AraabMuzik is lucky to be alive.
Earlier this year, the 26-year-old producer was walking out of a parking garage with a friend when an attempt was made on his life in February 2016. An unknown assailant got the native New Yorker to lower the window down on his car, shoved a .380 semiautomatic handgun into the the car, and shot inside the vehicle. AraabMuzik, real name Abraham Orellana, was hit in the jaw, his right arm, and one of the bullets grazed his head in what would be his second shooting incident after he was shot previously in 2013. Araab recently spoke about the shooting for the first time in an interview with Rolling Stone.
Let’s talk about the shooting. Did you ever learn how or why you were targeted?
It was pretty random. I guess it was plotted, or whatever – I don’t know. I’m a public figure. It’s just unfortunate that people like John Lennon or Christina Grimmie or Lor Scoota had to pass away to bring attention to violence. But unlike them I was just fortunate to escape that and still be here doing what I love to do and giving music and still performing.
He told the magazine that although he was happy to be alive, the shooting hadn’t changed his outlook on life or his work habits.
How did you feel mentally in the weeks and months that followed?
It definitely was crazy. But I went forward. There are predators out there that seek to bring harm upon celebrities. I’m a public figure so things just happen. It can happen to anyone anywhere. It doesn’t matter. I was just the victim at that time. That’s pretty much how I dealt with it. But that didn’t really affect me as far as working. I just put more thought into creating music and really taking the time to reflect and sit back and think and just get focused.
His hard work in the studio appears to be paying dividends. The producer has been in the lab with Joe Budden working on their collaboration album Rage and the Machine. He’s also been working with is close friend, Swizz Beats and grab a co-production credit on Alicia Keys’ “Waiting On Me.” The “MPC master” said he’s working on her new album and called it a “big, BIG, project.”
Araab recently released his long awaited Dream World album earlier this month.
(Via Rolling Stone)
