Some things might take a lifetime to process, and grief is definitely one of those things, especially if it stems from losing a sibling.
Sudanese-Canadian rapper and poet Mustafa the Poet (simply known as Mustafa) appeared on Tuesday’s episode of Anas Bukhash’s AB Talks, where the pair sat down for a heavy near three-hour conversation, pulling back the curtain on a plethora of topics, including his career so far, grief, and the unwavering search for God.
The conversation, raw and unfiltered in the way only Mustafa can deliver, centred on the brutal reality of growing up in Toronto’s Regent Park, a neighbourhood where survival meant mirroring the pain around you.
A main recurring topic in the episode is how the weight of his brother’s death in 2023, due to him being a victim of a shootout, looms large throughout the interview. Mustafa doesn’t shy away from the devastation. He’s lost at least 20 friends and loved ones to gun violence, but Mohamed’s death hit different.
According to Mustafa, the tragedy was “a fire that reached the entire household.” He spoke about the survivor’s guilt that haunts him, admitting, “I can’t believe that I was the person who made it out of that hell.”
He also described grief in several points during the interview in a hauntingly poetic way, where he says, “Grief finds new forms. They find new homes to live in. Someone dies and it flees and enters another person’s body”.
Read More
To cope, he leans heavily on the Islamic faith his parents instilled in him. He recalled his father’s advice that “if God loves you, He will command the angels and the people to love you, too.” This spiritual grounding allows him to maintain a sense of “softness” despite growing up in a “necropolitical environment” designed for people to stay trapped, as he describes in the interview.
Mustafa released his debut full-length album, Dunya, in late 2024, to widespread acclaim. The project, which loosely translates to “the world in all its flaws” in Arabic, served as a mirror to his community and a sonic burial for his brother, featuring the heartbreaking tribute “What Happened, Mohamed?”.
Just days before touching down in Dubai for the AB Talks taping, Mustafa’s third edition of his Artists for Aid benefit concert, co-hosted by Bella Hadid and Pedro Pascal, on January 10, pulled in $5.5 million for children’s medical support in Palestine and Sudan.
The concert included performances from Daniel Caesar, Noname, Omar Apollo, Shawn Mendes, Clairo, among several others. Funds went to the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund and the Sudanese American Physicians Association.
An Editor at Complex MENA.
