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.
All the things that are worth doing, take time.
And remember don't high post when you're far from home, and high posting when you're all alone.
Bob Marley performed the 'One Love Peace' concert in Jamaica with the two different warring political sides. There's always been that in black music and culture in general. It's no surprise because black music is such a reflection of what's going on in black life. It's not unusual for hip-hop.
But even creeps deserve to live someplace halfway decent.
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.
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.
Good art provides people with a vocabulary about things they can't articulate.
Hip-hop is the last true folk art.
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 believe the projects were a social experiment; we were laboratory rats stacked on top of each other, and people just knew, inherently, that there was something wrong. There's not a lot of regard for the property by the residents.
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 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.
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 don't hate nobody. I hate certain conditions that are inflicted upon the people - and they're helpless with it.
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 don't mind being black. I'm black out loud. It's more than the people that they are, it's the condition that they represent.
I don't rap like nobody, I don't try to sound like nobody.
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 don't want to waste anyone's time or money. I want to give people some truth and positive heart lift.
I feel like being into the beat of your own drum has become too prominent in the culture.
I feel like I was the only person who was capable of making this type of music in this type of way. I don't rap like nobody, I don't try to sound like nobody.
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 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 have mad brims.
I have no confidence issues with the impact or the quality of the music. No one in hip-hop, before this point and to this point, with all due respect, has done this.
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 know what it feels like to have the door slammed firmly in my face, so I'm cool with that.
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'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'm growing as an individual, but your always growing. All of my albums are snapshots of where I am artistically.
I'm just an artist and I'm doin' what I like to do.
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.
I'm retiring the Mos Def name after 2011. I'm actually doing it.
I'm trying to get low. People's personalities can get in the way of their own work.
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.
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 was taught when there's somethin' you can change around keep quiet, you got nothin' to complain about.
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.
My presence speaks volumes before I say a word.
Reckless capitalism kills black people.
Record companies are not necessarily interested in you realizing your artistic dream. The bottom line is that they got to sell records.
That idea of peace and love toward humanity shouldn't be nationalistic or denominational. It should be a chief concern for all mankind.
That's what I've been trying to strive for - to draw a clear picture, to open up a new dimension.
There are a lot of people who call themselves teachers or leaders, but they're really just propagandists.
To me, playing an instrument and singing, all of these different things are just as natural to me as rhyming.
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.
Twitter freaks me out. You have followers? It feels so obsessive and proprietary.
What I take from writers I like is their economy - the ability to use language to very effective ends. 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.
With guys I revere, like Marcus Garvey or Malcolm X, their look is less about style than purpose and the expression of beauty. It wasn't just about being noticed, you know?
You have to experience life, make observations, and ask questions.
You want to know how to rhyme, then learn how to add. It's mathematics.
