Born Steffon Johns in Cleveland, Ohio, the musician, producer, rapper, and songwriter is better known as Shafiq Husayn. Because his father was in the military, his family relocated several times, eventually landing in Los Angeles, California. While he was growing up, he became interested in music by attending parties thrown by Zulu Nation and Uncle Jamm’s Army. He began DJing with his high school classmates Bobcat and Battlecat before joining Nile Kings, who released their first and only single “Dropping Bombs” in 1990. He became associated with Ice T’s rag-tag collective Rhyme Syndicate, appearing on various compilations. By the early 1990s, he was producing songs for Ice T, Body Count, King Tee, and Lord Finesse. Shafiq Husayn co-founded the experimental hip-hop trio Sa-Ra Creative Partners – AKA Sa-Ra - in the late 1990s with fellow musicians/producers Om’Mas Keith and Taz Arnold. The trio worked on albums by artists such as Jurassic 5, John Legend, and Erykah Badu. Sa-Ra released their official debut album The Hollywood Recordings in 2007. Shafiq Husayn released his debut solo album, Shafiq En’ A-Free-Ka, in 2009. That same year, Sa-Ra issued their second album Nuclear Evolution: The Age of Love (2009). After Shafiq Husayn collaborated with rapper/MC Blue on 2018’s The Blueprint, he issued his most acclaimed solo album The Loop (2019), followed closely by 2020’s The Loop Instrumentals. While working on his solo career, Shafiq Husayn has also supported up-and-coming artists such as Ty Dolla $ign and Anderson .Paak.
