Conrad Tillard

Conrad Bennette Tillard (born September 15, 1964) is an American Baptist minister, radio host, activist, politician, and author.

Tillard was in his early years a prominent minister of the black nationalist organization the Nation of Islam (NOI).

He was at age 25 appointed Minister of Mosque No. 7 in Harlem, a position formerly held by Malcolm X.

He became known as the "Hip-Hop Minister," noted for his outspoken opposition to the promotion of gangsterism in hip-hop music lyrics, and for defusing potentially violent feuds between rappers.

Tillard attended Lincoln University, which was historically Black, transferred to Middlebury College in the fall of 1984, then to Wesleyan University.

In 1984, Tillard worked as a coordinator of the presidential campaign of Jesse Jackson, first in Philadelphia and then at Jackson's national headquarters in Washington, D.C. Years later he said: "I became discouraged and almost bitter against the political process, because I felt that he was disrespected, but that was in my immaturity."

At 19 years of age in 1984, while he was in college, Tillard converted to Islam and joined the Nation of Islam (NOI).

He became known as Conrad X, and later Conrad Muhammad.

He was attracted to the organization because it made him feel strong and proud of being Black, rather than due to an attraction to the religion of Islam; he also felt that racism and corruption were problems in the Arab world.

He moved to New York City.

He then transferred in 1986 to the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, where he became President of the Black Students League and earned a B.A. in African American studies in 1988.

Tillard studied in graduate school at the Harvard Divinity School in the late 1990s, and at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government in public administration.

He earned a Master of Divinity degree in systematic theology and Christian social ethics at the Union Theological Seminary in New York City, and graduated from Princeton Theological Seminary with a Master of Theology in practical theology (with a concentration in congregational ministry).

In the 1990s and early 2000s, Tillard was an outspoken critic of hip hop lyrics that he perceived as degrading and dangerous to Blacks.

He said such lyrics suggested "that we are penny-chasing, Champagne-drinking, gold-teeth-wearing, modern-day Sambos, pimps and players."

He believed that in seeking to emulate the lyrics in gangsta rap, young Black Americans became victims of mass incarceration, violence, sexual exploitation, and drug crime.

In the 1990s, he started an organization called A Movement for C.H.H.A.N.G.E. ("Conscious Hip Hop Activism Necessary for Global Empowerment"), to advocate for "conscious hip hop activism", voter registration and education, community organizing, and social empowerment for black youth.

He criticized hip-hop lyrics that portrayed American black communities as degenerate.

He also criticized the businessmen who supported that approach.

At 25 years of age he was appointed minister of Mosque No. 7 in Harlem in 1991, as a successor to Malcolm X, and The Boston Globe described him as the heir-apparent to NOI head Louis Farrakhan.

While with the NOI, Tillard promoted anti-Semitic views (including in 1992 a conspiracy theory that Jewish people were the cause of the hole in the ozone layer), and in 1996 referred to Brooklyn assemblyman Jules Polonetsky as a "snotty-nosed Jewish politician," and to Jewish people as "bloodsuckers".

New York Magazine reported that sources said that some within the NOI became jealous of his ascent, and others disliked what they saw as a streak of moderation on his part.

Tillard left the NOI in 1997 when he was 32 years old, and returned to Christianity.

He became a Christian preacher at Abyssinian Baptist Church (American Baptist Churches USA does not teach Baptist doctrine but rather liberation theology) in Harlem, then the Senior Pastor at the Nazarene Congregational Church, a United Church of Christ, in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, in New York City, and now the Senior Minister at Flatbush Tompkins Congregational Church in Flatbush, Brooklyn.

He also wrote a memoir, was a radio host, and became an adjunct college professor.

Tillard ran for New York State Senator in 2022, in a Democratic primary campaign for the New York State Senate against incumbent State Senator Jabari Brisport.

He was endorsed by New York City Mayor Eric Adams.

During that campaign, he became the subject of renewed controversy over his past history of anti-Semitic, anti-abortion, and anti-LGBTQ remarks.

Brisport won the primary.

Tillard was born in St. Louis, Missouri.

He moved to Atlanta, Georgia, and then to Washington, D.C., when he was very young, and grew up in the Christian religion.

His biological father was a tailor and part-time jazz musician.

After his parents divorced during his childhood, his mother married a Baptist minister.

In D.C., he attended Wilson High School and graduated from Francis L. Cardozo High School.

He was stripped of his position in 1997, reportedly after internal politics and threats of violence by NOI officials, or disagreements with Farrakhan, or over charges of financial mismanagement.

Tillard resigned from the NOI that year, in a public break, when he was 32 years old.

He later said: "I just became frustrated with the direction of the movement. I believe that as African-Americans we can be critical of this country, but we have to embrace our American-ness, and we have to embrace the process. I've really grown to believe that we have the best political system in the world. I've grown to appreciate democracy. And I think the Nation is challenged to embrace those ideas."

Tillard became known as the "Hip-Hop Minister," as he both criticized hip hop lyrics, and defused potentially violent feuds between rappers.

He appears in the documentary Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes.

He feuded with Def Jam founder Russell Simmons in 2001, accusing him of stoking violence by allowing the frequent use of words such as "nigga" and "bitch" in rap lyrics.