International Day of Quds 2012, Times Square, NY Al Quds Committee New York (www.alqudsday.org) Master-of-Ceremonies: Radio Rahim (radiorahimonline.com) Muslim MC Yusuf Abdul-Mateen is one-half of the elite Boston unit Blak Madeen. Born in the Merrimack Valley of Massachusetts to an Irish-American family in the late 70s, Yusuf's passion for hip hop culture was developed while attending a Catholic high school in Lawrence, MA. His interest in music was only superseded by his interest in Islam, which he started reading about as a child. He finally converted to Islam in 2003. By then his recording career had already begun but now his lyrics would take on a spiritual and political edge. His calm, dead-pan delivery consists of powerful words and contain a message with every song.