Navid Najafi (aka Illnomadic)

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 2023, for Ho‘okupu, the hip-hop anthology of Hawaiian history he created in collaboration with seven other artists through the Moloka‘i based nonprofit Hui o Kuapā . Born in Tehran, Iran, Najafi  fled with his family at the age of eight to New York at the height of the Iran-Iraq war. After several relocations, he finally found home when he moved to Hawai‘i at the age of nineteen. Understanding what it means to be a good guest, which is a pillar of his Persian heritage, he has worked to uplift and center the voices and stories of Kānaka Maoli and Hawaiian Nationals, his treasured hosts. As part of Super Groupers, he founded Soundshop. Najafi is currently the Associate Curator of Programs & Social Practice at Shangri La Museum of Islamic Art, Culture and Design in Honolulu, a Center of the Doris Duke Foundation.