Ali Shaheed Muhammad & Adrian Younge
Updated: 7/6/2026 17:54
Ali Shaheed Muhammad & Adrian YoungeKJazz is Dead
Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad are NAACP Image and Emmy award winning composers, producers, multi-instrumentalists, and DJs — Younge from California, and Muhammad from New York. Across decades in both music and film, their work spans analog recording studios, live performance, prestige film and television scoring, and some of the most celebrated collaborations in contemporary jazz and soul — a range that few artists in any genre have matched.
Adrian Younge is renowned for his analog sound and has been sampled by artists including Jay-Z, Kendrick Lamar, Common, and DJ Premier, among countless others. He has produced for Cee Lo, Rakim, Tony Allen, Céu, Wu Tang Clan, Ghostface Killah, Souls of Mischief, and many more. Younge owns and operates Linear Labs, a recording studio and label dedicated to analog tape and live instrumentation exclusively.
For nearly four decades, Ali Shaheed Muhammad has been a driving force behind some of the most groundbreaking sounds in music. A founding member of the legendary A Tribe Called Quest, he helped revolutionize hip-hop by fusing it with jazz — a legacy that earned the group induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He also co-founded the R&B supergroup Lucy Pearl, further proof of his gift for reinventing himself across genres. A Grammy-nominated, Emmy Award-winning producer and composer, Muhammad's genius runs through some of the most iconic records of the last three decades, writing and producing for artists like D'Angelo, Angie Stone, Mos Def, Gil Scott-Heron, and The Weeknd. Alongside longtime collaborator Adrian Younge, he co-leads the band The Midnight Hour and has become one of Hollywood's most sought-after composers, scoring projects including Marvel's Luke Cage, Cross, Reasonable Doubt, Sugar, and the films Boogie and Strung — all while co-creating the celebrated Jazz Is Dead label and live series. A true luminary whose influence shows no signs of slowing down, Muhammad continues to push the boundaries of music.
In 2017, Younge and Muhammad formed The Midnight Hour. Together they have scored a myriad of television and film projects, including Marvel’s Luke Cage (Netflix), Raising Kanan (Starz), The Equalizer (CBS), Reasonable Doubt (Hulu), Boogie (2021), Bitchin’, The Sound and Fury of Rick James (2021), Alex Cross (Amazon), Sugar (Apple TV), and Home (Apple TV) — for which they were both awarded an Emmy Award. Younge has also scored Black Dynamite (2009), Black Dynamite animated series (2012), The Big Payback (2023), Queens (ABC), All Rise (OWN), and Human Footprint (PBS).
In 2019, Younge, Muhammad, Andrew Lojero, and Adam Block created Jazz Is Dead (JID): a multimedia company specializing in live concerts, studio albums, television, and film. Under the label, Younge and Muhammad have produced albums with luminaries including Ebo Taylor, Roy Ayers, Lonnie Liston Smith, Gary Bartz, Jean Carne, Marcos Valle, Dom Salvador, and Tony Allen. In 2022, they were awarded an NAACP Image Award for their album with Black Jazz Records legend Henry Franklin.
