Mos Def

This article on Rolling Stone's magazine about the legendary Mos Def is an interesting take on the man and the music. We don't agree with a lot that's said but maybe it can spark some debate on the space that Mos Def fills in hip hop. The following is the article - all credits to Rolling Stone.


A Brooklyn-based, dimple-faced rapper radiating intelligence and wit, Mos Def represented the next step in the evolution of the hip-hop MC, sporting all the skills and credibility of the underground plus an undeniable charisma that pushed his music seamlessly into the mainstream.

Born Dante Terrell Smith in Brooklyn in 1973, Mos Def acted on the short-lived 1994 TV series The Cosby Mysteries and formed the short-lived group Urban Thermodynamics with his brother (DCQ, of the group Medina Green) and sister.

Mos then appeared on De La Soul's album Stakes Is High (Tommy Boy, 1996) and two cuts on da Bush Babees album Gravity (Warner Bro., 1996) where he picked up some of da Babees' West Indian flavor. An excellent freestyler and writer with a deep knowledge of hip-hop's old school, Mos's topical range widened as he sought to transcend the "keepin' it real" clichés that had subsumed much of hip-hop's revolutionary potential and stunted its artistic growth.

At the same time, Mos was there to rock the party, starting with his languid, funky solo single "The Universal Magnetic," which positioned him as a direct successor to Q-Tip, of A Tribe Called Quest. Mos then teamed up with fellow Brooklyn MC Talib Kweli to form the duo Black Star, named after Marcus Garvey's Black Star Line, the first black-owned ship line to go from the U.S. to Africa ("Black Star Line" was also a track on Brand Nubian's 1993 album, In God We Trust, which Mos and Kweli undoubtedly knew). Black Star was brilliant lyrically (conscious and clever) as well as musically (fat drums and jazzy loops), catching the attention of hibernating heads who had last checked hip-hop during Native Tongues' late-'80s/early-'90s heyday.

Mos ably followed this up with Black on Both Sides, an album that runs the gamut from the furiously catchy "Rock N Roll," on which Mos details pioneering African-American musical developments subsequently capitalized on by whites, to "Ms. Fat Booty," a wicked tale of seduction (check the surprise ending) built around an Aretha Franklin sample. Although Mos' album-length oeuvre is brief, he has dropped quite a few nonalbum singles and guest spots. He appears on three tracks on the excellent compilation Soundbombing II (Rawkus, 1999), including the tremendous "B-Boy Document 99" with High & Mighty and Mad Skillz; he drops a verse on Floetry's smooth 2003 single "Wanna B Where U R (Thisizzaluvsong)"; his cut "3-Card" opens Music From the Original Broadway Production Topdog Underdog (MCA, 2002), a Suzan-Lori Parks play that costarred Mos and Jeffrey Wright (Mos has also been featured in Hollywood movies including Bamboozled and The Italian Job); also worth seeking is "Beef," a 2003 single that begins with the memorable couplet "Beef is not what Jay said to Nas/Beef is when working folks can't find jobs." Mos' millennial musical power move was Black Jack Johnson, a black rock supergroup featuring P-Funk keyboardist Bernie Worrell, Bad Brains guitarist Dr. Know, Sugarhill bassist Doug Wimbish, and Living Colour drummer Will Calhoun.

But what sounded great on paper didn't translate well to the stage (perhaps it would have helped if Mos could sing better); for once, mighty Mos might've gotten caught up in believing he was bigger than hip-hop.

(PETER RELIC) From 2004's The New Rolling Stone Album Guide