Mos was subsequently arrested and detained during a lengthy court battle. He then married model Alana Wyatt in 2005, but the couple separated shortly after. In January 2012, it was reported that Bey and Talib Kweli had begun "to resurrect" Black Star. The consent submitted will only be used for data processing originating from this website. [17] Mostly produced by Hi-Tek, the album featured the singles "Respiration" and "Definition", which both reached in the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. For Mos Def, rapping and acting are almost the same thing. In October 2006 Mos Def appeared on 4Real, a documentary television series. Yasiin Bey (/jsin be/; born Dante Terrell Smith, December 11, 1973), more commonly known by his former stage name Mos Def (/mos df/), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and actor. Def married Maria Yepes in 1996, and although they split, they had two daughters Jauhara . Mind over matter and soul before flesh. Mos Def, They say that when a man faces his destiny, the destiny ends and he becomes the man that he really is. Mos Def, I give a damn if any fan recalls my legacy, Im trying to live life in the sight of GODs memory.- Mos Def, 1998 Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star (with Talib Kweli), 2004 Manifest Destiny (with Ces and DCQ), 2016 December 99th (with Ferrari Sheppard), 2022 No Fear of Time (with Talib Kweli). [86] AllMusic called him one of the most promising rappers to emerge in the late 1990s,[87] and one of hip-hop's brightest hopes entering the 21st century. Although hes taken a step back from the public eye for the last few years, hes still cemented himself as a legend in the rap game. "[52][53] He also announced one last concert which he said he would be live streaming from Cape Town, South Africa. 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. Continue with Recommended Cookies, Mos Def appeared in court yesterday (Feb. 14) after filing for divorce from his wife, Maria Yepes-Smith. Yasiin Bey - IMDb Bey married Maria Yepes in 1996. He also appeared in A Free Man of Color, John Guare's play at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre. Growing up, Mos Def made the most of his surroundings. [94] She took him to court over failure in child-support obligations, paying $2,000 short of the monthly $10,000 he is ordered to pay for their two daughters. Bey features on the first single, "Stylo", from the third Gorillaz album, Plastic Beach, alongside soul legend Bobby Womack. The pair also worked together creating rhymes and in 1998 released a political yet playful album called Mos Def And Talib Kweli Are Black Star ; the space entity of the title is a cosmic phenomenon. In 1996, Mos Def got married to Maria Yepes. They also afforded him the opportunity to brush shoulders with industry heavyweights. Bey has been vocal on several social and political causes, including police brutality, American exceptionalism, and the status of African Americans. However, the couple separated in 2006. That year, he began filming the real-time action thriller, 16 Blocks, which co-starred Bruce Willis. I'm releasing my final album this year, and that's that. [100] That month, he was charged with using an unrecognized World Passport and having lived illegally in South Africa since 2014. The issue is still in court. When he was ten years old, Mos Def was enthralled by rap group Run-DMC's song "It's Like That." Black on Both Sides was released in October 1999 and quickly named an instant classic in underground hip hop. Killer Mike Bio: The Rise of a Rapper Turned Activist, Redman Bio: The Life and Career of a Hip Hop Icon, https://www.notablebiographies.com/newsmakers2/2005-La-Pr/Mos-Def.html, https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-celebrities/richest-rappers/mos-def-net-worth/, https://www.allmusic.com/artist/mos-def-mn0000927416/biography, https://www.essence.com/news/yasiin-bey-mos-def-announces-retirement-pleads-leave-south-africa/#:~:text=Yasiin%20Bey%E2%80%94the%20artist%20formerly,on%20Kanye%20Wests%20officially%20website, https://www.thestar.com/news/2008/06/29/scenes_from_a_hiphop_marriage.html, https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-38065758, Pusha T Bio: The Making of a Hip Hop Legend, Mos Def, Dante Beez, Flaco, El-Bey the Moor, Fear not of men because men must die. Since 2006, Mos Def has been a party to a migration court dispute. [49], In October 2016, a planned concert in London was cancelled due to travel restrictions imposed on the artist;[50] other European dates suffered the same fate. The album reached number 25 on Billboard and was certified Gold in February 2000 after selling more than 500,000 copies. Fans also identify his. [7] He hosted Def Poetry Jam from 2002 to 2007. The performance was recorded for an upcoming "Live in Concert" DVD. In September 2011, the rapper announced that he legally changed his name to Yasiin Bey and would go by that name, retiring his Mos Def moniker. He made his first acting debut in the fifth grade in the Marlo Thomas play Free to be You and Me. He would go on to attend a performing arts magnet high school but dropped out during his sophomore year to pursue acting full time. He also played a bandleader in HBO's Lackawanna Blues. "This is a major, major, major turning point, not just for me, but for the culture [T]his is one of those rare instances where something of a high artistic order is like at ground level, at street level, where Jay-Z and Puffy have come to the theater, where kids are coming to Broadway to watch this play." He always had a love for theatrical arts so his roles in films are really jobs but also hobbies. The rapper Mos Def, now known as Yasiin Bey, has cancelled an upcoming tour of the United States, with promoters citing "legal" issues. The shift coincided with a legal name change, and hes been known as Yasiin ever since. On November 7, 2007, Mos Def performed live in San Francisco at a venue called The Mezzanine. In 2002 Mos Def became a theater star after landing on Broadway in a production of Topdog/Underdog. However, it does have a few inspired moments, such as Dollar Day or Murder or a Teenage Life, that hardcore fans will appreciate. This occurred after a document containing the military instructions for the procedure was leaked. We and our partners use cookies to Store and/or access information on a device. The group had two singles until he took on a solo career. He studied at Philippa Schuyler Middle School and later took up Musical Theater at Talent Unlimited High School of the Performing Arts. The couple were married for ten years and had two kids together. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. From his pivotal collaboration with Talib Kweli, Black Star, to his massive solo career, to his successful transition into acting, Mos Def has continuously proven his talent and versatility. In 1995, he played the character Dante, Bill Cosby's sidekick on the short-lived detective show The Cosby Mysteries. He has been vocal on several social and political causes, including police brutality . Mos Def - Wikipedia [49] Bey also confirmed he still planned to release a collaborative project with Ferrari Sheppard called Dec 99th. In 1996, he starred in a Visa check card commercial featuring Deion Sanders. "But we are in the borough that created hip-hop, which is the biggest art form in the world, so it's always an extending arm. In 2004 Mos Def established himself as a multidimensional actor in the HBO flick Something The Lord Made, playing pioneer heart surgeon Dr. Vivien Thomas. In 2011, he legally changed his name to Yasiin Bey and stopped going by Mos Def. Mos Def's final solo album for Geffen Records, titled True Magic, was released in 2006. . Additionally, Mos Def starred in the action film 16 Blocks alongside Bruce Willis and David Morse. He has a net worth of well over 5 million dollars. [92][93], Bey married Maria Yepes in 1996. Mos Def - Wikipedia [78], In September 2005, Bey released the single "Katrina Clap", renamed "Dollar Day" for True Magic (utilizing the instrumental for New Orleans rappers UTP's "Nolia Clap"). Am 15. In 1995, he met De La Soul's lyrical genius Maseo and was invited tojoin the Native Tongues Posse. . However, Mos was mainly raised by his mother in the Roosevelt Housing Projects while his father lived in New Jersey. In March 2019, he debuted his album, (pronounced Negus) at a listening session as part of Art Basel Hong Kong. One Vibe magazine reviewer called the album "explosive, creative, political, experimental, [and] soulful." Rapper Birthday December 11, 1973. 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. They have two daughters named Chandani Smith and Jauhara Smith. Mos Def In Court Over Child Support.: ohnotheydidnt LiveJournal Friday track "Lord Lord Lord", Bey confirmed he had signed with GOOD Music. "What's really cool about watching Mos onstage is that there's such a freedom to him," Parks told Rolling Stone 's Mark Binelli. Listeners could only hear the album if they attended the exhibit. Mos Def was married to Maria Yepes from 1996 to 2005. Follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook or add our RSS feed. "I wanted to get involved, I didn't want to just sit around and accept my surroundings.". This performance was recorded for an upcoming "Live in Concert" DVD. 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. He appeared on Real Time again on March 27, 2009, and spoke about the risk of nuclear weapons. Mos Def - Net Worth April 2023, Salary, Age, Siblings, Bio, Family, Career and "Seaside Panic Room". [80] Appearing in the episode "City of God", he and the 4Real crew traveled to City of God, a favela in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to meet Brazilian MC MV Bill and learn about the crime and social problems of the community. The playwright herself could not have been more pleased. In 2016, he announced via Kanye Wests website that he was officially retiring from acting and music. In 2011, he began a multi-episode appearance on the Showtime television series Dexter. It was created in response to the 1999 police shooting of Amadou Diallo, and sought to accumulate 41 artists to the roster, one to match each of the 41 gunshots fired on Diallo. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. No one perceives Alana as being active on any social media network. Who is Mos Def Dating - Mos Def's Wife & Exes He starred in the action film 16 Blocks alongside Bruce Willis and David Morse. Just a year later, Mos Def released a solo album, Black on Both Sides, which had a jazzy, R&B flavor. Mos Def y Mara Yepes se casaron en 1996. . He has no plans of releasing the album digitally or physically. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. In September 2010, after appearing on Kanye West's G.O.O.D. In 2010, he appeared on the children's show Yo Gabba Gabba! He also dropped his first official solo single Universal Magnetic in 1997. He spends his time writing and producing music when he's not working. He landed his first acting gig in an ABC TV movie called God Bless the Child while still a freshman in high school. It became a classic of the hip-hop underground. The new single, Life In Marvelous Times, was made officially available through iTunes on November 4, 2008, and was also available for stream on the Roots' website Okayplayer.