When he’s not going on a long-winded rant online or IRL, Kanye West is usually praised for a variety of reasons that all have something to do with his unique creative vision. From his niche eclectic sound and innovative sense of fashion to his entrepreneurial spirit and contributions to organizations supporting underprivileged communities, the one that now only goes by the moniker ‘Ye’ is also regularly credited for being an incredible talent scout, keen on uplifting other creatives and promoting their artistic DNA to the rest of the world.
Since the founding of G.O.O.D Music in 2004, West’s record label has attracted some of the industry’s most esteemed and respected names in its almost two decades of existence, including John Legend, Kid Cudi, Big Sean, and Mos Def, while also co-signing promising up-and-comers who not only carry great potential but align with the Chicago rapper’s vision. And the latest MC to fall into the latter bracket happens to have roots in our region. Introducing: Hassan Thank God, Ye’s newest protégé.
The part-Arab artist, who was born and bred in the United States, has recently garnered attention from both the music industry and hypebeasts alike, joining the ranks of Ye’s former protégés, such as Big Sean, Travis Scott, and Chance The Rapper, who once famously stated “I met Kanye West, I’m never going to fail.”
Seen trending on Twitter over the weekend, Hassan’s name has been propelled to the highest spheres of pop culture as a result of a QR code displayed on the newly-opened Yeezy store on Melrose Ave. in Los Angeles. Ironically situated a couple of blocks away from the headquarters of the brand’s former parent company Adidas, whose highly-publicized break up with the Heartless singer’s label led to humongous financial losses, the digital portal reportedly redirected avid fans and curious passersby to old footage of Ye in a recording studio listening to a track composed by the artist, born Hassan Khaffaf, titled Anything is Possible (an alleged reference to the three-striped brand’s motto “Nothing is impossible”), which allegedly features the controversial rapper-turned-designer.
As things turn out, the video was actually captured a while back, and was used in one of Khaffaf’s earlier video clips, namely How’s Hass? However, it’s sudden re-emergence could possibly hint at an upcoming collaboration between both musicians.
In honor of potential new music from Kanye brought to us by Khaffaf, below, everything we know about Hassan Thank God.
He’s from Florida
In an interview dating back to 2015, the rapper reveals that he hails from Florida and always reps 727, a geographical area code that covers St. Petersburg, the fifth-most populous city of The Sunshine State.
He comes from a mixed background
We can’t lie, the name gave it away. Call us ethnocentric if you want, but our intuition wasn’t wrong as Khaffaf does indeed hail from our side of the world — or at least partly. In an interview with American radio host Jesse Lee Peterson on his podcast The Fallen State, the rapper suggests having Iraqi roots from his father’s side, who are Muslim. What’s more, his grandfather was allegedly beheaded during Saddam Hussein’s reign, he reveals in the same interview.
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His mother, on the other hand, is white, most likely American, and is a devout Christian.
He is co-signed by Roc-A-Fella
Across several instances, Khaffaf has often lauded Roc-A-Fella co-founder Dame Dash for his precious help in the early stages of his career, emphasizing on how much the record executive’s support means to him and how empowering his energy has been throughout his journey so far. Although the exact date of when their collaboration kicked off is difficult to pinpoint, several articles, interviews, and projects seem to reveal that their association goes back several years and might still be ongoing. The duo has most notably brought a sitcom, an NFT collection, and an entire album to life, which were all collectively released throughout 2022.
He is part of Ye’s close entourage
An early trace of Ye and Khaffaf can be found on an old blog post which dates back to 2015. In the post, the budding artist revealed the tracklist for his project Thank God 4 God, in which he hints towards a feature from Ye himself. Although he stressed that Kanye wouldn’t necessarily be rapping, he did reveal including “NEVER HEARD BEFORE AUDIO AND VIDEO (sic)” to a track that is unfortunately no longer available on streaming platforms or on the internet at all.
Meanwhile, when searching their names together, a picture of the duo together in Wyoming seems to suggest that Khaffaf was present around the time the 45-year-old rapper was working on his eighth studio album, Ye. This could explain his involvement in the below track, Thirty Mile Zone, that was featured on a leaked early tracklist for the album, though it unfortunately never made the cut.
A video on Khaffaf’s official YouTube channel also shows him walking into Coachella in 2019 alongside Kanye, who held his Sunday Service in the California desert that year.
He’s also a producer
On top of being a promising rapper, Khaffaf also happens to be a prominent producer having composed, mixed, and mastered tracks for a slew of artists that include Saweetie, with whom he worked jointly on B.A.N, a notable single from her 2018 album High Maintenance.
