Well ... I'd have to agree with the unpleasant beardies regarding Zain Bhikr -- he IS haram -- because, for me, haram's definition is wackness.
But it is interesting that the further into heresy (or Mystical Abrahamic positions) one gets, the better/more influential the music.
A case in point would be Rakim Allah, who basically invented Rap as we know it. If you don't know Rakim, then you don't know Rap. He's a 5 percenter, which is a breakaway version of the Nation of Islam: as such, his cosmology has a lot in common with Sufism and Kabbalah (plus some racist addenda, though forgivable in my view given the audience).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZD4gdrb3rI&feature=relatedThe lyrics basically describe a cosmology of the human form -- as a creation story -- according to the Sephirot of the Tree of Life (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sephirot).
If Hip Hop isn't your thing, an identical description of the same Sephirot is given by Kabbalistic singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gH-d3p0lrB0While not speaking about the Tree of Life directly, I also found this ex-Muslim speech (not the song that follows it, although that is good too) particularly lyrical and deep:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqljUI2xK34The purpose of a song is to speak to the heart of the matter, and in their own ways, both these three songs do the job for me. Leave the ummah to its wackness or denial of wackness -- and give me soul!
Love and Light,
The Tailor