Yasiin Bey /jæˈsiːn ˈbeɪ/, better known by his former stage name Mos Def /ˈmoʊs
ˈdɛf/, is an American actor and hip hop recording artist from Brooklyn, New York City,
New York.
He is the host of Def Poetry Jam which aired on HBO between 2002 and 2007.
Best known for his music, Mos Def began his hip hop career in 1994 in the short-lived
rap group UTD or Urban Thermo Dynamics, after which he appeared on albums by Da Bush Babees
and De La Soul.
Alongside Talib Kweli, he formed the duo Black Star, which released the album Black Star
in 1998.
He was a major force in late-1990s underground hip hop while with Rawkus Records.
As a solo artist he has released the albums Black on Both Sides in 1999, The New Danger
in 2004, True Magic in 2006, and The Ecstatic in 2009.
Prior to his career in music, Mos Def entered public light as a child actor, having played
roles in television movies, sitcoms and theater, some of which under the name Dante Beze.
At the age of 14, he appeared in the TV movie God Bless the Child which aired on ABC in
1988.
He played the oldest child in the 1990 family sitcom, You Take the Kids, shortly before
it was cancelled.
In 1995, he played the character "Dante" in The Cosby Mysteries.
Since the early 2000s, Mos Def is well known for his roles in films such as Something the
Lord Made, Next Day Air, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, 16 Blocks, Be Kind Rewind,
The Italian Job, and his portrayal of Brother Sam in the American drama series Dexter.
Mos Def has also been vocal on several social and political causes.
Early life He was born Dante Terrell Smith in Brooklyn,
New York City, the son of Sheron Smith and Abdul Rahman.
The eldest of 12 children and step-children, he was raised by his mother in Brooklyn, while
his father lived in New Jersey.
While his father was initially a member of the Nation of Islam and later followed Imam
Warith Deen Mohammed, who merged into mainstream Sunni Islam from the Nation, Mos Def was not
exposed to Islam until the age of 13.
At 19, he took his shahada, the Muslim declaration of faith.
He is close friends with Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Kamaal Ibn John Fareed of the rap group
A Tribe Called Quest.
Mos Def attended middle school at Philippa Schuyler 383 in Bushwick, Brooklyn where he
picked up his love for acting.
After returning from filming You Take the Kids in Los Angeles, and getting into a relationship
with an older girl, Mos Def dropped out of high school during sophomore year.
Growing up in New York City during the crack epidemic of the 80s and early 90s, he's spoken
about witnessing widespread instances of gang violence, theft and poverty in society, which
he largely avoided by working on plays, Off-Off-Broadway and arts programs.
In a particularly traumatic childhood experience, Mos Def witnessed his younger brother get
hit by a car.
The 5 year old Denard Smith, who Mos Def described as "my first partner in Hip Hop", was in a
coma for 6 months.
He credits his brother, parents, grandparents and fellow New Yorkers for being an inspiration
in his life and work.
Career Music
Mos Def began his rap music career in 1994, forming the rap group UTD along with younger
brother DCQ and younger sister Ces.
In 2004, they released the album Manifest Destiny, their first and only release to date.
The album features a compilation of previously unreleased and re-released tracks recorded
during the original UTD run.
In 1996, Mos Def emerged as a solo artist and worked with De La Soul and Da Bush Babees,
before he released his own first single, "Universal Magnetic".
Mos Def signed with Rawkus Records and formed the rap group Black Star with Talib Kweli.
The duo released an album, Mos Def & Talib Kweli are Black Star, in 1998.
Mostly produced by Hi-Tek, the album featured the hit singles "Respiration" and "Definition",
which would go on to be featured in VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of Hip-Hop.
Mos Def released his solo debut album Black on Both Sides in 1999, also through Rawkus.
Around this time he also contributed to the Scritti Politti album Anomie & Bonhomie and
Rawkus compilations Lyricist Lounge and Soundbombing.
After the collapse of Rawkus, he signed to Geffen Records, which released his second
solo album The New Danger in 2004.
The New Danger contained a mix of several musical genres, including soul, blues, and
rock and roll, performed with his rock band Black Jack Johnson, which included members
of the bands Bad Brains and Living Colour.
The singles included "Sex, Love & Money" and the B-side "Ghetto Rock"; the latter went
on to receive several Grammy Award nominations in 2004.
Mos Def's final solo album for Geffen Records, True Magic, was released in 2006.
The song "Crime & Medicine" is a remake of GZA's 1995 single "Liquid Swords".
Also, the track "Undeniable" samples a version of the Barrett Strong/Norman Whitfield composition
"Message from a Black Man".
The song "Dollar Day" uses the same beat as Juvenile's "Nolia Clap".
On November 7, 2007, Mos Def performed live in San Francisco at The Mezzanine venue.
The performance was recorded for an upcoming "Live in Concert" DVD.
During the event, Mos Def announced that he would be releasing a new album to be called
The Ecstatic.
He performed a number of new tracks; in later shows, Def previewed tracks produced by Madlib
and was rumored to be going to Kanye West for new material.
Producer and fellow Def Poet Al Be Back revealed he would be producing on the album as well.
The album was released on June 9, 2009; but only Madlib's production had made the cut,
along with tracks by Preservation, The Neptunes, Mr. Flash, Madlib's brother Oh No, a song
by J. Dilla, and Georgia Anne Muldrow.
Mos Def appears alongside Kanye West on the track "Two Words" from The College Dropout
album, the track "Drunk And Hot Girls" and the bonus track "Good Night" off West's third
major album, Graduation.
In 2002, he released the 12" single Fine, which was featured in the Brown Sugar Motion
Picture Soundtrack.
Mos Def also appears on the debut album from fellow New Yorkers Apollo Heights on a track
titled, "Concern."
In October, he signed a deal with Downtown Records and appeared on a remix to the song
"D.A.N.C.E."
by Justice.
Mos Def appeared on Stephen Marley's debut album Mind Control on the song "Hey Baby."
In 2009, Mos Def worked with Somali-Canadian rapper K'naan to produce the track "America"
for K'naan's album Troubadour.
In April 2008, he appeared on the title track for a new album by The Roots entitled Rising
Down.
The new single, "Life In Marvelous Times", was made officially available through iTunes
on November 4, 2008, and is available for stream on the Roots' website Okayplayer.
In April 2009, Mos Def traveled to South Africa for the first time where he performed with
The Robert Glasper Experiment at the renowned Cape Town International Jazz Festival.
He treated the South African audience with an encore introduced by his own rendition
of John Coltrane's "Love Supreme", followed by a sneak preview of the track "M.D."
Mos Def has designed two pairs of limited edition Converse shoes.
The shoes were released through Foot Locker stores on August 1, 2009 in limited amounts.
In late 2009, Mos Def created his own clothing line with the "UNDRCRWN" brand called the
"Mos Def Cut & Sew Collection."
The items were released in select U.S. stores and almost exclusively on the UNDRCRWN website.
2009 also found Mos Def among the MCs collaborating with the Black Keys on the first Blakroc album,
a project headed by the Black Keys and Damon Dash.
Mos Def appeared with Jim Jones and the Black Keys on the Late Show with David Letterman
to perform the Blakroc track "Ain't Nothing Like You".
In March 2010, Mos Def's song "Quiet Dog Bite Hard" was featured in Palm's "Life moves fast.
Don't miss a thing."
campaign.
Mos Def features on the first single, "Stylo", from the third Gorillaz album, Plastic Beach,
alongside soul legend Bobby Womack.
He also appears on the track titled "Sweepstakes".
In September 2010, after appearing on Kanye West's G.O.O.D.
Friday track "Lord Lord Lord", Mos Def confirmed he has signed with GOOD Music.
Mos Def has been an active contributor to the recovery of the oil spill in the Gulf,
performing concerts and raising money towards repairing its damages.
In June 2010, he recorded a cover of the classic New Orleans song originally by Smokey Johnson,
"It Ain't My Fault" with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Lenny Kravitz and Trombone
Shorty.
In September 2011, Mos Def announced that he planned to use the name Yasiin instead
of Mos Def beginning in 2012.
In January 2012, it was reported that Mos Def and Talib Kweli had begun "to resurrect"
Black Star.
Acting He began his professional acting career at
the age of fourteen, appearing in the TV movie God Bless the Child, starring Mare Winningham.
He then played the oldest child in the short-lived family sitcom, You Take the Kids, starring
Nell Carter and Roger E. Mosley.
His most notable acting role before his music career was that of Bill Cosby's sidekick on
the short-lived detective show, The Cosby Mysteries.
He also starred in a 1996 Visa check card commercial featuring Deion Sanders.
In 1997 he had a small role alongside Michael Jackson in his short film and music video
"Ghosts".
After brief appearances in Bamboozled and Monster's Ball, Def played a rapper who is
reluctant to sign to a major label in Brown Sugar.
He was nominated for an Image Award and a Teen Choice Award.
In 2001, he took a supporting role to Beyoncé Knowles and Mehki Phifer in the MTV movie
Carmen: A Hip Hopera as Lt. Miller, a crooked cop.
In 2002, he played the role of Booth in Suzan-Lori Parks' Topdog/Underdog, a Tony-nominated and
Pulitzer-winning Broadway play.
He and co-star Jeffrey Wright won a Special Award from the Outer Critics Circle Award
for their joint performance.
He played Left Ear in the 2003 film The Italian Job.
That same year he appear ed in the music video You Don't Know My Name of the song by Alicia
Keys.
In television, Mos Def has appeared on NYPD Blue, on Comedy Central's Chappelle's Show,
and has hosted the award-winning HBO spoken word show, Def Poetry since its inception.
The show's sixth season aired in 2007.
He also appeared on the sitcom My Wife And Kids as the disabled friend of Michael Kyle.
Mos Def won "Best Actor, Independent Movie" at the 2005 Black Reel Awards for his portrayal
of Detective Sgt.
Lucas in The Woodsman.
For his portrayal of Vivien Thomas in HBO's film Something the Lord Made, he was nominated
for an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe, and won the Image Award.
He also played a bandleader in HBO's Lackawanna Blues.
He then landed the role of Ford Prefect in the 2005 movie adaptation of The Hitchhiker's
Guide to the Galaxy.
In 2006, Mos Def appeared in Dave Chappelle's Block Party alongside fellow Black Star companion
Talib Kweli, while also contributing to the film's soundtrack.
He was also featured as the banjo player in the Pixie Sketch" from Chappelle's Show: The
Lost Episodes, though his appearance was edited out of the DVD.
He starred in the action film 16 Blocks alongside Bruce Willis and David Morse.
He has a recurring guest role on Boondocks, starring as Gangstalicious.
He is also set to be in Toussaint, a film about Haitian revolutionary Toussaint Louverture,
opposite Don Cheadle and Wesley Snipes.
He made a cameo appearance as himself in the movie Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky
Bobby.
In 2007, Mos Def narrated the PBS-broadcast documentary Prince Among Slaves.
In 2008, Mos Def starred in the Michel Gondry movie Be Kind Rewind, playing a video rental
store employee whose best friend is played by co-star Jack Black.
He also portrayed Chuck Berry in the film Cadillac Records, for which he was nominated
for a Black Reel Award and an Image Award.
In 2009, he appeared in the House episode entitled "Locked In" as a patient suffering
from locked-in syndrome.
His performance was well-received, with E! saying that Mos Def "delivers an Emmy-worthy
performance."
He was also in the 2009 film Next Day Air.
In 2010, he appeared on the children's show Yo Gabba Gabba!
as Super Mr. Superhero.
He also appeared in A Free Man of Color, John Guare's play at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre.
In 2011, he began a multi-episode appearance on the sixth season of Showtime television
series Dexter.
He played Brother Sam, an ex-convict who has supposedly found religion despite finding
himself in violent situations.
Social and political views Def is well known for his left-leaning political
views.
In 2000, Mos Def performed a benefit concert for death row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal.
In September 2005, Mos Def released the single "Katrina Clap", renamed "Dollar Day" for True
Magic,.
The song is a criticism of the Bush administration's response to Hurricane Katrina.
On the night of the MTV Video Music Awards, Mos Def pulled up in front of Radio City Music
Hall on a flatbed truck and began performing the "Katrina Clap" single in front of a crowd
that quickly gathered around him.
He was subsequently arrested despite having a public performance permit in his possession.
In October 2006, Mos Def appeared on 4Real, a documentary television series.
Appearing in the episode "City of God," he and the 4Real crew traveled to City of God,
a slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to meet Brazilian MC MV Bill and learn about the crime
and social problems of the community.
On September 7, 2007, Mos Def appeared on Real Time with Bill Maher where he spoke about
racism against African Americans, citing the government response to Hurricane Katrina,
the Jena Six and the murder conviction of Mumia Abu-Jamal.
He appeared on Real Time again on March 27, 2009, and spoke about the risk of nuclear
weapons.
Mos Def said that he did not listen to any of Osama Bin Laden's messages because he did
not trust the translations.
In July 2013, Mos Def, under the new name Yasiin Bey, appeared in a short film released
by the human rights organization Reprieve, depicting the forced-feeding methods used
at the Guantanamo Bay detention camps.
This transpired after a document containing the military instructions for the procedure
was leaked.
Acclaim About.com ranked him #24 on their list of
the Top 50 MCs of Our Time, while The Source ranked him #23 on their list of the Top 50
Lyricists of All Time.
Allmusic called him one of the most promising rappers to emerge in the late '90s, as well
as one of hip-hop's brightest hopes entering the 21st century.
Mos Def has influenced numerous hip hop artists throughout his career, including Lupe Fiasco,
Jay Electronica, Kid Cudi, and Saigon.
Personal life Mos Def has six children with four different
women, including two with his first wife Maria Yepes.
He married Maria Yepes in 1996, and have two daughters together: Jauhara Smith and Chandani
Smith.
On August 17, 2005, he traveled to Canada where he married music video model Alana Wyatt.
Following a tumultuous relationship, the couple soon separated after, but have not yet divorced.
Wyatt published a tell-all book "Breaking The Code Of Silence" in January 2012.
Mos Def filed for divorce from Yepes in 2006.
The former couple made headlines when Yepes took Mos Def to court over failure in child-support
obligations, paying $2,000 short of the monthly $10,000 he is ordered to pay.
His mother Sheron Smith, who goes by her nickname "Umi", has played an active role managing
portions of her son's career.
She is also a motivational speaker, and has authored the book "Shine Your Light: A Life
Skills Workbook", where she details her experience as a single-mother raising Mos Def.
Nominations Black Movie Awards
2006 Source Awards
Black Reel Awards 2008, Best Supporting Actor: Cadillac Records
2003, Best Actor- Independent: Civil Brand 2004, Best Supporting Actor: The Italian Job
2005, Best Actor TV Movie/Mini-Series: Something the Lord Made
2005, Best Indie Actor: The Woodsman
Emmy Award 2004, Best Actor in a Television Movie or
Mini-Series: Something the Lord Made
Golden Globes 2005, Best Actor in a Television Movie or
Mini-Series: Something the Lord Made
Grammy Awards 2005, Best Urban/Alternative Performance:
"Sex, Love & Money" 2006, Best Urban/Alternative Performance:
"Ghetto Rock" 2007, Best Rap Solo Performance: "Undeniable"
2010, Best Rap Solo Performance: "Casa Bey" 2010, Best Rap Album: "The Ecstatic"
2011, Best Short Form Music Video: "Stylo"
Image Awards 2009, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion
Picture: Cadillac Records 2003, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion
Picture: Brown Sugar 2005, Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie
or Mini-Series: Something the Lord Made
Discography
Mos Def & Talib Kweli are Black Star Black on Both Sides
The New Danger True Magic
The Ecstatic Filmography
References
External links Mos Def / Dante Smith discographies at Discogs.
Mos Def at MTV Mos Def at the Internet Movie Database
Mos Def on Facebook