NAVID NAJAFI

Curator of Programs & Social Practice
Shangri La Museum of Islamic Art, Culture & Design

Navid Najafi aka Illnomadic is a musician and artist whose practice is activated hip hop, with lyrics that explore themes of migration, culture, solidarity, and home. He is a founding member of the conscious rap collective Super Groupers and a three-time Nā Hōkū Hanohano Award winner for Hip-Hop Album of the Year in 2012, 2013, and again in 2023 along with ‘Ihilani for the hip hop anthology of Hawaiian history album they created in collaboration with seven other artists through the Moloka‘i-based nonprofit Hui o Kuapā called Ho‘okupu.

Navid was born in Tehran, Iran; but at the age of 8, he fled with his family to New York at the height of the Iran-Iraq war. After several relocations and years of feeling unrooted, he finally found home when he came to Hawai‘i at the age of 19. Understanding what it means to be a good guest, which is a pillar of his Persian heritage, he has always worked to uplift and center the voices and stories of Kānaka Maoli and Hawaiian Nationals, his treasured hosts. Along with the Super Groupers, he founded Soundshop, a hip-hop education workshop program with public school students at the Honolulu Museum of Art (at the Doris Duke Theatre). Navid is currently the Curator of Programs & Social Practice at Shangri La Museum of Islamic Art, Culture and Design in Honolulu, Hawai‘i, a Center of the Doris Duke Foundation.