Farrah Gray an unlikely champion in Hip-Hop. But is because he’s a business mogul, author, speaker, and philanthropist. Like Hip-Hop, Gray defied the odds and emerged as a self-made millionaire by the young age of fourteen. He’s been featured in INC magazine. Billionaire Oprah Winfrey praised him as an “all-star” with “priceless advice.”
Gray has inspired millions worldwide with his inspiring rise from poverty to national and international prominence. As an acclaimed bestselling author, Gray’s books have become essential reading material. His literary works, include “Reallionaire,” “Get Real Get Rich,” “The Truth Shall Make You Rich,” “Comfort is the Enemy of Achievement,” and other works.
As a high achiever, many do not realize that his beginnings were often spent under his father’s wing. Khallid Muhammad is considered a freedom fighter, activist, and “unapologetically Black,” as described by AHH’s Chuck “Jigsaw” Creekmur. The two talked briefly about Hip-Hop, his father, and more.
AllHipHop: Talk to me about Hip-Hop’s 50th Anniversary but 50 years forward in the future. We’re talking about the future now.
Farrah Gray: Absolutely. Hip-Hop culture has really been the foundation and really transcended beyond what they ever expected. And of course, we have the vultures and the capitalists that have taken it and perverted something that was very pure. So it’s AllHipHop.com and others on the front lines who are preserving the culture. So to see BET hopefully in the hands of our people, because if they don’t treat you right, they won’t teach you right, or, “If they don’t teach you right, they won’t treat you right,” to quote Khallid Muhammad, my father.
AllHipHop: Yeah.
Farrah Gray: I may have messed that one up, Dad, but forgive me, I was close. So therefore, it’s very important to make sure it’s in the hands of the people that will literally not only preserve the culture, but move it 50 years, and I always say beyond 50 years, generations yet unborn.
AllHipHop: Yes, absolutely. Speaking on your father, man, for the longest time, we didn’t make that connection immediately, and he’s someone who was so unapologetically Black. And I mean in the most sturdy way you can imagine. I’m reading the book. I’m still reading it, by the way.
Farrah Gray: The Book of Khallid, by Attorney Malik Zulu Shabazz. Yes.
AllHipHop: It’s a fascinating book, by the way, I should add. Talk about being his son.
Farrah Gray: Wow. As I get older, I realize the impact of him being a freedom fighter, and what he meant to people, because to me, he was just dad. So I find myself studying his speeches. Even when reading the biography, I learned things about him.
AllHipHop: Yeah.
Farrah Gray: So I chose a different path. I believe that business is warfare, as the honorable Elijah Muhammad spoke so very frequently about the importance of green power and Black power coming together. With our buying power, we’re spending at an alarming rate, and at the end of the day, we are not… I’ll put it this way, we’re the only race of people that don’t feed ourselves. If you ask us what we ate, we’re going to tell you Chinese food, Italian food, Polish sausage. So we are not feeding ourselves. We have an international stomach.
So to look at entrepreneurship, agriculture… Because where there is no culture, therefore we have no agriculture if we’re not feeding our own. So entrepreneurship was the path that I chose, economic evangelism, and my father always supported that. So to have Khallid Muhammad as a father, who I believe is still with us here spiritually, it’s definitely an honor. So as I learn more about my father’s impact… And many of the speeches, I was right there with him.
But now I’m really like, wow. The wow factor.
AllHipHop: He has a line, something along the lines of saying, “Somebody has to hold the line.”
Farrah Gray: “Somebody has to hold the line, man.”
AllHipHop: That always rings out as being a Black-owned property.
Farrah Gray: Absolutely, and that actual quote came from a man that trained him, Captain Ali Rashid. He would always say, “Man, hold the line.”
AllHipHop: Yeah.
Farrah Gray: So whatever it was, no matter what you went through… My father faced assassination attempts over and over and over and over again. There wasn’t a day where he was not told that there was a bomb threat or that someone wanted to kill him. So check out The Book of Khallid. Also, check out farrahgray.com, and always stay tuned to AllHipHop.com.
AllHipHop: Appreciate you. Thank you so much.
