Mos Def
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Mos Def | ||
|---|---|---|
 Mos Def, live in Australia
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| Background information | ||
| Birth name | Dante Terrell Smith | |
| Also known as | Mos Def, Mighty Mos Def, The Freaky Night Watchman, Boogie Man, Black Dante, Dante Beze, M-Defa, Pretty Flaco & Flaco Bey | |
| Born | December 11, 1973 | |
| Origin | Brooklyn, New York City, USA | |
| Genre(s) | Hip hop | |
| Years active | 1994 – present | |
| Label(s) | Rawkus Records Geffen Records |
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| Associated acts |
Black Star, Soulquarians, Native Tongues Posse | |
Mos Def (born Dante Terrell Smith on December 11, 1973), is a critically acclaimed American rapper and actor.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life
Dante Terrell Smith was born December 11, 1973 in Brooklyn, New York City to Sheron and Abdul Rahman.[1] He has a younger brother, DCQ, and a younger sister, Ces.[2] He grew up during the golden age of hip-hop and has been rapping and acting since he was 9 years old.[3]
[edit] Rap career
Mos Def began his music career in 1994 with the short-lived group Urban Thermo Dynamics with his younger brother DCQ, and his younger sister Ces. Despite their contract with Payday Records, the group only released two singles and the group's debut album, Manifest Destiny, did not see the light of day until 2004 (see 2004 in music) when it was released through Illson Media. In 1996, he emerged as a solo artist and worked with De La Soul and da Bush Babees, before he released his own first single, "Universal Magnetic", which was a huge underground hit.
After signing with Rawkus Records, Mos Def and Talib Kweli formed the group, Black Star, and released a full length album under the name, Mos Def and Talib Kweli are Black Star. The album was released in 1998 and featured Hi-Tek producing most of the tracks.
Mos Def released his solo debut also on Rawkus Records, Black on Both Sides, in 1999 (see 1999 in music). Def was also featured on Rawkus' influential Lyricist Lounge and Soundbombing series compilations. After the collapse of Rawkus, he and Kweli signed on to Interscope/Geffen Records, which released his second solo album, The New Danger, in 2004. Mos Def has drawn some criticism from his fan base about "keeping it real," after he appeared in a commercial that endorsed the GMC Denali sport utility vehicle.[4] Mos Def released True Magic, his last solo album on Geffen Records, on December 29, 2006.
Grammy Award nominations were announced for 2007, and "Undeniable" was nominated for Best Rap Solo Performance . "Ghetto Rock" from his 2004 album The New Danger, was also nominated at the 2005 Grammy's.
[edit] Acting career
Mos began his professional acting career at the age of 14, 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. He also was in Michael Jackson's movie/video "Ghosts." 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.
After brief appearances in Bamboozled and Monster's Ball, Mos re-invigorated his acting career with his performance as a talented 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.
Notably in 2002, he played the role of Booth in Suzan-Lori Parks' Topdog/Underdog, a Tony-nominated and Pulitzer-winning Broadway play. He also received positive notices as the quirky Left Ear in the blockbuster hit, The Italian Job.
He has also appeared on Comedy Central's Chappelle's Show.
In 2004, he hosted the MOBO awards in London.
He has hosted the award-winning HBO spoken word show, Def Poetry since its inception. The show's sixth season aired in 2007.
Mos won Best Actor, Independent Movie at the 2005 Black Reel Awards for his portrayal of the skeptical 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, a Golden Globe, and won the Image Award. 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. Also, Mos Def was featured as the black banjo player in the infamous "Pixie Sketch" from Chappelle's Show: The Lost Episodes. He was later edited out of it on the dvd. Additionally, Mos Def is in the motion picture 16 Blocks along with co-stars Bruce Willis and David Morse. During the first season of Boondocks, Mos was given the opportunity of starring as "Ganstalicious". He is also set to be in Toussaint, a film about Haitian revolutionary Toussaint L'Ouverture, opposite Don Cheadle and Wesley Snipes. [5] He made a cameo appearance in the movie Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.
[edit] Personal life
Mos Def was first exposed to Islam at age 13 by his father. He became a Muslim at age 19 after getting to know Muslim rappers including Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Q-Tip of the group A Tribe Called Quest.[1]
Mos Def was married to Maria Yepes-Smith for 9 years before filing for divorce in 2005. As part of the divorce settlement, he was to pay $10,000 a month (starting January 2006) in child support to his 7 and 8 year old daughters. On February 14, after paying $2000 less than the required value for two months in a row, a judge ordered him to pay the full amount.[6] He reportedly has five children in total.[7]
He has recently taken up skateboarding, and is thus one of few rappers who skateboards. He also said he's "looking to host a skateboarding rally event" in the United Arab Emirates.[3]
[edit] Impact on hip hop
By the early 1990s, a brand of socially conscious hip hop that had been popularized by A Tribe Called Quest, KRS-One, and many others had been eclipsed in popularity by gangsta rap. Mos Def, as well as Talib Kweli, Common, Little Brother, Quannum Projects and others helped socially aware rap music experience something of a comeback in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Mos Def's collaboration with Talib Kweli, Mos Def and Talib Kweli are Black Star, was released during the aftermath of the deaths of 2Pac and The Notorious B.I.G. and focused on violence and deceit in hip-hop, in collaboration with other acts that did the same. Def's music also has references to his Islamic faith, and his contention that black artists receive little credit for their role in the birth of rock and roll music.
On Mos Def's 2004 album The New Danger, the rapper took his penchant for experimentation to a new level. Most of the songs were more hip-hop flavored stylings of blues and rock, with fewer raps thrown in. This threw off fans who were expecting another full-blown rap album. The New Danger also featured the controversial song, "The Rape Over", a parody of Jay-Z's The Blueprint hit "The Takeover":
- Old white men is runnin' this rap shit,
- Corporate forces runnin' this rap shit,
- Some tall Israeli is runnin' this rap shit,
- We poke out our asses for a chance to cash in.
- Cocaine, is runnin' this rap shit,
- 'Dro, 'yac and e-pills is runnin this rap shit,
- MTV is runnin' this rap shit,
- Viacom is runnin' this rap shit,
- AOL and Time Warner runnin' this rap shit,
- Quasi - homosexuals is runnin' this rap shit.
High-placed executives temporarily made Mos take the song off releases of the album, citing clearance issues with Jay-Z and The Doors, a band which the song samples. The song has been called anti-Semitic for its veiled reference to Jewish record executive Lyor Cohen (the "tall Israeli" who then was head of the The Island Def Jam Music Group), and homophobic for its reference to "quasi-homosexuals." [8]
Mos and Immortal Technique released a similarly controversial song, "Bin Laden" in 2004, which blamed the Reagan Doctrine and President George W. Bush for the September 11, 2001 attacks. A club remix song, featuring Eminem, was released the following year, in 2005.
In September 2005, Mos Def released the single "Katrina Clap", renamed "Dollar Day" for True Magic, (utilizing the instrumental for New Orleans rapper Juvenile's "Nolia Clap"), a criticism of the Bush administration's response to the Hurricane Katrina disaster. 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.[9]
[edit] Awards/Nominations
- Black Movie Awards
- 2006, Best Supporting Actor- 16 Blocks Nominated
- Black Reel Awards
- 2005, Best Actor Independent: The Woodsman (Winner)
- 2005, Best Actor TV Movie/Mini-Series: Something the Lord Made (Nominated)
- 2004, Best Supporting Actor: The Italian Job (Nominated)
- 2003, Best Actor- Independent: Civil Brand (Nominated)
- Emmy Award
- 2004, Best Actor in a Television Movie or Mini-Series: Something the Lord Made (Nominated)
- Golden Globes
- 2005, Best Actor in a Television Movie or Mini-Series: Something the Lord Made (Nominated)
- Image Awards
- 2005, Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie or Mini-Series: Something the Lord Made (Nominated)
- 2003, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture: Brown Sugar (Nominated)
[edit] Samples
- Download sample of "Mathematics" from Black on Both Sides (Ogg format)
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums
| Album cover | Album information |
|---|---|
 |
Black Star (with Talib Kweli) |
 |
Black on Both Sides
|
 |
The New Danger
|
 |
True Magic
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[edit] Mixtapes
- The Dangerous Mix (2004)
- Mos Def & Illson Media Presents...Medina Green- U-Know The Flex: The Mix Tape Vol. 01 (2004)
[edit] Selected filmography
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Ghosts | Townsperson | |
| 1998 | Where's Marlowe? | Wilt Crawley | |
| 2000 | Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme | Himself | |
| 2000 | Bamboozled | Big Blak Afrika | |
| 2001 | Carmen: A Hip Hopera | Lieutenant Miller | |
| 2001 | Monster's Ball | Ryrus Cooper | |
| 2002 | Showtime | Lazy Boy | |
| 2002 | Civil Brand | Michael Meadows | |
| 2002 | Brown Sugar | Christopher 'Chris' Vashawn | |
| 2003 | The Italian Job | Left Ear | |
| 2004 | The Woodsman | Detective Lucas | *Emmy nomination - Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie *Golden Globe nomination - Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television |
| 2004 | Something the Lord Made | Vivien Thomas | |
| 2005 | Lackawanna Blues | The Bandleader | |
| 2005 | The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy | Ford Prefect | |
| 2006 | Dave Chappelle's Block Party | Himself | |
| 2006 | 16 Blocks | Eddie Bunker | |
| 2006 | Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby | Himself | Cameo |
| 2006 | Journey to the End of the Night | Wemba | |
| 2007 | Be Kind Rewind | Mike | Post-production |
| 2007 | Stringbean and Marcus | Pre-production | |
| 2008 | Toussaint | Pre-production | |
| 2008 | The Brazilian Job | Left Ear | Announced |
[edit] References
- ^ a b You're Gonna Serve Somebody
- ^ RapReviews.com Medina Green Interview
- ^ a b Gulfnews: Universal resonance
- ^ Your Thoughts on the Mos Def Denali Commercial?. Magnetic: Mos Def News (2006-10-10). Retrieved on 2006-03-27.
- ^ Toussaint. Internet Movie Database (2004-10-12). Retrieved on 2006-08-26.
- ^ AllHipHop.com Mos Def In Court Over Child Support
- ^ Mos Def In Court For Child Support
- ^ Treiman, Daniel. "Missing Rap Song Sparks Suspicious Musings", Forward, 2005-12-10. Retrieved on 2006-03-21.
- ^ [1]
[edit] External links
- Official Myspace Page
- Official website
- Official website RSS Feed
- Mos Def at Geffen Records
- Mos Def at the Internet Movie Database
- Rawkus Records
- review of True Magic on outsideleft.com
| Mos Def |
|---|
| Studio albums |
| Black Star (1998) | Black on Both Sides (1999) | The New Danger (2004) | True Magic (2006) |
| Singles |
| "Definition"/"Twice Inna Lifetime" | "Respiration"/"Respiration (Flying High Mix)" | "Ms. Fat Booty"/"Mathematics" | "Umi Says"/"Universal Magnetic" | "Sex, Love & Money"/"Ghetto Rock" |
| See Also |
| Soulquarians | Native Tongues Posse | Black Star | Def Poetry | Selected filmography |
| Soulquarians |
|---|
| Groups |
| Black Star | Reflection Eternal | Slum Village | The Roots |
| Members |
| ?uestlove | Bilal | Common | D'Angelo | Erykah Badu | J Dilla | James Poyser | Mos Def | Q-Tip | Talib Kweli |
| See also |
| Native Tongues Posse | The Ummah |
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Smith, Dante Terrell |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Mos Def, Black Dante |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | American rapper and actor. |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 11, 1973 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Brooklyn, New York City, USA |
| DATE OF DEATH | |
| PLACE OF DEATH | |
