New Muslim Cool (2009)

New Muslim Cool is a 2009 documentary film directed and produced by Jennifer Maytorena Taylor. The film was initially released on POV (TV series) and follows the life of Hamza Perez, a Puerto Rican American Rap artist who converted to Islam after he decided to quit his life as a drug dealer. Hamza spends his time on the streets and jail cells spreading the message of Islam to at-risk youth and communities. The film also features the hip-hop group M-Team, a musical collaboration between Hamza and his brother Suliman Perez. The duo utilize the medium of hip-hop to spread their faith and religious message to other young people. In the midst of his journey to establish a new religious community and a new family in the North side of Pittsburgh, Hamza is forced to face the reality of being an active Muslim in a post 9/11 America when the community’s Mosque gets raided by the FBI.

Synopsis

The Film opens on the city of Pittsburgh where Hamza Perez is seen walking through the streets while narrating about his two recurring life prophecies that would come to him in dreams. One of his dreams was experiencing death at the age of 21, the second was him being in jail. Later he reveals both prophecies had come true. Hamza explains that at the age of 21 he became a Muslim, therefore he experienced a death of all his past doings. According to Hamza, one day while he was on the street smoking marijuana, a sheikh approached him to talk about Islam and that is when he knew things were going to change.