LA Weekly: L.A. rapper Azad Right has made selflessly championing others the guiding principle of his career. Today he’s vice president of rising indie label Mind of a Genius (MOAG), whose roster includes recent Coachella performers Gallant and ZHU.

“If you help someone that you believe in, they are naturally going to want to help you. The universe is going to want to conspire for you,” he says at MOAG’s Westside office. His phone buzzes incessantly yet he’s calm and smiling. He was born with the circuitry required to handle chaos.

Born Azad Naficy, the Iranian-American rapper grew up in Section 8 housing. When his parents separated, Right stayed with his father, Majid Naficy, though his mother remained part of his life, taking him to piano and violin lessons. A college professor and poet, Majid Naficy fled Iran in the early ’80s, after his first wife and several family members were executed by Ayatollah Khomeini’s security forces. He’s also been legally blind for Right’s entire life.

The father’s trauma rubbed off on the son. “It got to the point where I was having nightmares. I just felt so bad for him,” Right explains. “I was afraid that people wouldn’t accept me. A lot of it was about me. I was, like, ‘Why me?’ Then I learned compassion and how to have empathy.” >>>