanks, Rod.

- Ryan

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