YASIIN BEY A.K.A. MOS DEF

By: Jaime Barba

Early Life

Dante Terrell Smith December 11th , 1973 Brooklyn, New York Eldest of 12 Children Attended High School in Bushwick Dropped out sophomore year Rapper, Actor, and Activist

Early Music

Took Hip Hop serious about 1994 Urban Thermo Dynamics Features on few albums De La Soul and

Da Bush Babees Black Star with Talib Kweli in 1998

Mos Def and Talib Kweli are Black Star

Debut in 1998 First major album Duo with Talib Kweli Rawkus Records Produced by Hi - Tek Vital part of both Career Leadin single “Defenition”

Black On Both Sides

Debut Album on Rawkus Records Released on October 12th , 1999 Most notably produced by DJ Premier (GangStarr) and

Ali Shaheed (ATCQ) Sounds included Jazz, Soul, Funk, and Rock Live instrumental Certified Gold One of the last releases of the “Golden Era” Only major features Talib Kweli, Q-Tip, Bustah Rhymes Favo Favorite songs “ Mr. Nigga” & “Ms. Fat Booty” https://youtu.be/N5NP8NN2_PM

The New Danger

First Album on Geffen Records Released on October 19th , 2004 Produced by Mos Def, Kanye West, and 88 Keys Mostly Sounds from Jazz, Blues and Rock mostly Very Instrumental and Experimental Album Release at #5 on Billboards and #2 on Hip Hop/R&B

Charts Leading single is “Sex, Love, & Money” Mixed reviews, now seen as great experimental work

Favorite songs “The Panties” & “Sunshine” https://youtu.be/EWDhdXsNMG4

True Magic

Second Album on Geffen Records Released December 26th , 2006 Produced mostly by Preservation and The

Neptunes Sounds included Jazz, Funk, and Soul One of his less know releases, limited

release in the U.S.

The Esctatic

First album on GOOD Music Released June 9th, 2009 Produced by J. Dilla, Madlib, The Neptunes, Mr.

Flash and Preservation Sounds include Soul, Jazz, Rock, and Early Hip

Hop Samples Most highly praised album, least sold album Interesting fact does a song in Spanish “No Hay

Nada Mas” Favorite songs “Auditorium” and “The Embassy” https://youtu.be/hG_aGxlz7xc

Yasiin Bey

Had been going by Yasiin Bey since 1999 but only friends and family called him that

Changed his name because he thinks Mos Def was and is being used as a product

As well Mos Def was a name that gave him many things

Part of the Nation of Islam

Acting

Started acting in the late 8o’s Kept acting throughout his music career Done TV Filsm and sitcom roles in his

early career Movie roles as Mos Def and as well as TV

Roles in the 2000’s Includes The Italian Job, Next Day Air,

Dexter, Boondocks and Cosby Mysteries

Sources

http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/news/id.21099/title.mos-def-explains-name-change-to-yasiin-bey-discusses-fashion

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/mos-def-to-retire-the-name-mos-def-20110907

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mos_Def#1999.E2.80.932006:_Black_on_Both_Sides.2C_The_New_Danger_and_True_Magic

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0080049/