Mos Def
I don't want to waste anyone's time or money. I want to give people some truth and positive heart lift.Collection: Positive
You have to experience life, make observations, and ask questions.Collection: Experience
African art is functional, it serves a purpose. It's not a dormant. It's not a means to collect the largest cheering section. It should be healing, a source a joy. Spreading positive vibrations.Collection: Art
That idea of peace and love toward humanity shouldn't be nationalistic or denominational. It should be a chief concern for all mankind.Collection: Peace
Good art provides people with a vocabulary about things they can't articulate.Collection: Art
Hip-hop is the last true folk art.Collection: Art
If 'Life in Marvelous Times' can't get on the radio, then I don't need to be on the radio.
In the early '90s, when I really started to find my voice, I was reading a lot of books, and I was moved by the writers, like Chinua Achebe, and I wanted to be able to write rhymes that were as potent as what I was reading.
You have to be an extremist to believe that you're gonna be the president of the United States and your name is Barack Hussein Obama! And he's using extreme methods, but his application is very smooth. Michelle Obama is extreme, her presence is extreme. And it's an extreme good. Extreme is not negative.
If you're going to do Chuck Berry, you got to, you know, go all out, and the duck walk is just kind of you know, cursory. That's like standing.
I've always loved rhyming. I love language.
I've been fortunate with my acting career. A lot of scripts come to me. I don't mind auditioning if something that requires that, but I haven't had to in awhile, which is a nice place to be 'cause I've been on quite a lot of auditions in my life.
I like to read the 'Financial Times' when I'm traveling. 'Economist.' 'Ad Busters.'
Mos Def is a name that I built and cultivated over the years. It's a name that the streets taught me, a figure of speech that was given to me by the culture and by my environment.
I'm not shy about heated debate or passionate discourse, but when people get crazy or rude, that's a buzz kill. There's got to be a better code of conduct, some basic etiquette.
You're not gonna get through life without being worshipful or devoted to something. You're either devoted to your job, or to your desires. So the best way to spend your life is to try to be devoted to prayer, to Allah.
That's what I've been trying to strive for - to draw a clear picture, to open up a new dimension.
The ability to have somebody read something and see it, or for somebody to paint an entire landscape of visual imagery with just sheets of words - that's magical. That's what I've been trying to strive for - to draw a clear picture, to open up a new dimension.
My presence speaks volumes before I say a word.
When people say, 'I don't see you enough,' well just because you don't see me don't mean I don't exist, or just 'cause you haven't heard me don't mean I haven't been making noise. But if I keep making noise, you'll pick up.
I was taught when there's somethin' you can change around keep quiet, you got nothin' to complain about.
Focused. I'm a hustler. And my hustle is trying to figure out the best ways to do what I like without having to do much else.
Reckless capitalism kills black people.
You want to know how to rhyme, then learn how to add. It's mathematics.
I'm an independent thinker. And I'm not the poster child for any movement. I'm trying to support whatever's right no matter where it is.
I don't hate nobody. I hate certain conditions that are inflicted upon the people - and they're helpless with it.
I come from a family of very devout, praying people. That idea of peace and love toward humanity shouldn't be nationalistic or denominational. It should be a chief concern for all mankind.
It wouldn't be fair to cast aspersions on an entire cultural movement based on the actions of a few. To quote my grandfather, 'One bad apple don't spoil the whole bunch.'
I don't have advice for people on how to dress. People should dress based on what they find beautiful. My best advice: Keep your clothes clean.
I have mad brims.
All the things that are worth doing, take time.
To me, the job of the artist is to provide a useful and intelligent vocabulary for the world to be able to articulate feelings they experience everyday, and otherwise wouldn't have the means to express in a meaningful and useful way.
Mos Def is a name that I built and cultivated over the years it's a name that the streets taught me a figure of speech that was given to me by the culture and by my environment and I feel I've done quite a bit with that name and it's time to expand and move on.
I'm a passionate person. I'm a lot of things, like most people are. Most people are dynamic. The focus is not on me though, I'm a screen. The aim is to always keep myself in the position where the screen is clear.
I began to fear that Mos Def was being treated as a product, not a person, so I've been going by Yasiin since '99. At first it was just for friends and family, but now I'm declaring it openly.
I can't control what people think. I'm not trying to manipulate people's thoughts or sentiments. I write all the time. You have to experience life, make observations, and ask questions. It's machine-like how things are run now in hip-hop, and my ambitions are different.
I'm trying to get low. People's personalities can get in the way of their own work.
I'm inspired by playwrights, novelists, poets: The value of language has been a lifelong passion of mine. I enjoy it. I'm good at it.
And remember don't high post when you're far from home, and high posting when you're all alone.
I don't wanna get into that space where a lot of guys now, their solo album is like eight or 10 songs with other people, you don't get an idea of who this guy is. I just wasn't interested in that.
I guess something that you love to do, you gotta ease up off it and give it a little space, come back and be fresh to it.
I'm retiring the Mos Def name after 2011. I'm actually doing it.
I just don't think it's very dignified to ask people to like you. You can just wind up being somebody's ottoman.
I get reminded a lot of the time that my life is a little bit different, but I'm just trying to keep it as regular as possible because I like it that way.
I'm just an artist and I'm doin' what I like to do.
I didn't want to have to deal with having any moniker or separation between the self that I see and know myself as.
I never had any ambitions of being a movie star or anything like that, but you know, this is nice.
It's possible and available to any artist to be himself or herself on their own terms, to be accepted and embraced by black people. You don't have to be a thug to get love from black people.
Everything's got space between it, the planets, trees, your eyes. Your eyes get too close together, it's a whole different world. You can lose perspective.
Twitter freaks me out. You have followers? It feels so obsessive and proprietary.