![]() The album reached #5 on the Billboard 200, making it the most successful for the artist to date. It included contributions by Shuggie Otis and Bernie Worrell, Doug Wimbish, and Will Calhoun as the Black Jack Johnson Band. In January 2002, Rawkus Records was taken over by Geffen Records, which released his second solo album The New Danger in October 2004. Yasiin Bey performing at Rock the Bells in New York Ilias later adopted the alias DCQ and was described by Bey as "my first partner in hip hop". In a particularly traumatic childhood experience, Bey witnessed his then five-year-old younger brother, Ilias Bey (born Denard Smith), get hit by a car. Growing up in New York City, during the crack epidemic of the 1980s and early 1990s, he has 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. After returning from filming You Take the Kids in Los Angeles, and getting into a relationship with an older girl, Bey dropped out of high school during sophomore year. īey attended middle school at Philippa Schuyler Middle School in Bushwick, Brooklyn, where developed his love for acting. He is close friends with fellow Muslim hip-hop artists Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Q-Tip. Bey was not exposed to Islam until the age of 13. His father was initially a member of the Nation of Islam and later followed Imam Warith Deen Mohammed, who merged into the mainstream Sunni Islam from the Nation of Islam. The eldest of 12 children and step-children, he was raised by his mother in Brooklyn, while his father lived in New Jersey. Yasiin Bey was born Dante Terrell Smith on December 11, 1973, in Brooklyn, New York City, the son of Sheron Smith and Abdulrahman Smith. He hosted Def Poetry Jam from 2002 to 2007.īey has been vocal on several social and political causes, including police brutality, American exceptionalism, and the status of African Americans. Since the early 2000s, he has appeared in the films Something the Lord Made, Next Day Air, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, 16 Blocks, Be Kind Rewind, The Italian Job, The Woodsman, Bamboozled, and Brown Sugar and in television series such as Dexter and House. He was a child actor in television films, sitcoms, and theater. listed him 14th on its "50 Greatest Rappers of All Time". ![]() His debut was followed by The New Danger (2004), True Magic (2006), and The Ecstatic (2009). He was featured on the roster of Rawkus Records and in 1999 released his solo debut, Black on Both Sides. He formed the duo Black Star, alongside fellow Brooklyn-based rapper Talib Kweli, and in 1998 they released their debut album Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star, featuring the singles " Definition" and " Respiration". His hip hop career began in 1994, alongside his siblings in the short-lived rap group Urban Thermo Dynamics (UTD), after which they appeared on albums by Da Bush Babees and De La Soul. ![]() Yasiin Bey ( / j æ ˈ s iː n ˈ b eɪ/ born Dante Terrell Smith, December 11, 1973), more commonly known by his former stage name Mos Def ( / ˌ m oʊ s ˈ d ɛ f/), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and actor. ![]()
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