Foad Manshadi (born June 3, 1987) or simply Foad, is an American entrepreneur, recording artist, musician, blogger, and social activist residing in Los Angeles. Foad uses his music as a forum for bringing light to

social justice Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, Equal opportunity, opportunities, and Social privilege, privileges within a society. In Western Civilization, Western and Culture of Asia, Asian cultures, the concept of social ...

issues, including poverty,

sexism Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but it primarily affects women and girls.There is a clear and broad consensus among academic scholars in multiple fields that sexism refers pri ...

, homophobia, and

theocracy Theocracy is a form of government in which one or more deities are recognized as supreme ruling authorities, giving divine guidance to human intermediaries who manage the government's daily affairs. Etymology The word theocracy originates fr ...

. His music serves as a forum for his feelings and ideas and is inspired by world music. Foad has practiced vegetarianism since his youth.

Early life

Foad was born on June 3, 1987 in

Tonekabon Tonekabon ( fa, تنكابن, also Romanized as Tonekābon; formerly known as Shahsavar (Persian: شَهسَوار), also Romanized as Shahsavār and Shahsawār) is a city and capital of Tonekabon County, Mazandaran Province, northern Iran. At ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

to a Baha'i family. Because of his family's faith, he was discriminated against and expelled from school in his town. At the age of 16, he fled Iran to Turkey and then the United States in response to governmental oppression. His experiences with religious oppression in Iran have inspired his passion towards promotion of truth, justice, and freedom. Now he resides in California, United States.

Music career

Foad began his journey with music by learning to play the Setar, despite the fact that learning an instrument was very difficult due to the prohibition of carrying musical instruments in small towns. Nevertheless, Foad persevered in learning. After migrating to the US, Foad began writing

rap Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

songs in

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

about his experiences with oppression, religion, and politics. His first rap song, "Matrood" (Rejected) which is also known as "Mazhab" (Religion), was released in 2006; later he released his first hip-hop album entitled "Enghelab Fekri" (Intellectual Revolution) in May 2008. Since the release of Enghelab Fekri, Foad has continued to produce and release many singles and feature tracks. His music has gained popularity and exposure through many popular sites worldwide, includin
Mideastunes
and NPR. Also Foad was featured for the soundtrack of FX TV drama Sons of Anarchy.

Social Activities

Foad is an outspoken advocate for the freedom of prisoners of consciousness in Iran and champions both religious and political freedom as well as freedom of speech. Foad is also against capital punishment and pro-women's rights; his song "Sangsar" (

Stoning Stoning, or lapidation, is a method of capital punishment where a group throws stones at a person until the subject dies from blunt trauma. It has been attested as a form of punishment for grave misdeeds since ancient times. The Torah and Ta ...

) deals with both issues.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Foad Manshadi 1987 births Living people Iranian emigrants to the United States Iranian Bahá'ís Rappers from California American social activists Activists from California 21st-century American rappers