Mos def (Yasiin Bey)
Dante Terrell Smith, better known by his stage names Mos Def and Yasiin Bey, is an MC and actor born in Brooklyn, New York. Although his father used to be a member of the Nation of Islam before becoming a part of Imam Warith Deen Muhammad's community, Mos Def wasn't formally introduced to Islam until 13. Through his own readings and reflections, assisted by his friendship with Ali Shaheed Mohammed and Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest, Mos Def took his shahada (proclamation of faith) when he was 19.
"Formally known as Mos Def (born Dante Terrell Smith), Bey is a hip-hop artist who has recently be- come more popular for his acting career where he received Emmy and Golden Globe nominations to go along with his 6 Grammy award nominations. He is noted for his social-conscious music which often discuss US foreign policy as well as the plight of the poor, and oppressed."
- The Muslim 500: The World’s 500 Most Influential Muslims(2012 Second Edition), The Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre
"Formally known as Mos Def (born Dante Terrell Smith), Bey is a hip-hop artist who has recently be- come more popular for his acting career where he received Emmy and Golden Globe nominations to go along with his 6 Grammy award nominations. He is noted for his social-conscious music which often discuss US foreign policy as well as the plight of the poor, and oppressed."
- The Muslim 500: The World’s 500 Most Influential Muslims(2012 Second Edition), The Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre
Yasiin introduces one of his pieces, Salaams, at the 30 Years of Taqwa event in New York.
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At the same event, here is a refined version of Yasiin's discussion of his experience as a Muslim, and interactions with the masjid.
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Media
In Roc the Mic Right: The Language of Hip Hop Culture, H. Samy Alim sits down with Mos Def and discusses how hip hop can be an effective educational tool and the poetic relations hip hop has with Islam.
Alim: What do you feel the larger relationship between Hip Hop and education could be? Mos Def: I mean, hip hop could be phenomenal. Hip hop's relationship to education could be phenomenal. It could be extremely phenomenal, in the sense that Hip Hop is a medium where you can get a lot of information into a very small space. And make it hold fast to people's memory. It's just a very radical form of information transferal. A: So you see it as being a vehicle for transferring information? M: "Oh, hell yeah! I mean, do you know how much information -- vital information -- you could get across in three minutes?! You know, and make it so that... I mean, the Qur'an is like that. The reason that people are able to be hafiz [one who memorises the entire Qur'an through constant repetition and study] is because the entire Qur'an rhymes. [Mos def begins reciting Islamic verses from the Qur'an] ' Bismillah Al-Rahman Al-Rahim. Al-hamdulillahi Rub Al-Alameen.' Like everything... Like, you see what I'm saying? I mean, it's any sura that I could name. 'Qul huwa Allahu Ahad, Allahu As-Samad. Lam yalid wa lam yulad wa lam yakun lahu qufwan ahad.' It's all like that. Like, you don't even notice it. 'Idha jaa nasru Allahi wal fatah. Wa r'ayta an-nas yadkhuluna fi dini Allahi afwaja. Fa sabih bi hamdi rabika was istaghfirh inahu kana tawaba.' Like, there's a rhyme scheme in all of it. You see what I'm saying? And it holds fast to your memory. And then you start to have a deeper relationship with it on recitation. Like, you know, you learn Surat Al-Ikhlas, right. You learn Al-Fatiha. And you learn it and you recite it. And you learn it and you recite it. Then one day you're reciting it, and you start to understand! You really have a deeper relationship with what you're reciting. 'A'udhu billahi min ash-shaitan al-rajim...' You be like, 'Wow!' You understand what I'm saying? hip hop has the ability to do that -- on a poetic level. |
On Real Time with Bill Maher, Mos Def appears with Cornelius West to discuss 9/11, Irag, Terrorism, Katrina, and the elections.
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Music
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