Musa Irakoze is a barber. He says he’s a beginner, but his friends say he’s pretty good. His passion for cutting hair started in high school.


What You Need To Know

  • Musa Irakoze came to the U.S. after fleeing Burundi

  • Now, he's fulfilling he dream to be a barber

  • A dream he says reminds him of home and honors his brother


“In high school, they used to call me the fade master,” said Irakoze.

The fade master: a nickname whose origins extends outside the four walls of 4th Quarter Barbershop, across the Atlantic Ocean and can be traced back to a photo of Musa and his brother in Tazania.

It shows around the last time he saw his brother before he and his family fled Burundi.

Musa's mother speaks in their native tongue, he translates it, hanging his head remembering, "In our country there was no peace."

His brother was left behind because when they were recruited to come to the U.S., he was out for work, as a barber.

"He used to give me a fade that’s why I like to do on people. That’s my favorite haircut," said Irakoze.

Musa says his family came to the states for a better life. A life his mom included him being a doctor or a preacher.

But Musa wanted to follow in his brother’s footsteps. Not as a pastor, but in his own personal sanctuary, and not as a doctor, but he says something like a doctor.

“It’s like you’re performing a surgery,” Musa said as he lines up a client with a razor.

He says with a focused hand and a steady eye, he’s grown to be just like his older brother, always carrying his flag to remind him of home.

And even though he’s not a pastor or a doctor, he says his mom is proud her sons are barbers.