| The Ummah | |
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Origin |
New York City, New York, U.S. |
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Genre |
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Years active |
1996-1999 |
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Associated acts |
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Past members |
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The Ummah was an American music production collective, composed of members Q-Tip and Ali Shaheed Muhammad of A Tribe Called Quest, and the late J Dilla (then known as Jay Dee) of the Detroit-based group Slum Village. Occasional members included Raphael Saadiq and D'Angelo. In addition to producing nearly the entirety of A Tribe Called Quest's fourth and fifth albums, The Ummah provided backing tracks and remixes for a notable array of hip hop and contemporary R&B artists, including Busta Rhymes, Keith Murray, Whitney Houston, Janet Jackson, the Brand New Heavies and Jon B. The group was named The Ummah because two of its members, Q-Tip and Ali Shaheed Muhammad, are devout Muslims. The word "ummah" is Arabic for "community", "nation" or "brotherhood". Generally, the term refers to the global Muslim population.
Although their productions are credited as just "The Ummah" as a group, it was rare for more than one of the members to contribute work to a production. Usually the member of The Ummah that produced a song also received a credit as a writer, making it easy to distinguish which member of the group produced a song.