Shout Out: Ruby Shabazz

Our Queen of NH Hip Hop And R&B

BY ROBERT COOK / PHOTO BY ROBERT ORTIZ

After performing and creating scores of music in New Hampshire for more than 20 years, Ruby Shabazz has claimed her place as the Queen of NH hip hop and R&B. She also uses her talents to promote DEI throughout the Granite State to bring people together.

Chances are that you will see Ruby performing at any number of events that promote diversity, equity and inclusion as she did this year at the Concord Multi-Cultural Festival and the We Are One Festival in Manchester that returned after a two-year hiatus from the pandemic. She also performs a regular gig at the Taste of Africa in Nashua to celebrate African culture and cuisine.

At 44, Ruby and her life partner, Bill Feehan, a fellow hip hop artist, plan to keep on making music and promoting the Granite State’s growing hip hop scene.

“We just always want to grow and do things better and work with more people,” Ruby says.

Since she first began her musical journey as a student at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell 25 years ago, the Roxbury, Mass., native has worked on more than 20 albums either as a solo artist or with fellow hip hop and R&B artists. She is working on a new album to capture her pandemic experience tentatively titled, “In My Feelings.”

She says the album will be very soulful and includes a song written for her father, William Shabazz, called “The Light of the Moon.” Ruby said she lost her father, who was 82, during the pandemic.

When asked how she feels when people refer to her as the Queen of NH Hip Hop and R&B, Ruby replies, “I feel honored and I feel humbled, and I would always feel like I have more work to do and more progress to make. But I can’t lie. I like that title.” 603