Shabak people are an ethnic and religious minority group living in northern Iraq, who live mainly in the villages of Ali Rash, Khazna, Yangidja, and Tallara in Sinjar district in the province of Ninawa in northern Iraq. Their language, Shabaki, is a Northwestern Iranian language very close to Gorani Kurdish.^[1] Their population was estimated at around 15,000 in the 1970s.,^[2] However it is believed to be more like 60,000 today. Shabaks consist of three different ta'ifs or sects: the Bajalan, Dawoody and Zengana (two Kurdish tribal confederations that also encompass some Shabak communities) and the Shabak proper.^[3] Shabaks follow an independent religion, related to but distinct from orthodox Islam and Christianity. It is also claimed that they are descendants of Qizilbash from the army of Shah Ismail.^[4]

Name[link]

The origin of the word shabak is not clear. One view maintains that shabak is an Arabic word شبك meaning intertwine, reflecting their diverse society. The name of Shabekan is available among the Zaza tribes in Tunceli/ Dersim Turkey^{[citation needed]} and as Shabakanlu in Khorasan northern east of Iran.

Arabization and Anfal Campaign[link]

The geographical spread of Shabak people has been largely changed due to the massive deportations in the notorious Al-Anfal Campaign in 1988 and the refugee crisis in 1991. Many Shabaks along with Zengana (Kurdish group) and Hawrami (Kurdish group) were relocated and deported to concentration camps (mujamma'at in Arabic) far away from their original homeland. Despite all these actions, Iraqi government efforts at forced assimilation and Arabization, as well as religious persecution of Shabaks has put them under increasing pressure. As one Shabak informant to a researcher put it:^[5]

The government said we are Arabs, not Kurds; but if we are, why did they deport us from our homes?

Religious beliefs[link]

Shabak religious beliefs contain elements from Islam and Christianity. There is a close affinity between the Shabak and the Yazidis; for example, Shabaks perform pilgrimage to Yazidi shrines.^[1] The Shabaks have a sacred book called the Buyruk written in Iraqi Turkmen colloquial.

Shabaks combine elements of Sufism with their own interpretation of divine reality, which according to them, is more advanced than the literal interpretation of Qur'an known as Sharia. Shabak spiritual guides are known as pir, who are individuals well versed in the prayers and rituals of the sect. Pirs themselves are under the leadership of the Supreme Head or Baba. Pirs act as mediators between Divine power and ordinary Shabaks. Their beliefs form a syncretic system with such features as private and public confession and allowing consumption of alcoholic beverages. This last feature makes them distinct from the neighboring Muslim populations. The beliefs of the Yarsan closely resemble those of the Shabak people.^[6]

Shabaks after the 2003 war[link]

Since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the Kurds have opened KDP offices and raised the flag of Kurdistan in Shabak villages. It is alleged that Iraqi Kurdistan wants to annex Shabak villages and the eastern side of Mosul (Nineveh Plains) into its territory . Since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, in the Mosul area alone, 1,000 Shabaks have been killed, many by way of beheading, mostly by Sunni Arab militants. A further 4,000 Shabaks in Mosul have been driven from their homes.

The Shabaks have representatives in the mainly Assyrian Christian-dominated Bakhdida, Bartella, Karemlesh and Bashiqa towns of the Ninawa Governorate and are offered protection from the Assyrian militias which guard Assyrian towns and villages. On January 16, 2012 eleven Shabak refugees were killed and six others injured in a car bomb explosion at the Al Ghadir camp for displaced persons in Bartella. Police reportedly found a second car bomb at the scene and closed the area for several hours to defuse it.

References[link]

Further research[link]

• Ali, Salah Salim. ‘Shabak: A Curious sect in Islam’. Revue des études islamiques 60.2 (1992): 521-528. (ISSN 0336-156X)
• Ali, Salah Salim. ‘Shabak: A Curious sect in Islam’. Hamdard Islamicus 23.2 (April–June 2000): 73-78. (ISSN 0250-7196)

External links[link]

• Encyclopedia of The Orient
• Assimilation, Exodus, Eradication: Iraq’s minority communities since 2003 London, Minority Rights Group, 2007

DJ Premier
Background information
Birth name	Christopher Edward Martin
Born	(1966-03-21) March 21, 1966 (age 46) Houston, Texas, United States
Origin	Houston, Texas, USA
Genres	Hip hop, East Coast Hip Hop
Occupations	Record producer, DJ
Instruments	Drum machine Keyboard Sampler Turntable
Years active	1984 – present
Labels	Wild Pitch/EMI (1987–1990) Chrysalis/EMI (1991–1998) Virgin/EMI (1998–2003) Year Round (2003–)
Associated acts	Gang Starr Foundation, M.O.P., Royce da 5'9", Christina Aguilera, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Nas, Kool G Rap, Blaq Poet, Apathy, Big L, Bun B, D.I.T.C., Game, Termanology, AZ, Buckshot LeFonque, Mobb Deep, Torae
Website	DJ Premier on Myspace

Christopher Edward Martin (born March 21, 1966),^[1] better known by his stage name DJ Premier (also known as Preem, Premo, or Primo for short), is an American record producer and DJ, and was the instrumental half of the hip hop duo Gang Starr, together with emcee Guru. Born in Houston and raised in Prairie View, Texas, he has lived in Brooklyn, New York, for much of his professional career. Rolling Stone identified Premier as arguably Hip-Hop's greatest producer of all time.^[2]

The Source named DJ Premier one of the five greatest producers in hip-hop history,^[3] while the editors of About.com ranked him #1 on their Top 50 Hip-Hop Producers list.^[4] He also made the "Finals" in the search for The Greatest Hip-Hop Producer of All Time by Vibe.^[5] He attended Prairie View A&M University.^[6]

Productions[link]

Premier is known for producing all of Gang Starr's songs as well as many of the Gang Starr Foundation's songs. His work also includes production for heavyweight rappers such as (alphabetic order) Apathy, Big L, Bun B, Canibus, D.I.T.C., Fat Joe, Game, Jay-Z, Kanye West, KRS-One, Lord Finesse, M.O.P., Mos Def, Nas, Rakim, Royce Da 5'9", The LOX, The Notorious B.I.G., Snoop Dogg, Xzibit, rock band Limp Bizkit, Big L, Big Daddy Kane, Ill Bill, Joell Ortiz, and pop/R&B singer Christina Aguilera, among many others.

Premier collaborated with MC Jeru the Damaja on the album The Sun Rises in the East, released in 1994, as well as the 1996 follow-up, Wrath of the Math.^[1] Also from the Gang Starr Foundation, Premier produced and supervised Group Home's Livin' Proof; although overlooked at the time of its 1995 release, the album has since come to find similar acclaim.^[1] Among others in that are closely tied to the Gang Starr Foundation who have worked with DJ Premier include Afu Ra, Bahamadia, Krumbsnatcha, Big Shug, Smiley the Ghetto Child, and NYGz. He recently produced the majority of Blaq Poet's Tha Blaqprint in 2009 and will produce the entirety of NYGz debut album.

Style and influences[link]

DJ Premier's style of production epitomizes the New York sound of his earlier peers. He is known for sampling jazz, funk, and soul artists, as well as sampling an artist's past work when creating a new track for that same artist. For example, on Jay-Z's "So Ghetto", from the 1999 album, Vol. 3… Life and Times of S. Carter, Premier samples an older Jay-Z song, 1997's "Who You Wit II".^[7] In addition, his encyclopedic memory of hip-hop lyrics allows him to distinctively speak with his hands by scratching in lyrics from several different songs to construct new phrases.^[8] Premier's beats are known for his oft-imitated combinations of short vocal samples, often from multiple artists, to create a chorus. Premier has also experimented with atonal samples that are not confined to soul, jazz, and funk. For example, he sampled chopped up seminal electro-acoustic music from the 1960s on the track “Mental Stamina” by Jeru the Damaja.

In an interview with XXL Magazine, DJ Premier was asked how his sound evolved, to which he replied, "Marley Marl is my number one inspiration. Jam Master Jay, Mixmaster Ice and UTFO. Grandmaster D and Whodini. DJ Cheese, Grandmaster Flash, Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa. Jazzy Jay, even Cut Creator. Seeing them do what they do. It’s black music, it’s black culture, it comes from the ghetto. How can you not relate to ghetto people when that’s the rawest form of blackness? Even though it’s not a good place in regards to the economy and how bad people have it in the neighborhood, the realism’s there, and that’s what we were born out of. So I very much pay respect by doing the same type of music in return." DJ Premier attended Prairie View A & M University and may have been influenced by the musical atmosphere at the university.^[9]

Relationships with artists[link]

The early line-up of the Gang Starr Foundation in the mid-1990s included Jeru The Damaja, Group Home, Big Shug, and Gang Starr. DJ Premier was fully responsible for the production of Jeru the Damaja's first two albums, The Sun Rises in the East and Wrath of the Math. Jeru released three albums since then, with Premier having nothing to do with any of them.^[1]

As far as Group Home was concerned, Premier commented, "They don't respect what fed them," in a 2003 interview, going on to say that the only reason he produced a track on their second album was because Guru said he would rhyme on it.^[10]

Besides the Gang Starr Foundation, Premier is closely affiliated with M.O.P., which he names as one of his all-time favorite groups. The relationship started with the remix of “Rugged, Neva Smoove” in 1994, a single from the group's first album, which also included the exclusive B-side “Downtown Swinga.” From then, Premier produced about one-third of the songs on each subsequent album and overseeing and mixing the projects. On M.O.P.'s 2009 Foundation album, however, DJ Premier provided only one track, which was called "What I Wanna B."

Recent and future projects[link]

DJ Premier has his own record company named Year Round Records. Among its artists are New York group NYGz, New Jersey rapper Nick Javas, and Houston rapper Khaleel. Tha Blaqprint by Blaq Poet, which has thirteen Premier productions, was released by Year Round Records through Fat Beats Records. On December 7, Premier's label Year Round Records released a digital compilation album titled Get Used to Us. At the moment Year Round plans to release a debut album fully produced by DJ Premier with the NYGz tenatively called Hustla's Union: Local NYG along with a Nick Javas debut album named Destination Unknown. Khaleel, another label-mate of Year Round Records, is planned to release a debut album titled Already!.

DJ Premier hosts a weekly 2 hour show Live From HeadQCourterz on SIRIUS Satellite Radio's Hip-Hop Nation on Fridays.

DJ Premier was one of the artists followed in the 2012 documentary Re:GENERATION music project. The film followed his production of the song Regeneration using live performance of his work by the Berklee Symphony Orchestra [1]

In a recent interview, DJ Premier said he will produce a beat for Immortal Technique's upcoming album, titled The Middle Passage. He contributed a song on Game's last album The R.E.D. Album called "Born in the Trap." and a song on Bushido's last album Jenseits von Gut und Böse.^[6] In an interview in 2012, DJ Premier confirmed on Shade45 that he is working with Eminem on his upcoming album.

Discography[link]

• The Sun Rises in the East (with Jeru The Damaja) (1994)
• Livin' Proof (with Group Home) (1995)
• Wrath of the Math (with Jeru The Damaja) (1996)
• Beats That Collected Dust (2008)
• Tha Blaqprint (with Blaq Poet) (2009)
• DJ Premier Presents Get Used To Us (2010)
• Beats That Collected Dust Vol. 2 (2011)
• Premo Pimpin' EP (with Wais P) (2011)
• StOoDiOtYmE EP (with Bumpy Knuckles) (2012)
• The Kolexxxion (with Bumpy Knuckles) (2012)
• TBA (with Nas)
• TBA (with M.O.P.)
• Pete Rock v.s. Premier (with Pete Rock)
• Return Of The Boom Bip (with KRS-ONE)

References[link]

External links[link]

• DJ Premier on Twitter
• DJ Premier at Allmusic
• DJ Premier discography at Discogs
• Fansite/newsite about DJ Premier