MALIK YUSEF RETURNS TO CHICAGO TO PERFORM AT
CITY WINERY
BY TIA CAROL JONES
Malik Yusef started doing poetry and it led to him doing other things. He had some breaks and had some things happen because he was doing poetry. He never thought he would
get rich off poetry.
“The trick is doing what you do, being good to people, being open to the Universe and not being closed off,” he said.
Malik Yusef, a Grammy and Emmy award-winning writer, producer and screenplay writer, is coming to Chicago to do a performance at City Winery on Friday, Aug. 25th. He will be backed by a live band and perform songs he has written for recording artists and original songs he has recorded. He also will have some surprise special guests.
Malik Yusef is very assertive and protective about his energy. He said what is stopping a lot of people is themselves, because they have boundaries and aren’t open. He believes he has been successful because of his adaptability and maneuverability.
“People don’t understand being in flow, it’s called being in the zone, but it’s really being in flow. Everything that you like in life flows. Love, that flows, money, it flows and if you’re open to the flow then all those things can come,” he said.
Throughout his career, Malik Yusef has learned that power is not bad. He has been nominated for the Grammy Awards twelve times and has won eight times. He has written and produced music for Kanye West, Vic Mensa, Beyonce, Drake, Carl Thomas, Raheem DeVaughn and John Legend.
Malik Yusef is signed to G.O.O.D. Music and has released “The Great Chicago Fire; A Cold Day in Hell” in 2003 and “G.O.O.D. Morning, G.O.O.D. Night” in 2009. The first poem Malik Yusef wrote was called “Dagger.” It was a poem written to his mother. It was a moment of vulnerability for him. He wrote the song,
“Sandcastles,” which was recorded by Beyonce, when he was picking up his daughter from ballet when she was a little girl. It is still one of his top songs. He said he was able to write it because he was vulnerable to what the Universe was saying.
Malik Yusef has been able to go from poet to songwriter
to screenplay writer to music producer because he has been open to the opportunities that have been presented that would make him uncomfortable. Those opportunities required him
to remove his own boundaries and barriers that he set for himself. “I’m a creative, I’m an artist, I’m open,” he said.
Those who attend his performance at City Winery on Aug. 25th can expect laughter, tears, seduction, divinity, opulence and authenticity. He will have singers and rappers, and he will tell the stories of the songs he has written for artists and for himself. Malik Yusef wants people to have a transcendent experience with someone who does this “from the gates of Heaven to the gates of Hell.” “That they were in the presence of greatness, of the Most High Creator of the Universe who we all serve,” he said.
For tickets to Malik Yusef ’s performance at City Winery, visit http://www.citywinery.com/chicago.
