Mos Def

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Mos Def (2008)
Mos Def at the Out4Fame Festival 2015
NYC Bowery Ballroom 1999

Mos Def (born December 11, 1973 in Brooklyn , New York ; actually Dante Terrell Smith ), also known as Mighty Mos Def, The Freaky Night Watchman, Boogie Man, Black Dante, Dante Beze, Pretty Flaco , Flaco Bey and since 2012 as Yasiin Bey , is an American hip-hop - a musician and actor .

Career

His first solo single, The Universal Magnetic , was released in 1997 on Rawkus Records. The following year he released the album of the same name with Talib Kweli as the group Black Star . Due to the great talent of the two, they were traded by some critics as the successor to A Tribe Called Quest . In 1999 Mos Def released his debut album Black on Both Sides after some contributions to the Soundbombing 2 compilation . He worked with the likes of DJ Premier , Diamond D and Busta Rhymes .

From 2001 Mos Def began to devote himself mainly to his acting career. He was seen in Monster's Ball together with Halle Berry , Billy Bob Thornton and Heath Ledger , and in a tongue-in-cheek biographical way in Brown Sugar (2002). In 2005 he starred as "Ford Prefect" in the film adaptation of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy . In 2006, he appeared alongside Bruce Willis in 16 blocks . Mos Def starred in 2008, starring Jack Black in the comedy Off Turned , and he played Chuck Berry in Cadillac Records . His role as Vivien Thomas in A Work of God earned him an Emmy nomination.

In 2004 his second album The New Danger was released . On this album, Mos Def processed various influences such as rock and soul and moved a little away from his hip-hop roots.

Mos Def performing in Melbourne

Mos Def also attracted attention through his texts critical of Bush . He was arrested at the VMA in New York for performing without permission on the street outside Radio City Music Hall with the song Katrina Clap , in which he criticized President Bush's slow actions during the Katrina disaster . Mos Def's publicist Carleen Donovan describes: “Mos Def did not want to break any laws. His only aim was to make people aware that the victims of Katrina still need help from the American people. Although the whole thing was several years ago. "

In October 2006 Mos Def visited the poverty ghetto Cidade de Deus in western Rio de Janeiro as part of a television documentary . This favela became known worldwide through the novel by Paulo Lins The City of God and the Brazilian film adaptation City of God . There he visited the Brazilian rapper MV Bill and described the life that is shaped by violence and socio-economic problems.

In October 2007 Mos Def switched to the Downtown Recordings label .

In September 2011, Mos Def announced that he would change his name to Yasiin Bey from 2012.

July 2013 he put in a dramatic video for the London human rights organization "Reprieve" (pardon) the award-winning director Asif Kapadia , the force-feeding of Guantanamo - prisoner is and wanted to draw attention to the fate of the men who American US at the military base Guantanamo Bay Naval Base on Guantánamo Bay in Cuba have been detained without charge for over ten years and show solidarity with them. The video was published on the Guardian's website and spread millions of times on social networks.

Others

Mos Def converted to Islam at the age of 19. His father was already a member of the Nation of Islam , but since he grew up with his mother, he only came into contact with this religion at the age of 13. Mos Def is friends with the also Muslim rappers Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Q-Tip . In 1996 he married Maria Yepes. After the birth of two daughters, Chandani and Jauhara Smith, the couple separated in 2005. In January 2008, the marriage ended in divorce.

On May 15, 2014 Mos Def was supposed to start a tour through the USA at the "Together Boston Music Festival". Due to unspecified "immigration and legal problems", the artist , who has lived in Cape Town since May 2013, canceled his performances in the USA.

Discography

Albums

Urban Thermo Dynamics (with DCQ & Ces)

  • 1994: Manifest Destiny (Promo)

Black Star (with Talib Kweli )

year title Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
DE DE AT AT CH CH UK UK US US
1998 Black Star - - - - US53 (5 weeks)
US
First published: September 29, 1998

Mos Def

year title Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
DE DE AT AT CH CH UK UK US US
1999 Black on Both Sides - - - UK-
silver
silver
UK 		US25th
gold
gold

(16 weeks)US
First published: October 12, 1999
2004 The New Danger - - CH50 (5 weeks)
CH 		UK56 (2 weeks)
UK 		US5
gold
gold

(13 weeks)US
First published: October 12, 2004
2006 Tru3 Magic - - - - US77 (5 weeks)
US
First published: December 29, 2006
2009 The Ecstatic - - CH90 (1 week)
CH 		- US9 (11 weeks)
US
First published: June 9, 2009

Compilations

  • 2002: We Are Hip-Hop: Me, You, Everybody
  • 2007: Mos Definite
  • 2008: We Are Hip-Hop: Me, You, Everybody, Pt. 2
  • 2008: Audio 3

Singles

Black Star (with Talib Kweli )

year Title
album 		Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
DE DE AT AT CH CH UK UK US US
2001 Definition
black star 		- - - - US60 (10 weeks)
US

More singles

  • 1998: Respiration (with Common)
  • 1999: Another World

Mos Def

year Title
album 		Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
DE DE AT AT CH CH UK UK US US
1999 Ms. Fat Booty
Black on Both Sides 		- - - UK85 (3 weeks)
UK 		-
2000 Umi Says
Black on Both Sides 		- - - UK60 (2 weeks)
UK 		-
Ms. Fat Booty II
Lyricist Lounge 2 		- - - UK64 (1 week)
UK 		-
2001 Oh No
Lyricist Lounge 2 		- - - UK24 (4 weeks)
UK 		US83 (12 weeks)
US
2010 Stylo
Plastic Beach 		DE63 (8 weeks)
DE 		AT40 (8 weeks)
AT 		CH56 (7 weeks)
CH 		- -
with Gorillaz feat. Bobby Womack

More singles

  • 1997: The Universal Magnetic
  • 1997: The Universal Magnetic Remix
  • 1998: Body Rock (with Q-Tip & Tash)
  • 1999: Next Universe
  • 1999: Mtuiz7
  • 2000: Oh No (DJ Hype Remix)
  • 2000: Oh No (John B Remix)
  • 2001: Jam On It
  • 2002: Brown Sugar
  • 2002: Brown Sugar (Fine)
  • 2002: Workin 'It Out
  • 2002: Wylin 'Out (with Diverse & Prefuse 73)
  • 2003: Wylin 'Out Remix (with Diverse & Kutmasta Kurt)
  • 2004: Sex, Love & Money
  • 2004: Ghetto Rock
  • 2005: Excellence / Slow & Tender (with Medina Green)
  • 2007: Drunk and Hot Girls (with Kanye West)
  • 2009: Quiet Dog

Soundtracks

Filmography

Movies

TV series

Web links

Commons : Mos Def  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikiquote: Mos Def  - Quotes

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Mos Def . 4REAL. Retrieved February 20, 2011.
  2. ↑ 4 REAL Mos Def in Cidade de Deuas . 4real.com. Retrieved February 20, 2011.
  3. ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/sep/08/mos-def-name-change (English)
  4. ↑ Yasiin Bey (aka Mos Def) force fed under standard Guantánamo Bay procedure , The Guardian-Youtubekanal, July 8, 2013
  5. ↑ beliefnet: You're Gonna Serve Somebody (English)
  6. ↑ Rapper Yasiin Bey (Mos Def) is denied entry to the United States , May 22, 2014
  7. ^ Mos Def Cancels Upcoming US Tour , togetherboston.com, May 13, 2014
  8. ↑ From Brooklyn to Bo-Kaap Mos Def Moves to Cape Town, South Africa , rollingstone.co.za, March 10, 2014
  9. ↑ Yasiin Bey, aka Mos Def, cancels US tour amid 'legal' wrangles , theguardian.com, May 22, 2014
  10. ↑ a b c d Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US
  11. ↑ Music Sales Awards: US UK
  12. ↑ Dexter Season 6 adds Mos Def as religious Brother Sam ( Memento from July 27, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
personal data
SURNAME Mos Def
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Smith, Dante Terrell
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American musician and actor
DATE OF BIRTH December 11, 1973
PLACE OF BIRTH Brooklyn , New York , USA