The music industry was rocked to its core a few years ago when this story came out about Aswad Ayinde.
Discovery ID actually has the full account of his daughter who had five children by her own father.
To the outside world, Aswad Ayinde was a hit music video director who worked with groups like the Fugees. But to his daughter, Aziza Kibibi, he was a repulsive monster who did horrifying things in God’s name. After years of suffering, she finally escaped revealing the truth about him.
Aswad Ayinde’s daughter Aziza Kabibi?
Aziza Kabibi is a brave woman who has endured a childhood rife with sexual abuse and rape at the hands of a man who was supposed to protect her – her father. “I was a nightmare,” says East Orange woman who was impregnated by her father five times.
Aziza Kibibi’s Traumatic Childhood
Just like other young girls, Aziza’s childhood dreams were full of fantasy – princesses, castles, and the like. However, before long, those dreams and her life were forever damaged.
At only 8 years of age, Aziza started being molested by her own father. By 10 years of age, he was sneaking into her bedroom to rape her on a regular basis. Her pleas were ignored as night after night, she became a sex slave to her own father.
At only fifteen, Aziza became pregnant and gave birth to her first child, a daughter. The next seven years were horrendous. She endured four more pregnancies with all the children surviving except one. The children were all born healthy with no mental or physical handicaps that are usually associated with incest pregnancies.
As other girls her age were celebrating their sweet sixteens, Aziza was busy raising children. As if this was not enough his father did not stop.
“I’d dream about running away. I’d dream about getting all my brothers and sisters – one of my sisters was a baby and I was taking care of her”
Today, Kibibi shares an East Orange Apartment with her children. Rescued from the hands of her tormentor she is on track to complete a liberal arts program at Essex County College. She dreams of opening a restaurant one day.
Who is Aswad Ayinde?
Aswad Ayinde, Aziza’s father and the father of her children grew up in Florida and Alabama before moving to Paterson, NJ shortly after marrying his wife Beverly Ayinde.
He and his wife had been sweethearts and spent the early years of their marriage living in a third-floor apartment in the City’s Eastside Park neighborhood. His wife’s parents, who had moved from Jamaica, lived below them in the same apartment.
Ayinde won fame producing The Fugees ‘Killing me softly’ music video. Today, he is serving a 90-year sentence for repeatedly sexually abusing Aziza and her sisters.
Kibibi was brave enough to speak at her father’s sentencing, even though he repeatedly lashed out at her, calling her a liar and characterizing himself as a victim of the legal system.
The day Aziza Kibibi saw her father led back to prison for the next 90 years, she had mixed emotions. She was happy that she was finally free but she took pity on him at the same time.
“I still have compassion for him and I felt sorry for him. But I understand that he did this to himself,” She said.
Being the eldest daughter and a co-wife to her own mother Aziza was the eldest daughter to this couple and though her father was strict. She describes her young life as fairly typical. She was homeschooled and allowed to interact with other children within the neighborhood.
Her family soon grew to include eight siblings. All her siblings were born at home and the family moved into the larger portion of their grandparent’s home downstairs.
As Kibibi began to mature, things began to change. “He told me I was special. Initially, it was to teach me to be a woman. By the time he started having intercourse with me, he was getting more and more violent. When I would start fighting him, he would hit me hard. It was more about threats.” She says of her father’s first advances.
By this time, Ayinde had taken total control over his wife and children by exerting himself over them. Eventually, the family moved out of Kibibi’s grandparent’s home, staying in a former funeral home in another section of Paterson before completely moving to Eatontown in South Jersey.
Ayinde imposed strict limits on interaction outside the home. Only a little time was allowed with anything that reflected a typical family was strictly forbidden.
Western medicine was forbidden for the family too. Ayinde informed his wife, Aziza’s mother that his sexual interactions with their daughter were healing methods aimed at curing a persistent case of eczema. Any defiance from the mother was quickly squashed with heavy fists.
He eventually declared himself a polygamist and later a prophet whose behavior was the product of a higher power. “He told us we couldn’t pray to God. We had to pray to him and he would get the messages to God,” she said.
The delusion grew even deeper after Kibibi’s first child was born healthy. He decided to it was his fatherly duty to keep his bloodline ‘pure’. “I don’t know if he expected her to have some medical problems but when she did not, he used that as proof. She was validation,” Aziza said.
However, the following children were not as lucky as the first one. Aziza suffered a failed pregnancy. Later her daughter was born with phenylketonuria (commonly known as PKU), a rare genetic disorder that prevents the body from effectively breaking down amino acids, and can cause brain damage, seizures and other serious symptoms. Three years after she bore a healthy son.
Aziza Kibibi’s Breakthrough
Kibibi had tried multiple times to escape but failed. She always hoped God would present her way out and in 2002, she got what she had been waiting for. An opportunity to be free from her tormentor.
While Ayinde was away on a business trip, her son suddenly went into seizures and with little hesitation opted to take him to a nearby hospital. “It was a gamble, I wasn’t socialized, and the questions they were asking, I did not know how to answer them.”
The case attracted the interest of a social worker who alerted the state Department of Youth and Family Services. Upon his return, Ayinde flew into a rage but things were already out of hand. All the children were placed into separate homes by the state.
Kibibi, her siblings, and her mother began staying apart from Ayinde even though he continued to regularly threaten her as she completed counseling in hopes of regaining custody of her children.
Aziza became a stronger person again after successfully winning custody of her children. “I was learning the system – taking my child to the doctor, attending parenting classes, and with the DFYS monitoring me, it was me who realized, wait a minute, there are people out there willing to help,” she said.
With her father behind bars, Aziza’s biggest dream is to rebuild her life while caring for her children. She has been able to obtain her GED, gotten married and had another son, and is continuing with school. She hopes to one day rescue women like her who are victims of sexual abuse particularly those who have become parents.
Aswad Ayinde, the director of The Fugees’ music video ‘Killing Me Softly,’ is accused of sexually assaulting his five daughters and impregnating three of them. Aswad Ayinde’s former wife testified in state court that he raped each of the girls because he believed the world was ending and his offspring would be the sole survivors.
Beverly Ayinde said the 50-year-old had an ongoing relationship with all the girls and said she was afraid to speak up against the immoral behavior because Aswad threatened to kill the family if anyone were to disclose the “dark secret.”
The alleged assaults reportedly took place at an abandoned funeral home in East Orange.
In all, five of Aswad’s daughters were allegedly raped. Four of the girls were apparently Beverly’s daughters.
According to court documents, the grandchildren were delivered by both Beverly and Aswad. Aswad, who was arrested in July 2006, was described by prosecutors as a “blueblood,” or someone who believes in keeping his bloodlines pure.”
He has been tried in five separate cases for the attackx and is currently serving a 90 year sentence for several counts of aggravated sexual assault, sexual assault, lewdness, child endangerment, aggravated criminal sexual contact, and criminal sexual contact.
