Spiky-TheGorillazFan

Also tested some Krita brushes while painting.

some of my recent cyborg Noodle without her hat doodles

No Islamophobia or other BS

The Gorillaz Wiki states that Russel is a Muslim. The source is the very first interview with Gorillaz, Dazed and Confused January 2001 edition. It states that Russel considers the people of the NOI to be "my peeps," which means that he either considers himself to be a direct part of the organization or has strong connection to it.

The Wikipedia article states that the Nation of Islam prohibits the use of alcohol, tobacco, and recreational dr*gs.

At the same time, Russell smokes cigars (official art of phases 1-2, 4-6, 8), and in phase 7 he advertised alcohol

The pictures of Russel smoking in phase 1

Most of the things that have happend to him also more align with the Christian view of the afterlife or a spiritual(non-muslim) view,him being exorcised by a priest when he was young, ghosts/demonic posession, meeting the grim reaper, I think that's Christian?

Muslims also have to go to mecca atleast once in their lives, I don't think I've heard russel mention going there befor

But also Muslims have to wear restricting clothing, men can't wear shorts above the knee or be shirtless, and he very much has, I'm also sure that Muslim men aren't allowed contact with women/girl who aren't blood relatives or their wives, but I could be wrong about that and it might just be Muslim women

Warning: I'm not a cultural studies scholar, and even less so a religious studies scholar

1. The Nation of Islam (NOI) does not require its followers to make a pilgrimage to Mecca.

2. I didn't find any restrictions about shorts or shirtless in NOI??? Yes, they require to wear "business, conservative Western suits", which is kinda not a thing for Russel considering his style 80-90% hip-hop/streetwear inspired

3. NOI doesn't have really harsh restrictions about contacting women. Yes, the followers can't just socialize, flirt, and stuff, but it's allowed if the interaction has a "specific, functional purpose".

About the whole thing with Grim Reaper, I can just say that all this stuff was probably written with Christianity/Western culture in mind? I'm not sure if Damon/Jamie/any Gorillaz storywriter is a Christian, but considering that in Europe, culture relies heavily on the Christian religion? I think when they were writing the lore for Russel, they were just going off of a Christian motif? The chances of someone wanting to make him a real Muslim are extremely low, right? I think?