10 Things We Learned from Loon on The Breakfast Club

Source: Power 105 / Youtube

Back in the day Loon and Puff were known to drop some of the hottest radio hits to ever get spins during the golden era of (commercial) Hip-Hop and filled a void that Ma$e left behind when he walked away from the game to find the Lord.

While it seemed like Loon was next in line to become Harlem World’s biggest attraction things didn’t exactly turn out that way and the “I Need A Girl” rapper ended up walking away from the limelight himself before doing almost a decade behind bars.

Now that he’s finally back home, Loon is ready to share some of his story with his decades old day ones and speaks with The Breakfast Club about his days breaking into the music industry to how Islam plays a role in keeping him out the rap game to this day.

Revealing that he was never actually signed to Bad Boy to why he took a plea even though he maintains his innocence, Loon has a story to tell and it’s one for the ages.

Here are the 10 things we learned from Loon on The Breakfast Club.

Loon was originally signed to Tommy Boy Records via Fatman Scoop before Ma$e debuted on Bad Boy. Loon’s first album was even dubbed Harlem World. Once he left the label, Loon’s deal fell apart and he ended up joining Ma$e’s Harlem World, while signed to Arista, and eventually inked with Bad Boy. Interestingly enough the original Harlem World group was to consist of Ma$e, Camron, Big L, Loon, and Herb McGruff. That would’ve been next level.

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At the time he got down with Harlem World, Loon was actually locked into a contract with Arista Records. Luckily Clive Davis let him join Ma$e’s crew to help build a buzz for his solo album.

Loon says that he fell back from making music once he found religion. Being that music isn’t allowed in Islam, he decided to dedicate himself to his beliefs even though some practicing Muslims do incorporate some of that grind into their daily lives. On a personal level the repetitive cycle of “sinning” a.k.a. partying, was something that began to “eat at me” as Loon put it and he made the choice to leave that lifestyle behind.

Loon says the reason he walked away from Bad Boy was because he found it difficult to flourish under Puffy as Diddy’s star was too bright for him to shine himself. “Puff has a huge impact on Hip-Hop and Hip-Hop history. So to come up from underneath that it’s mission impossible.” Take into account that at the time Puff and Loon dropped “I Need A Girl” part 1 and 2, Loon wasn’t even signed to Bad Boy, but he did own his own publishing so he got paid in that way.

Even though he hasn’t spoken to Puff in a hot minute, Loon is looking forward to catching up with him and is open to doing business with him again though he says it won’t be in the music game.

Touching on why he got locked up for so long, Loon says that he was basically put away because of “hearsay and ‘”ghost dope.’” Being that he already had two prior convictions that was enough to land him in the bing for 9 years. Originally he was facing life in prison, so Loon decided to eat a lesser charge for a 14-year bid.

Originally Loon got bagged by Interpol in Belgium and was fighting his extradition to the U.S. for months until the U.S. produced an indictment. He continued to fight the charges for 18 months going through a few county jails before finally just eating the charge. Though Loon says he’s innocent he knew if he took it to trial and lost he’d never see the light of day again. Needless to say Loon is now an advocate for prison reform.

https://twitter.com/RealLoon2Amir/status/1292553970565689344

Loon’s conversion to Islam actually inspired his wife of 25 years and their son to join him and become Muslim. Props. Speaking of his son, Loon says that his son originally thought his father caught less prison time for snitching on his co-defendants. Luckily that wasn’t the case and Loon can walk around with his head held high unlike some rainbow-haired individuals.

Source: photo: YouTube screen capture

Loon credits Islam for helping him keep it together in the bing and admits that “If I did this bid as Loon I probably wouldn’t have come home.” That being said he didn’t even let his fellow inmates refer to him as Loon while he was locked up and let everyone know his name is Amir.

Source: @og_infamouspop / Instagram

At the moment Loon is working with OG Hip-Hop journalist Kim Osorio on a book about his life. He chose her because he says that when Ma$e was the biggest artist out of Harlem, Kim chose to write about him instead of the prince of Bad Boy. He admits that he tried to write a book about himself in prison but felt he didn’t like talking about himself too much.